Setup . Layout . Fonts . Text . Graphics . Color . Trapping . Finishing . "Print file" instructions . Sending a file . Costs

Document setup

• Read your manual. Know your software's limitations.
• Avoid using word processing programs for desktop publishing. They often cause pagination and trapping problems.
• Use a style sheet. This can save time, reduce errors, and provide consistency in your document.
• Standardize your software's default settings for page size, margins, fonts, color, and line weights.
• Check with the Printing Department on press and paper availability before designing oversize pieces (larger than 11"x17") for offset printing.

Layout

• Build the elements on each page independent of other pages. For example, do not jump text wraps across pages in a two-page spread. Make items that span two pages into contiguous elements, each with their own bleed.
• Set bleeds at 1/8-inch.
• Panel sizes sometimes must vary on a piece that has multiple folds. An 8-1/2x11" letterfold, for example, should have the following panel widths: 3-11/16", 3-11/16", and 3-5/8".

Fonts

• For files not saved in .pdf format, send screen and printer fonts for every font in your document, including those used in graphics.
• Avoid mixing Truetype and Postscript Type 1 fonts in the same file.
• Use the font that has the style attribute you want, such as Helvetica Bold or Times Italic. Do not apply font styles from the style menu or with keyboard commands; they may not print correctly.
• Be careful if you use type within a photo retouching program. It may appear fuzzy around the edges.

Text

• Use tabs, not the space bar, to align type.
• Reversed type should be at least 10-point.
• Word-processing programs may not print on an imagesetter with the same line and page breaks as on your office printer. The best solution is to save the document as a .pdf file.

Graphics

• Do not use hairline rules. They may be too fine to show on the printed piece.
• Delete items that should not be visible. Do not mask them by covering them with white boxes.
• Set the resolution at an appropriate level. Images scanned at too low a resolution may lose detail and can appear digitized, stepped, or pixellated. At too high a resolution their size can be unmanageable. We recommend a 300-dpi maximum resolution.
• Graphics created in one software and placed into another software are termed imported graphics. Before importing, make sure the format of the graphic is compatible with the software into which you import it.
• Send a copy of the original graphic along with the document file into which you've imported it if your file is not saved in .pdf format.
• Use EPS format for vector (line) graphics and TIFF format for continuous-tone and bitmapped graphics, such as photos, when you intend to import the graphics into a document.
• Crop photos and art before placing them in a page-layout software. After placing them, only do fine-tuning.
• Reduce, enlarge, or rotate scanned images in a photo-retouching program before placing them in your document.
• Screen tints can appear lighter at high resolutions than at low resolutions. If you print proofs at a lower resolution than our imagesetter's, you may need to increase screen tint settings to achieve the tone you want.
• When you place images for position only, clearly mark them FPO. If an image will be replaced with a high-resolution scan, do not wrap text around the FPO image. Instead, create a polygon around which you wrap the text, then place the FPO image on top of the polygon.
• Eliminate unnecessary points (nodes) in vector graphics, especially if you have used autotracing.
• Avoid nesting graphics. If you must nest them, limit it to two layers.
• Do not change any file names after importing them into your document.
• "Pict" files are not recommended for imagesetter output.
• Before submitting your file, check the position of type and graphics by using the maximum zoom and the numeric coordinates in your control palette.

Color

• Understand that your computer monitor may not accurately represent the printed color, so discuss color expectations with us if you are new to this process.
• When making blends or gradations, blend from a spot color to white or to a tint of the same color.
• When you specify colors in your document, designate whether each is spot or process color.

Trapping

• Trapping is necessary whenever two colors touch. Documents that must trap take extra time and cost more than documents that do not.
• Do not attempt to trap your publication. The settings vary with the press used, and we have the software to do it correctly.
• Rules must be at least one point to trap.
• Text against an EPS bitmapped color background is difficult to trap.
• For shadow text, build the type as two separate elements, instead of selecting shadow text from the style menu.
• Trapping blends to other design elements is difficult.
• Images imported from one application to another can be difficult or impossible to trap.

Finishing

• Delete extra blank pages and any clutter, such as unused type, boxes, and art, that remains on the pasteboard.
• Delete unused colors from the color palette.

"Print file" instructions

• Select the correct print document information. This includes type of printer, number of copies, number of pages, paper size, scale, graphics, markings, and PostScript and color information.

Sending files

• Provide a proof of the most current version of your document. It should be a 100-percent scale, composite laser proof with color breaks, art, and photo placement marked. Include a set of color-separated lasers for jobs that will print with more than one color.
• Place copies of your document, fonts, art, and photos in the same folder so that files link properly.
• Open all the folders pertaining to your document, print directories, and send them along with your disk or, if you send files via the Web, after you submit the file.
• Complete an electronic prepress form and send it with your file.

Costs

• Output costs are based on the number of pages, number of downloadable fonts, kind of material, and the amount of time it takes to print a given file. We will make estimates on request.
• One way to contain overall printing costs is to eliminate late-stage changes and corrections. If you make changes after we begin working on the publication, we must repeat production steps, costing time and money. We cannot overemphasize how important it is to proof your work and make changes and corrections before you send files.
• Give us all the information we ask for on our file submission and electronic prepress forms. Files that must be reprinted because of incorrect or incomplete information are charged full labor and material costs.

[Top]