Expert: LizaL - 3/3/2006

Question
I am a web developer/designer that does quite a bit of graphic design for the web using Photoshop CS and ImageReady.  However, as of late, several of my clients have asked me to design print graphics for various projects (I use Photoshop CS for print design as well).  I never seem to work with the same printer twice.  Not being very well versed in printing processes and terminology nor a formally trained graphic designer, I was wondering what are some specific questions I could always ask the printer initially to get my designs off to the right start where color management, printing process, etc. are concerned?  (a top 5 or 10 list perhaps)

Another related question is...can you explain or give me a link to an explanation of the preset color settings in Photoshop (Euroscale, Japan Color 2001, US Sheetfed, etc.)  and do you think these typically correspond to the actual standards that printers typically use?

Thanks in advance.

Answer
Hi Jamye,

I know where you're coming from with this stuff -- I worked primarily in print design for 15 years, then switched to Web about 6 years ago. I do both now, but when I first started doing Web work I realized it did NOT work the same way print does... and vice-versa!

Along with my work as a designer, I was also a college commercial art and graphic design teacher for 10 years. So I have a few cardinal rules I always had my students follow. And many of these rules come from my own experience, from making printed mistakes and having to learn from them!

1. If you have a project you've prepared for print, take nothing for granted. Find out who your printer will be, and call them and introduce yourself. Tell them who you are, who you're working for, and what you're doing.

The best scenario is to meet with the printer in person, after you've called them. If this isn't possible, and if, for instance, they're out of town or state, send them a detailed email.

The point here is to gather all the information you can about the printer, and give them all the information you can about you, your client, and the job(s).


2. That's the beginning step. When it comes to the particulars of the job itself, some things to ask are:

-- Can I submit to you electronic files? If so, what programs can you accept? What versions? What file formats should my files be in? Do you want me to FTP them to you, or give you a CD?

If you're submitting jobs electronically, make sure you send them EVERYTHING you used to create the job. Create correctly-labeled folders for everything, even the fonts you used.

Also include a printed piece of what the finished job should look like. If you've printed out a proof from your inkjet, this qualifies. Mark it up with any special instructions (like bleeds, the numbers of the colors, the dimensions, etc.).


-- Should I convert the fonts to outlines? The answer to this will most likely be YES, but make sure. Converting fonts to outlines makes the fonts into graphic objects, rather than fonts, so that the printer doesn't need your font in order to print the job.

In Photoshop, the equivalent of converting fonts to outlines is rasterizing the type. This makes the type layer into a layer you can edit with tools like the eraser. In programs like Illustrator, converting the fonts to outlines lets you alter the shape of the type.


-- Should my color mode be CMYK? (The answer to this, if the job will be printed offset, is yes, but make sure.) RGB color mode refers to Web work, as you know.


-- Can I use Pantone (PMS) colors? (In programs like Illustrator and FreeHand these are referred to as "spot" colors.) Truly, this is a question for the client; see below.


The difference between PMS colors and process colors (process color being CMYK colors that you create yourself in a program like Photoshop or Illustrator, using varying shades of cyan, magenta, yellow and black) is mostly price. It's usually cheaper to use PMS colors, as those are more readily available. Mixing CMYK is more painstaking and troublesome, therefore more costly.


-- How will this job be printed? (Believe it or not, high-speed color copiers do an excellent job these days, and are sometimes used in lieu of actual offset presses, for small, uncomplicated jobs. So it's always best to ask what machine your job will be printed on.)


-- If the job will be printed on a high-speed copier, can I see a proof before it's run?


-- If the job is to be printed offset, what kind of dot gain can I expect? (Dot gain is the density of ink on a sheet of paper. An example: Say you designed a letterhead that has a screened logo in the background. You want the logo to be printed very lightly in the background so it won't obscure anything printed on top of it. You'd want to ask the printer if you've set up your file with the screened logo layer light enough, so that dot gain won't make it too heavy. For most things, you can set your screen layer's transparency to 10 or 15%, but it's always best to ask the printer.)


-- If you have two or more colors touching each other, ask your printer, Do I need to worry about trapping? (Trapping is a way of extending the edges of some colors in order to keep gaps from occurring, in case the printed piece gets jogged off-register in the printing process.)

The good news here is that most printers don't want the designer to do trapping. Usually the prepress department at a printing company will do the trapping. Trapping can be tricky, and most commercial programs (like Illustrator and FreeHand) aren't as accurate as methods used by prepress. (I also worked in the prepress department of a large printer for several years, and did my share of trapping. It was a real pain to undo the trapping that designers had done, since we handled the trapping ourselves.)


-- Should I set black to overprint? (Overprinting two colors can sometimes result in a weird mix -- like purple and pink overprinted might be strange looking... but generally speaking black can always print on top of everything.)


-- If the job is something like business cards or things that will fit on a sheet of paper, do you want me to gang it? (Many times if you have things of the same size that can be fit on a sheet, and business cards is a good example here, the printer will ask you to "gang" them together in order to be efficient with paper. This just means you'd place the items side by side to fill the page. Then they'll print the job and chop cut them apart at the marks you specify.)


-- Speaking of marks that you'd specify in the job... Does any part of the job bleed off the page? If so, ask the printer how much bleed room they want. Usually this is 1/8 of an inch, but sometimes it can vary. Then in your file, just add an extra 1/8" all around, run the bleeding color to that edge, and specify that you're bleeding said color.


-- I worked for years as a national magazine art director. If you're doing something like this, where color is crucial, always ask for a Matchprint (or equivalent) of the cover. This is an expensive proof, relatively speaking, but it's worth its weight in gold to see the colors represented correctly prior to printing.


-- Speaking of color, and accuracy, always choose and proof your colors using a Pantone swatch book. They make swatch books for both PMS and process colors, by the way. If you don't have access to a color correct booth with Kelvin lighting (and most of us don't, at least not at home, LOL!), choose your colors by the window, using natural lighting.


-- All this might be more than you'll need to know. So I'll sum it up with the most important piece of advice: NEVER, EVER be afraid to ask a printer ANY question, no matter how stupid it may sound to you. At my first job as a graphic artist, I boldly forged ahead on a job one time and didn't ask anyone about the correct size of the finished piece. The job slipped by my boss, was printed and then cut incorrectly, per my specs... all 5000 of them! That was 21 years ago and ever since, I have NEVER hesitated to come out and ask any question.


Now about the preset color settings in Photoshop:

Yes, these standards pretty much correspond to those used by commercial printers, but I'd use them as a starting point for your own workflow. I have to say it again, always ask your printer. These are typical, but different printers have different equipment and ways of working. But using these presets as a starting point is fine. Then you can adjust them according to what the printer tells you, and save your new presets for the different printers you work with.


Hope this helps and good luck!

Lisa