11 Ways to make your print shop happy
May 18, 2006.
After working in a print shop for some years, I've discovered every way a client's file can annoy a graphic artist. Here are some guidelines to follow as you send your file to get printed.
give them your original file
PDFs are small and convenient to send, but when they are set up incorrectly, they're hard or impossible to fix. Make your printer happy by also sending your working file with linked images and fonts. It's easy to collect all linked files and fonts into one folder. In InDesign, go to File > Package, or in QuarkXpress, go to File > Collect for Output.
Zip the files and e-mail them, or if they are too big, ask about other options, such as sending the files via FTP.
Make sure all images are in CMYK
Your file will be separated into 4 colours (cyan, magenta, yellow and black) to be printed. If you have any RGB (red, green, blue) files, they will need to be converted to CMYK. Some programs will convert RGB files for you, but your image editor will always do a better and more accurate job.
Change all spot colours to CMYK
Unless you really did intend on them being printed as spot colours. When creating swatches, make sure they are CMYK rather than spot colours. CMYK colours are made from the 4 process colours, but spot colours are pure ink colours that are printed separately.
Include bleeds
Because printed pieces are shot out of the press rapidly and cut in stacks, they aren't always trimmed perfectly. If your design stretches to the edge of the page, you will need to pick up a bit of the slack by giving your document bleeds. To create a bleed, make your image or graphic element extend 1/8 " to 1/4" past the edge of your document.
Mention to your printer that you've added a bleed so they don't confuse the dimensions of your document. Also, they'll be impressed at your print savvy!
Make sure all images are 300 dpi
Print is a lot more finicky than web, so what looks good on your screen might not print well. Try to have your images at 300 dots per inch. For example, a 4" x 6" image would ideally be 1200 x 1800 pixels. Always save at the best quality setting.
If you're printing a poster above 11 x 17", you can get away with less than 300 dpi, but try to aim for at least 72 dpi.
Don't swipe pictures from the internet
It'll make a criminal out of you and the quality will likely be low. High-quality, inexpensive images are available at www.istockphoto.com, www.dreamstime.com and other stock photography websites.
Provide a version that doesn't have text as outlines
So many times clients provided us with business cards done in Illustrator where the text had been turned to outlines. When we were asked to add more names, we had to sleuth which font and size had been used. It made some of us swear. Namely me. So for the love of God, if you provide your file in outlines, please also provide a version that is not in outlines, including the fonts used.
Provide word documents rather than printouts
If the print shop is designing your document, give all text in Word Documents / text files rather than printouts. It saves expensive print shop typing time and it will guarantee accuracy.
Provide the file in an older version
If you have the newest version of a program, please be considerate and save your file down This could speed things up slightly at the print shop, where not all graphic artists will have the latest versions of programs.
Unfortunately InDesign does not allow the user to save files in previous versions.
Proofread your work!
There are occasions when a file will look different on different machines. When you get a proof, check it over carefully to make sure that everything is where you intended it to be, keeping an eye out for text, especially. Some fonts have several versions that could flow differently, resulting in your text not being quite where you intended it to be.
If the print shop has typed some text for you, be sure to read it over. Proofreaders and graphic artists are human and they make mistakes. Sometimes there are more interesting things to do than get a full night's rest.