| As your files take shape, it's important to build from the ground up. It's not much fun to deconstruct a complex file and then reassemble it because it was built one-half inch too big or all the artwork uses the wrong six spot colors. Before you choose File > New, make sure you've established the following important specifications: External document size. If you're printing letterheads, that's easy. But if you're creating a piece that folds, such as a trifold brochure or a pocket folder, whip out the ruler and make sure you know the correct external dimensions before you go too far. Adequate bleed. While one-eighth of an inch is standard bleed, some print service providers may request a larger value, especially on packaging or large-format output. Internal panel sizes. In folding pieces such as trifold brochures, remember that you have to allow for shorter panels that fold in (see Chapter 3, "Binding and Finishing"). In your page-layout program, set up guidelines to help you position content. Your print service provider may be able to provide a template to use if you're building to a common size. Artwork interactions with folds, perforations, or die cut trims. If artwork stops at a fold, special handling may be required to ensure that it doesn't dribble over onto the next panel, especially on packaging. Your print service provider can provide some guidance for preparing artwork, especially if you're printing on heavy stock whose thickness has a bearing on how wide the folded edge will be. Correct number of pages. In a common-format, multipage document (facing pages), the number of pages should usually be divisible by four. If you were inspired to pull the staples out of a magazine while you were reading Chapter 3, look at the loose pages and note that each loose sheet consists of four pagestwo front, two back. In a longer document, such as a textbook, you (or the printer) can take up the slack by providing blank pages for notes. Correct inks. If it's not a 27-color job, there shouldn't be 27 colors in your application's color palette. Delete unnecessary colors, or convert them to CMYK if they're not intended to print as spot colors.
Checking Raster Images As you've seen in Chapter 4, "Preparing Raster Images," it's important that your images are of sufficient resolution at final size, and that you've saved the images in an appropriate format and in the correct color spaceCMYK for many print service providers, or RGB images containing the correct, embedded color profile if you're working in a color-managed workflow. If the images you're creating are your final art (that is, they're not being placed into an illustration or page-layout application), check them in Photoshop or the application in which you created them. Consult your print service provider to make sure you know their requirements, but here are some general guidelines: Resolution. Raster images should usually be at least 300 ppi (pixels per inch) at their final imaging size. However, there are exceptions. For example, large-format output such as posters, store signage, and billboards. Since readers will probably be at least several feet away from the finished poster or large sign, the net effect is the same as viewing a smaller image at a shorter distance. In other words, a 150 ppi image viewed from a distance of several feet is the equivalent of a smaller, 300 ppi image viewed up close. It may be necessary to create images of higher resolution for high line-screen work (200 lpi or higher). If you are creating images for special printed pieces such as art prints or art books, you may be asked to supply images at higher than 300 ppi. Keep in mind that it's best if the original scan or digital photograph is of adequate size and resolution. Scaling up or increasing resolution through interpolation never produces results equivalent to healthy original images. Color space. Images usually come in one of five major flavors for printing purposes: CMYK, RGB, grayscale, monochrome (bitmap black and white, with no shades of gray), and duotone. Unless you're working in a color-managed environment, you'll be asked to provide CMYK images for color images. If your print service provider utilizes color management, ensure that you've tagged your RGB images with the appropriate color profile. Make sure that grayscale images are truly black-only files, not gray-appearing RGB or CMYK images. Retouching. If you're not comfortable performing retouching work beyond simple blemish removal, let the print service provider know that you'd like them to perform the work instead. It's helpful if you print the image(s) in question, and then indicate the problems you'd like them to fix. It's likely that you'll incur additional job charges for this service. Rotations and scaling. You'll achieve the best results if your scans or digital photographs are created at the proper size and rotation for final use. But let's be realistic. You can't always anticipate how you'll use an image. If you've simply flipped an image horizontally or vertically in a page layout, don't worry about it. If you've rotated an image by increments of 90 degrees, don't worry about that. But, if you rotate an image in a page layout by anything other than 90-degree increments, or if you scaleor bothyou'll see some slight softening of detail in the final output. Filenames. Avoid using periods, asterisks, and other characters to flag filenames (see Chapter 7, "Cross-Platform Issues"). Even if you and your print service provider are both using Macintosh computers, remember that your files will probably be copied to a server that may be based on another platform such as Unix or Windows.
Checking Vector Artwork Since illustration programs such as Illustrator and FreeHand allow you to place raster images as content, you have to consider some of the same issues that you encounter in page layout applications. Don't forget to check the following: Correct colors. If you'll be placing vector art into a page-layout program, try to avoid multiple instances of what should be a single spot color. If the job uses Pantone 384, for example, make sure that the color isn't Pantone 384C in your illustration program and PMS 384CVC in the final page-layout document. Ensure that color naming is consistent across all constituent files. Images. Most illustration programs offer the choice of embedding or linking placed images. While embedding increases the file size, it ensures that all the pieces are in place. However, it may limit editing if the print service provider needs to modify the image. If you anticipate the need to color-correct or retouch images placed in illustrations, send the image along just to be safe. Fonts. Embed fonts or outline text (the font EULA permitting). Note that while Illustrator and FreeHand enable the embedding of fonts with proper permissions, this only facilitates correct imaging. The fonts are not available for text editing unless the user (in this case, the printer) also has the fonts active on their system. If you're tempted to convert text to outlines, be advised that some text effects such as underlining or strikethrough may be lost when you outline the text. Another consequence of outlining text to consider: Fonts contain special information called hinting, which is lost when text is converted to outlines. As a result, outlined text will not be as crisp as the original text when printed on a desktop printer. However, on a high-resolution output device such as an imagesetter or platesetter, outlined text should be satisfactory. Text. Spell-check content, and check for pesky little empty remnants of text where you unintentionally clicked with the Type tool (it happens to all of us sooner or later). Those empty instances may result in preflight reports of a font being needed, resulting in time wasted troubleshooting something that isn't truly a problem if the font isn't used anywhere else. Bleed. If the vector artwork file is your final artwork (that is, you're not going to place it in a page layout file for further assembly), ensure that you've included adequate bleed. Even though you create bleed artwork correctly, the export format that you choose in Illustrator and FreeHand determine whether that artwork is correctly retained during file export. Refer to Chapter 10, "Illustrator Production Tips" and Chapter 11, "FreeHand Production Tips," for some clarification of how Illustrator and FreeHand handle bleed, depending on the version and export format.
Checking Page Layout Files Once you've determined that your raster images and vector artwork pieces are healthy, you still need to examine any page-layout file that combines that content to make sure that additional errors are not introduced. Don't forget to do the following: Spell check. It's important to weed out typing errors, but be particularly careful with product names and proper names. You also need to check for mistakes that spellcheckers don't catch, such as grammatical errors and words that are spelled correctly but aren't what you intend. You don't want to go to press with a headline that reads "The Clam Before the Storm." Delete extra junk. Clean off the pasteboard, and eliminate empty elements. Avoid styled text. Rather than clicking the B or I button, choose the genuine bold or italic font. Delete double spaces. If you were still setting type with a typewriter, double spaces would be fine. But you're not. Double spaces in computer typesetting are large, airy gaps. Perform a find-and-replace to replace double spaces with single spaces. And quit hitting that spacebar. Check for scaling and rotation. While a few rotations here and there aren't a problem, and it's permissible to scale within a reasonable range (70125 percent), an image-heavy document with lots of such transformations can be challenging to RIP. Especially if you are transforming large images, consider doing those transformations in Photoshop, and then updating the images in the page layout so they can be handled without rotation. Provide printouts of your job. They're really helpful to CSRs, planners, estimators, and prepress operators at the print service provider for quick visual aids. It's best if printouts are actual size, but if the piece is too large to print at final size (or you don't feel like tiling output and taping pieces of paper together), mark the printout prominently with the scale factor. This is especially important if the print service provider will be scanning transparencies or other artwork for you. The scanner operator will need to measure your transparencies, measure your printouts, and then determine the proper scale factor for each image. If you indicate the scale factor used in your printout, you reduce the chance for error by alerting the scanner operator and by providing an important factor in his scaling equation. Preflight your job. The term preflight comes from the aviation industry. If you are about to become airborne in a 150,000-pound metal tube, you check all the operating systems before you pull back on the stick. If you want to minimize problems in a print job, you check all the contents. The preceding sections have provided some guidance for manually checking your job, but you'd do well to consider using dedicated preflight software to do the job for you. The FlightCheck family of products from MarkzwareFlightCheck Studio, FlightCheck Designer, and FlightCheck Professionalautomate the process of preflighting by allowing you to set up test parameters for checking documents. Have realistic expectations. Your monitor and your desktop printer's approximation of the final printed piece may be fairly good if you calibrate your monitor and you're using a high-end printer with careful color management. Otherwise, you have to wait for contract proofs from the print service provider to have a good idea of the appearance of the final output.
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