Expert: Ken Black - 2/19/2009

Question
I work in a pre-press dept. for a large format printer. We are launching a new
production area that will be processing and sending CMYK and Grayscale ads
to many different Newspapers and Magazines. The industry standard is to
create ads in QuarkXpress, Adobe InDesign, or Illustrator, and then to create
a high-resolution press ready PDF (PDF/X1-a). I know that Quark, InDesign,
and Illustrator can all export (PDF/X1-a) rather rapidly, which seems more
efficient time-wise. I am also familiar with printing postscript files, using
Adobe Distiller (with correct job-options installed). They both pre-flight as
valid (PDF/X1-a), but the file size for the native app. export files is usually
much smaller than the distiller PDFs. The distiller type may require having
many job-option settings which could be less efficient time-wise.

Which method is best-(we have a top shelf client)?

RogerD

Answer
Hi Roger,

The method that will work best is the method that fits your workflow best.

I think you need to assess whether it is a necessary step to take the time to create large postscript files and then use Distiller to create the pdf file. If you are creating PDF/X-1a files directly from the native applications that work and have no need for further customization, I believe using Distiller would slow your productivity.

There can also be some valid needs for using Distiller, especially in a group environment, this would require a bit of evaluation and planning to create the benefit.

Thanks,

Ken Black

www.bestprintingonline.com