Curious—how many of you handle design in-house vs outsource?

[Mark @ Marketplace]

We run a commercial print and publishing operation in the Midwest and handle a mix of offset, digital, and mail work.

Like a lot of shops, we spend a fair amount of time fixing customer-supplied files before they go to press. At the same time, we have some in-house design capacity that isn’t always fully utilized.

Curious how others handle this:

• Do you fix everything internally no matter what?
• Ever outsource file cleanup or design adjustments when things get busy?
• What types of jobs (if any) would you feel comfortable sending out?

Not trying to sell anything—just interested in how other shops approach it.

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Why this is the on​

 

[SoggyWinter]

We (nicely) kick Canva messes (usually lack of bleeds, edge hugging, and templates of the wrong size) back to the customer to fix and have instructions pre-written. Sometimes they'll pay us to fix at $105/hr. Upwork is a good resource for stuff that we can't do efficiently like tracing messy bitmaps into vectors. I expect there will be a vector and text aware generative AI product we can use for file fixing before too long and we can save time and money from fighting with Photoshop's AI and Pitstop's byzantine quagmire.

 

[Stanislav Rakov]

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Why this is the on​

Most of the problems can be fixed automatically using special software. what cannot be fixed can be fixed with the help of permanent freelancers who know the specifics of production and after a while stop asking unnecessary questions.

 

[kslight]

Most of our clients do the best they can, even the very large brands that in theory should have great design teams… If something is a time consuming fix / if it’s a new customer, we will request new files or quote the time to fix. But a lot of issues can be resolved quicker on our end than trying to explain to them, so the work just gets billed back. If the customer has an issue with us billing prepress work, then they can provide print ready files. Sometimes I can get on the phone and explain it to them if it’s simply a learning issue, but these places often have such high turnover that becomes a waste of time.

I understand that a lot of large printers choose to be Bull headed and kick everything back that isn’t absolutely perfect, sometimes there is a reason to do that, and if your clients don’t respond negatively to that then more power to you. But a lot of issues are very simple to resolve and fixing those becomes a service we provide, and if I automatically kicked back every file that was RGB, didn’t have fonts outlined, didn’t include bleeds, etc nothing would ever go out on time, or would have nothing to print. Would you rather be a “no” company to work with or a “yes” company?

 

[PricelineNegotiator]

Most of our clients do the best they can, even the very large brands that in theory should have great design teams… If something is a time consuming fix / if it’s a new customer, we will request new files or quote the time to fix. But a lot of issues can be resolved quicker on our end than trying to explain to them, so the work just gets billed back. If the customer has an issue with us billing prepress work, then they can provide print ready files. Sometimes I can get on the phone and explain it to them if it’s simply a learning issue, but these places often have such high turnover that becomes a waste of time.

I understand that a lot of large printers choose to be Bull headed and kick everything back that isn’t absolutely perfect, sometimes there is a reason to do that, and if your clients don’t respond negatively to that then more power to you. But a lot of issues are very simple to resolve and fixing those becomes a service we provide, and if I automatically kicked back every file that was RGB, didn’t have fonts outlined, didn’t include bleeds, etc nothing would ever go out on time, or would have nothing to print. Would you rather be a “no” company to work with or a “yes” company?

"But a lot of issues can be resolved quicker on our end than trying to explain to them"

/thread

 

[jwheeler]

• Do you fix everything internally no matter what?

It depends on the customer and how bad the file is...sometimes you spend more time explaining to the customer, going back-and-forth with them, than just fixing it yourself. However, if you know they are going to be a regular/repeat customer, it's to your benefit to explain to them how to prepare proper files. For those cases, it's best to email them a PDF with a simple guide that shows margins/safe zone, and bleeds. Then call them and explain it over the phone (an email explanation rarely works if their file is THAT bad to begin with, and this will be an opportunity to build your relationship with them since emails can seem cold and distant). And remember, you don't need to teach them how to make a 'beautiful' design, just a printable file!

• Ever outsource file cleanup or design adjustments when things get busy?

No. Your prepress or designer staff should handle this.

• What types of jobs (if any) would you feel comfortable sending out?

None...unless I was a small shop that had a dedicated, trusted freelancer on-call

As for covering the labor cost of fixing files, you could have a standard file preparation fee. You can use that as a way to get their attention when you get a bad file: "Sir, your file is not setup properly for printing because XYZ...would you like to us to fix it for a $XX fee or would you like to submit a corrected file that follows the guidelines on our website on the file submission page?"

 

[w8ing4nite]

I agree with SoggyWinter, and to add...YES its easier to fix then explain, however, your art time is worth $, because it doesnt take much to fall into a rabbit hole of customer provided "materials" We are up front with charging for art changes and cost of new approval OR they fix, Or can print as is. Of course we are nice and present the options, but if you just start fixing their stuff without any pushback, they will expect it and you could likely start losing $$ on the time spent on it.