Nothing is more frustrating than spending many hours working on your brochure design, walking bleary-eyed into the printer’s office and have him say, “It looks nice, but I’m sorry, it won’t work.”
So… to avoid that annoying situation (we hate to be the bearers of bad news) we’ve prepared this handy guide to help you navigate through some of the potential pitfalls.

HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE???

Find out how long your job will take

Talk to Us Early

We won’t charge you (very much) to pick our brains for ideas or help. We may be able to help save you hours of time or other cost factors.

Some Details About “Camera-Ready”

If your intent is to provide us truly “camera-ready” art, you need to understand what that is. For most things we will want your files on disk in a format compatible with our equipment (for details, please call). Anything else will compromise quality or require extra expense to make it usable. The sharper and cleaner your file, the better the final outcome. More about that later under “Output.”

Coming to Terms

One-Colour Printing
This refers to using only one ink colour, ie. either black or some other colour. For this we would require your original to look just like the final outcome you desire, but it should always be black. We will use coloured ink to give you the finished colour you want.

Multi-Colour or “Spot Colour” Printing
This means that you are using more than one ink colour, ie. black plus one or more colours, or just two or more colours without black.

For this type of printing we generally require electronic separations for each colour that you want printed. Again, these files should be exactly what you want printed, with the exact clarity and detail you want.

“Digital” versus “Offset” Printing

What used to be called colour copying has now been termed digital printing, which has created massive confusion. Digital means it’s printed from a digitized image on a computer, directly to an electronic output device such as a laser printer or copier. These can be black and white or colour. Offset printing on the other hand is done using real ink, plates, and a printing press. Both have their place depending on budget, time allowance and output requirements. Again, talk to us early-on!

Trap

This is an appropriate time to bring up the subject of “trapping.” (The word serves a double purpose because it’s one of the greatest hazards lurking in the desktop publishing shadows.)

Simply put, trapping is the small overlap of colours or screens that prevents ugly white gaps between them. A prime example would be a border around a graphic or photo that you want to actually touch all the way around.

Trapping means that the red graphic extends part way into the black border, but NOT all the way or there is a danger that it will “leak” out the other side! Usually the dark colour “traps” the lighter colour. Trapping also occurs when outline type is filled with a colour or when screens butt up against lines, graphics, etc.

The thinner the border or outline, the more carefully the trap must be addressed. Even more care is needed when trapping two light colours because where they overlap a third colour is created.

Most decent quality graphics programs allow you to do trapping before outputting your separated artwork.

Crop and Register Marks

Crop marks are the indicators of where the final trimming of the printed piece will take place. They also serve as guides to align the printed image on exact size sheets. They are very important if you are at all concerned about where the image appears on the paper.

In no place do they touch the finished area, so that they can be trimmed off. Crop marks should also be used to indicate folds, score lines, perforations, etc.

Register marks are used to align multiple colours. They need to occur in exactly the same position on all original separations on multi-colour work. If possible, they should be placed outside the final trim area, but inside the press sheet area. “Tight register” refers to how tightly the various colours align to each other.

Bleeds and Large Solids

Though there may be some correlation, “bleed” does not refer to the blood-letting that occurs when your computer crashes just before you save your last four hours of work. Rather, a bleed happens when you require your printed image to extend beyond the finished trim size of the paper. Even a fine line that runs off the page is called a bleed. In many cases a bleed requires that the page be printed oversize so that the bleed has something to print on. This will ensure the cleanest bleed edge.

Because of the larger sheet size required, bleeds usually cost more.

Large solids can also add expense and must be handled carefully. If you wish to utilize a large solid, call us for some tips. Used correctly they can really enhance your printed piece.

PHOTOS

Since photos are used on many printed pieces, it is a good idea to understand the best way to reproduce them. In order for a photo to print, it must be translated into dots. This process is called “halftoning.” If you look closely at any printed photograph in a newspaper or magazine, you will see these dots. Generally the smaller, or finer the dots, the cleaner the photo will be. More about this later under “Halftoning.”

For a simple poster or mailer you may find that your table-top scanner will give you a good enough image.

The final option, and the most preferred for a lot of applications, is to have the photos scanned in using a high-end drum or bed scanner and then placed electronically into the computerized document. This allows for electronic manipulation of the photo and will facilitate the combining of photos, graphics and text, as well as high-end output directly to film or plates (known as linotronic or “lino”).

Again, talk to us about when to use which process and we’ll steer you in the right direction.

TYPE

Someone else’s type may not be “your” type and vice versa. Typestyles are largely a matter of personal taste, but like colour, there are some generally accepted or popularized rules of thumb. Applying these basic rules will be some assurance of a pleasing look to your finished piece. So… what are the rules? Well, bearing in mind that rules are made to be broken under certain circumstances, here are a few of the more basic ones.

• Don’t use too many fonts. Just because your program has fourteen dozen doesn’t mean they all have to be used. Usually two or three are sufficient to clearly and beautifully communicate your message.
• Be careful of readability. Large sections of type are usually more readable in a serif font. (serifs are the little flat ends on type that sort of tie the letters together) We have ignored this rule in this booklet as you can see.

Text or book fonts, such as Times Roman, Century Schoolbook or Palatino, are serif types and are good for large blocks of type.

• Be aware of clashing types. Usually there are characteristics between typefaces that either harmonize them or cause them to clash. For instance, two italicized fonts may be at slightly different angles. Usually fonts that contrast strongly work better together than fonts that are very similar. (like marriages)
• Don’t try to be too “cute.” You can be creative without overdoing it. For instance, reversed type is often very effective in drawing attention to a headline, but can render a paragraph of instructions virtually unreadable. Go for it!

You can always try it and change it. Experiment. Trust your instincts. If it doesn’t “grab” you, try something else. The beauty of computers is the ease with which you can try new things. Just be sure your message gets through!

• There are lots of good books and manuals on typography. Read one.

HALFTONES AND SCREENS

If you’ve ever looked closely at a photo in a newspaper, magazine or brochure, you will note that the image is made up of tiny dots. (These are called “dots”, not surprisingly!) These dots actually fool our eyes into believing that the tone of the ink actually gets lighter and darker, but what really happens is that the amount of white space between the dots changes, making the image area lighter or darker.

The magnifying glass below will show just what the dots might look like.

When a photo is converted to dots for the purpose of printing, it is called a “halftone.” The more lines of dots per inch (l.p.i.) the finer the screen and usually the cleaner the picture.

• newspaper 85 lpi
• flyer 133 lpi
• high quality brochure 175 lpi

Most laser printers will produce reprintable halftones at 65 lpi up to 80 lpi and 100 lpi in some cases.

If your laser printer is outputting a photo, you can tell if it’s usable by a printing company if the dots are in even rows with even spaces. If not, then your laser printer is creating a continuous tone and not a halftone. It will look nice but is not usually reproducible in print.

Most ink-jet printers are not usable for halftoning. Talk to us first about full-colour or duotone photos.

Screens are used to give various shades of one colour. They generally range from 10% to 30% but heavier screens do have an occasional use. Again, dots are used to create a lighter version of the colour desired. The lighter the screen, the more paper is showing between the dots.

The same uniformly patterned dots will create smooth screens when printed.

Output

If you have a computer, you probably have a printer. The range of quality of output is enormous. Most ink-jet printers are suitable for simple, type-only, or type and line graphic originals.

You can supply most artwork from a 600 dpi laser printer. This will produce acceptable results for most standard artwork, ie. letterhead, business cards and envelopes. Use laser-quality paper if possible, it will give you better toner adhesion and cleaner edges to your artwork. However, 600 dpi laser is NOT acceptable for such items as very thin script fonts, font sizes of smaller than 8-point, or detailed artwork that is to be reproduced in small scale.

If you look at your laser output and are not happy with the quality, you will probably wish to supply your artwork on disk and request high-end output (direct to plate or film). ALWAYS supply a printout of your artwork along with your disk so we know what it is supposed to look like, particularly if it is to be colour separated. Call us first if you plan to supply artwork on disk, to make sure it will be compatible. There will be instructions on how to save the job files that will be critical.

Position and copy should be correct on your printout. Proof your work several times before you bring it in. You do not want to find out after your plate or film has been produced that you forgot something vital. (like your phone number––don’t laugh, it happens!)

Things like folds and perforations should be experimented with and correctly aligned with the copy before coming to us. Trim out and fold a sample to be absolutely sure. Don’t assume your program automatically does it correctly. You’d be surprised how many brochures we receive where the fold runs right through the edge of the type.

Some Final Thoughts

This little booklet is by no means exhaustive. We’ll be happy to advise you along the way and tell you if we need to be compensated.

Know your programs. There are some very complicated programs out there and though they are capable of some very intricate functions, they are only as good as the operator.

Know your own limitations. The computer marketing people will lead you to believe that anyone can load up and fire away, but the graphic arts profession is an intricate combination of art, science and technology and is a lifelong learning process. Sometimes it’s just good sense to get help from someone with the training and experience to help you realize the full potential of your good ideas.

We hope you’ll let us be a part of the finished product.

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