A client recently came to us with a project for a brochure. Nice looking piece. The designer had done a lot of “artistic” techniques to create the effect he was after. But it was now time to print, and we all soon found that those techniques created a lot of trouble with the file. This job became a classic example of Murphy’s Law —- anything that could go wrong with this file WAS wrong with this file.
After many days, a missed mail date, and a lot of money to repair the problems, we were able to sit down and actually review what caused the issues. We decided to do a brief run-down of what went wrong in order to provide our advice for avoiding this kind of trouble. Here’s the list:
Missing Images — many of the pictures that were included in the layout were not embedded in or included in the file that came to us for print. We bounced the file back to our client to have the file repackaged for print. Moral of the story, be sure you prepare files properly for print.
Missing Fonts — same problem as what happened above. The file wasn’t packaged properly for print, so many of the unique fonts for the piece were missing.
Extensive (over-extensive, to be exact) Use of Layers — There were SO MANY layers on one layout of the brochure, and wouldn’t you know it, one of the layers was corrupt. It took our pre-press department several hours to unbuild and unlock all of the layers to figure out which one was causing the trouble.
Layout — when sending a multi-page job to press, be sure to provide the printer with a mock up or PDF indicating the page order / layout. Sometimes, it isn’t clear from the way the file is built, as was the case with this piece.
Images — images that are going to press should be hi-resolution (300 DPI, depending on size, is a good rule of thumb). Don’t cross your fingers and “hope” that a lo-res picture will work out OK when you go to press. Trust me, it won’t!
Bleeds — this entire brochure had bleeds on each page. Problem was, some pages of the file included the bleeds and some didn’t. As you’re preparing a job for print, be sure you include your bleeds to avoid problems and delays when going through pre-press.
Typo’s — Believe it or not, despite the days and hours spent going through this brochure, and the number of people who had proofread and double & triple checked … you know where this is going, right? We went to go on press and found a TYPO! If you do a lot of printing, like this client does, it’s going to happen. Luckily, we were able to fix it before it became a huge disaster.
In the end, the piece was great and everyone was happy. But it’s certainly a lesson for everyone. Regardless of how long you’ve been in the business, Murphy’s Law stories like this are a good reminder to be mindful of the little things, and prepare on the front end. It can help you avoid costly mistakes!
October 24, 2008 - UPDATE!
In response to many clients who have asked us to guide them through the pre-press process, Kopytek has created an updated guide to Creating Print Ready Files. Click here to download your free copy of the guide.
