Print jobs can be meticulous and tricky to get right on the first try. Often times, mistakes are made on one party’s end or the other, and re-prints are often necessary to get everything correct. This blog is here to help you prepare your files correctly for your print job, communicate with your printer, and end up with a successful final product.
Before Prepress
Before you submit
Before you submit your job to the printer, double check and triple check your work and your files. Make sure that you:
- build to the correct final trim size
- add bleed if you have any artwork/images that go to the edge of the page
- check your spelling
- ensure your swatches are the correct color space
- ensure all fonts are active and there are no missing fonts
- organize your files (for both the printer and yourself)
- read the printer specifications
- understand the printer schedule
- know who your appropriate contacts are
- have consistent communication
- ask questions
Printers all function differently, so it’s important to follow these tips before the prepress to ensure that your work is prepared and ready to change for any printer specifications or schedules.
Submitting your job
Once your project is finished and has been triple-checked, you can submit your files to the printer. If using Adobe Indesign, use Preflight. Indesign has built-in Preflight profiles, but many printers send out custom profiles for their clients. Gather up all your pieces, package your file, and send the zip file to the printer using their custom Preflight profile. It’s also always a good idea to send a hard copy along with your job, including printed files that can be marked up to call attention to any specific requirements.
Some printers may ask you to submit print-ready PDFs and may supply you with what is called a job options file. These are imported and used as a recipe for creating a PDF. Some other helpful tips include asking the printer if they want trim marks (they’re usually not necessary) and deleting any extraneous content out of your PDF.
The salesperson will be your initial contact. They will gather general information for you and let you know the general nature of the job. He will provide you with an estimate and schedule and let you know what files should be submitted and when. If any problems are encountered, customer service reps will help you to figure out a solution and will contact you to let you know ahead of time if any issues ensue.
Prepress
Preflighting
Preflighting consists of finding problems early, before the job goes to press. This process analyzes files for problems and such as wrong sizes and inadequate bleeds. This can be done by hand or by software such as Markzware or Flightcheck. Either the software or the individual changes the file itself, so if you ever need to re-print that project you will have a fixed and properly prepared document ready to go.
Trapping
Trapping is performed to compensate for any mis-registration on the press. This is required when objects are touching each other that do not have color in common. There are two separate plates and two separate inks, and a TRAP is a combination of those colors to create a color in common so if the press is a little bit off, you’re not going to see that ugly white paper.
Imposition
Imposition refers to positioning pages for the location which they’re going to print on the press. The easiest way to think about this a magazine, each page is printed in a certain way so that they can all be folded up and the articles can flow smoothly. In this case, the printers will rearrange your document so that the pages will be in the correct order and placement for printing.
Proofing
There may be several proofing cycles during the life of a print job. This involves getting a sample of the print, whether it be one page of a magazine or one ad from a poster, just to get a feel of how the final product will look. The first cycle is for judging color and content long before printing.
Platemaking
The last step in the Prepress process is the creation of plates for use on the press. There’s one plate for each printing ink, so this can be a costly expense at times.
Press Check
The Pressroom
There’s a lot of action in a pressroom. There is lots of heavy equipment that’s not just the press, and lots of floor traffic. Paper is being moved, people are walking to different stations, and people are setting up presses. It is a very noisy environment, and can be very bright and potentially dangerous. Be sure to bring a pair of earplugs or noise cancelling headphones, safety glasses, and anything else you might need to feel cautious.
Comparing to Proof
If you’re attending a press check and you’re comparing the press sheet to the proof you signed off on, be sure to look for:
- correct graphics
- image crops
- no type substitution
- color consistency
- alignment
- evenness
Keeping an eye out for these details will prove to help both you and the printer in the long run, and probably save you some money by not having to re-print often.
What if there’s a problem?
Not all print jobs print perfectly. The printer’s responsibilities include using the correct stock, making sure the press runs match any proofs, and that the press is running to standard specifications. Your responsibilities as a client include meeting the deadlines, submitting files correctly and on time, and carefully inspecting the proof. If something doesn’t print correctly, communicate with your printer but realize that it’s neither party’s fault and
Glossary
Makeready: An extra amount of paper required for a printing project, used so that a pressman can make sure the job is running correctly.
Work and Turn: When a sheet of paper is fed through the printer, then is turned over short ways (below) and fed back through to the opposite side.
Work and Flop: When a sheet of paper is fed through the printer, then turned over long ways (below) and fed back through to the opposite side.
Take Off Bars: Strips of printed image along the edge of the running paper. In our case, they are about 3 mm wide.
Coverage: A term used in printing to express how much ink is on a sheet.
Densities: The measurement of light reflected off of the substrate, or how dark the print appears after each press strike.
Crossovers: A page spread where text and/or image crosses over the spine from the left hand to the right hand page.
Moiré Patterns: When the screen angles of an image are not set to the required angles, or if the image was re-screened without slightly de-focusing the image so that the dots of the printed image being scanned are out of focus.
Color Register: the alignment of different inks intended for printing.
Pinholes: A common screen-printing issue. They are a stencil defect that reduces production efficiency and print quality. These imperfections in the stencil are tiny, transparent dots that appear in the screens after exposure.
Streaking: Streaks in the print usually caused by a worn out drum unit or spent toner cartridge.
Hickeys: Occurs when a piece of dust or random mote sticks to either the plate or blanket of the offset printing press or the printing medium, which causes an imperfection on the printed page.
Scum: A generic term for the presence of ink on non-image areas of the printing plate
Broken Type: A piece of type, whose face has been damaged, and therefore cannot give a complete impression on the surface of the paper.
Signing a Press Sheet: Giving approval to run the press.
References
https://www.linkedin.com/learning/print-production-prepress-and-press-checks/welcome?autoplay=true