Your Friend in the Printing Business

 

There are several programs that will “Preflight” your PDF on its way to a print shop; it’s not a mystery nobody uses them. Too much information, most of it either impossible to understand or of limited value. Good news: I can show you how to quickly X-Ray your own PDF using two features in Adobe Acrobat; that is to say verify it’s ready to submit for printing. In the time it takes to read this post you could have run both of them.

Got Fonts?

For a variety of reasons, many applications have default PDF settings that don’t embed (store a copy of) the local fonts from your machine within the PDF itself. This may not be a problem, the system at the print shop may locate its own copy and carry on. Significant problems are possible, however, if there is no local copy and the system rejects the file, or worse makes an inexact substitution with a version it deems close enough. This may insert hard-to-detect errors from one end of your document to the other. Here’s what you can do:

In Acrobat go to File>Properties and then the “fonts” tab in the box that opens. Look to see that every font listed, and there may be many, is followed by “(Embedded)” or “(Embedded Subset).” If that notation is missing there is no copy of your version of that font stored in the PDF. Solutions include changing the original app’s PDF settings to include the font, or determining if the font itself is not licensed for export (as often happens with “free” fonts).

It’s not the end of the world if you can’t resolve the issue; alert the printer that the problem exists and ask if a fix is available (we got ways). Also, you’ll want to be sure to carefully review any proofing you receive for the job.

What Color is your Rainbow?

Question One: What colors will be used to print your job? Question Two: What colors are actually in your PDF? Usual Answer to Both: “How in the world should I know”? I’m going to tell you exactly that. This Adobe Acrobat tool can be a little tricky to locate, depending on your version, but it’s worth the effort.

In Acrobat go to Tools>Print Production>Output Preview, and a miraculous dialog box is waiting to show you exactly what you have.  This box lists every printing color contained in your PDF, and will preview what elements are in CMYK (good), Spot Colors (also good, assuming you want to print in spot colors), or RGB (bad). Remember; RGB is not a printing color model, so any RGB  elements will be converted to CMYK possibly altering the appearance of the final product.

You will be fascinated (I hope) to turn individual colors on and off and see how images are built; if your “Black” is just black, or whether it’s actually a blend of CMYK; and just how many copies of the same spot color are living together under various aliases.

There is almost no limit to what can be learned from this simple utility. With the dialog box open, moving the cursor around will display the percentage of each color at that point. Do your blues tend to print print purple? Learn how much magenta is actually in the mix that your RGB screen is not previewing well. The numbers do not lie, but your screen can, and will.

Now that you posses the super-power of knowing how to quickly X-Ray your own PDF, even more abilities await. As with all Adobe products, Acrobat’s Preview and Pre-Flight capabilities are almost limitless. If you feel worthy and want even more powers click here.

Check the fonts, check the colors, if problems show up give me a call!

Hugh Butler

This post originally appeared at Gandy Printers

Does printed text convey your message more effectively?  Yes, according to a study published in the International Journal of Educational Research.

The 2013 study measured higher comprehension rates among students who read printed text compared to their cohort reading on a digital screen. Maybe this sheds light on why targeted print messaging has distinct advantages.

With humans having an attention span approximated at one-second-less than a goldfish (8 seconds) we’re faced with two choices. We can play into this trend by shallowing to a Twitter-like depth, or consider the benefits of a message that punches through and sticks around. If the latter is your choice, print is your medium.

Common sense provides insights into why printed text is more persuasive. Probably the foremost is a lack of accompanying distractions. A direct mailer in your hand does not also preview messages that say your credit card payment is due. A brochure describing a product or service is not attempting to sell you something else in the margins. Even if your goldfish-like brain momentarily short-circuits, you are still experiencing the tactile presence of the printed item, and are more likely to return to it.

Printed messaging can be technology-leveraged. Just because we’re talking about ink (or toner) on paper does not imply a lack of technical horsepower. Primarily, the key to print marketing is to carefully target your audience (database). Second, make the message interactive in any way technology allows by use of variable data, discount codes, or direct cues to your web presence.

Third, and perhaps most important, be sure the layout is at the highest level your budget will allow. Message consumers are exceedingly discerning, and there is nothing more detrimental in the mailbox than “homemade.” High production values play into our final point, below.

A printed message is a gift. Is this an exaggeration? Maybe, but not much of one. Consumers know that an email costs virtually nothing, whereas printed material is a significant investment. Millennials, particularly, have grown up with the “Nigerian Prince,” and tend to ignore digital messages from unknown senders. Tangible print messaging, on the other hand, is viewed by the same group as being inherently trustworthy. Additionally, older consumers are often reluctant to throw something away they perceive as “high-quality.”

Relevance, credibility, and longevity are the watchwords. There will be a quiz.

To “Get what you expect” requires an expectation; a belief that something will occur in the future.

An experienced graphic designer peers with satisfaction at her screen after the final touches to a brochure are complete; how is it she is so confident the final product will succeed? How does she know the effect will be what the client wants? How can she be so sure it will win an Addy Award?
The printed piece is a fundamentally different entity that the screen image; how the transformation happens should not be a mystery to you. The more you understand the more likely you are to be satisfied, even thrilled, with the result.

Here are common techniques for managing a print project, ranked from most to least effective.

Compulsive attention to detail is one approach. This person carefully considers the color model of the printing, and is sure their file is prepared to match. All their colors are Pantone-specified having examined the printed swatch books. A folding template is employed right at the beginning, and actual paper samples are carefully scrutinized. Finalized timeline, proofing, and delivery details are communicated in clear written form. In my entire career I have worked with a surprisingly small number of people who use this approach, and like anything rare I value them tremendously.

Most people use a business as usual approach. This is what you do because you did it before and your expectations were met, or, if not, it wasn’t bad enough to change. The vast majority of print projects fall into this category, and with good reason; if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Consider, though, the possibility you’re setting the bar too low; maybe ask a few follow-up questions to learn how the process can be improved. Printers have a bad habit of fixing customer mistakes, for the sake of expediency, without telling anyone. Just because it ain’t broke doesn’t mean it can’t be better. Maybe much better.

Then there’s good old-fashioned dump and run. You don’t have time to mess with it, now it’s our problem; and you’ll take what you get. We understand and we’ve got your back; we promise to do everything possible to keep you out of trouble and not give you any grief. Seriously. Sooner or later we’ll have a problem, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Remember that printing is custom manufacturing. Since it’s made just for you it’s important you provide enough information, and ask enough questions, to insure the project you understand is the same one we plan to produce. Our goal is that, when you open the box, the product is right on the button; and that we’re all thinking of the same button. It’s an old saying, but a true one: there are no stupid questions.

This post originally appeared at Gandy Printers.

There was a time when you could buy five simple pieces of equipment and run a printing business indefinitely. That time is not now. There also was a time when the standard turnaround for a simple job was two weeks; that time is definitely not now. I was there then, and I’m here now. I have worked as a tradesman, manager, small business owner, and sales representative in the printing business since 1980, and it’s a fascinating story of adaptation and change in a world now overwhelmingly visual.

The bad parts of the “good old days” were that printing was slow, expensive, and technically constrained. The good parts, however, were correlative; the timeline and cost demanded real planning and expertise on both sides of the deal. Typesetting, particularly, required pre-production editing and formatting to insure the gallies were only purchased once. We could use some of that care today, as any graphic designer will tell you.

Nowadays, the good parts of our industry are that we are fast, inexpensive, and operate with almost no technical restraints whatever. The visual complexity of an average color print job, and speed and unit cost of production, would astound a print business owner who fell asleep in 1960 and slept until the present.

The constant throughout has been the resourcefulness of our people; from those who open, run, or inherit the business, to the tradespeople who handle production, to the salespeople who interact with print buyers. Finally, there are  legions of engineers and product managers who drive the technical side of equipment and software. The five simple pieces of equipment needed in 1960 could maintained by yourself; now we rely on very skilled people with laptops and briefcases full of exotic tools.

I like to share as much of the printing business as people will allow; from my first Blogger site, to the now-retired Graphateria, and finally my new home at Gandy Printers. I hope you’ll read along.