Design Tips COLOR When using colors, plan on what the colors will be and how they will print - spot or process. If you use spot colors, specify in PMS (Pantone Matching System). If the colors are built out of process, specify as CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black). A quick check to see how many plates will be printed is to bring up the "Print" menu and select "Separations." The colors will be listed. Use CMYK colors, with separation ON, if you want 4-color process printing. You will be amazed at what you get if you send a file in RGB and the printer doesn't catch it and change it to CMYK. Use spot colors, separation OFF, if you want spot colors. Avoid using RGB when printing - always convert to CMYK. When using color in a document or graphic, be sure to delete all unused colors in your pallet - i.e. Blue, Green, Red, Proof-1, My Color, etc. These may cause printing problems and/or confusion. In ANY program, list all colors used in placed graphics EXACTLY AS WRITTEN IN THE GRAPHIC!! Printing problems occur due to correct colors being left out of the pallet. Also, if the graphic has a red labeled "Pantone 032 RED" and you define and use a red you call "032 RED," the postscript rip will see these as two distinctly different inks and make a separate plate for each. Mac default black is 100% black. If you are printing four color process, for large solid areas of black, we suggest a mixture of 80% C, 80% M, 80% Y & 100% K: making a "Rich Black" that other colors underneath will not show thru. They will show through if you only use the 100% black. Use a printed swatch guide, like the Pantone Solid to Process Guide to visualize CMYK colors. You will probably be disappointed in the built approximation of most Pantone colors. In fact, only about 50% of PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM Colors can be closely simulated in four-color process printing. There is no guarantee the Pantone tints will match between applications. ALWAYS check the built-in percentages. NEVER trust the color fidelity of any monitor, anywhere. Period. Use the "numbers" on printed swatch guides instead. FONTS Fonts used by both client and printer MUST be of the same vendor, name and manufacturer. Adobe PostScript Type 1 fonts are the defacto standard of the industry. PostScript fonts have both a "screen font" for proper display on your monitor AND a "printer font" that is used to create smooth type on a printer. Always send BOTH! If you are going "cross-platform", i.e., from MAC to PC (or the other way) - remember that fonts DO NOT travel well. MAC and PC fonts are different animals, even if both are Adobe Type 1. You MUST send hard copy proofs in this situation, so that any major changes in font metrics are corrected. NEVER NEVER NEVER use the style menu to make type "BOLD" or "ITALIC", etc. Chances are it will not print correctly. Most typefaces named after cities (especially on Mac's), i. e., Geneva, New York, Chicago, Monaco, etc. are "Screen Fonts" and are not made for high-end output. Avoid them like the plague! HARD COPY PROOFS Providing a hard-copy, to-size proof of the final version of the file eliminates many opportunities for misunderstandings. Most vendors WILL NOT accept responsibility for final film without a hard copy proof! (If you have trouble printing a laser proof, you can be pretty sure that the vendor will have trouble too!) If a client does not provide a hard-copy proof, the vendor should produce (and charge for) a laser proof and fax it to the client for approval. The schedule clock does not start ticking until this signed approval is received. Hard copy proofs that are not 100% to size lead to scaling problems, inability to compare laser output to film output on a light table, and other production bugs. Clients should tile and put together proofs, or, at the very least, note in BIG RED LETTERS somewhere that the hard copy is 100%. This allows the vendor to run a same-size proof. Remember that the scaling percentage and the "fit in window" percentage travel with the electronic file, making it easy for a careless vendor to output to the wrong size film. Mark all images "live" or "FPO" (for position only), just like you would on an art board. Then the vendor won't waste time looking for files that don't matter. Note any images that have been "flopped" and/or anamorphically scaled or rotated. Also, please supply laser-printed "color separations" for color files as a check on your end and the vendor's. BLEEDS & TRIMS The client should construct all necessary bleeds, unless instructed otherwise by the vendor. If the vendor has to do it, extra expense is incurred, as well as increased opportunity for error. Bleeding means that the ink runs to the very edge of the finished piece. This means that the printer must print the piece oversized and then trim back to the final size. To create a bleed all you do is carry the image, background, line, etc. 1/8" outside the piece you are working on. RULES & BORDERS NEVER use the predefined "hairline" weight for a line: a laser printer defines a hairline differently than an imagesetter does. A good rule of thumb for a "hairline" is .25 point. TRAPPING & OVERPRINTING Be sure that the vendor and client agree beforehand who is responsible for trapping. In most cases, it is better for the vendor to apply the trap. The important thing is to agree beforehand who is responsible for what. Note whether black is to OVERPRINT or DROP OUT, unless you want to rely on the vendor's judgment. Note any special overprint/drop out requirements for other colors. If you're not sure whether to trap or not (or if you don't know what trapping is and when it is needed - ASK your printer or service bureau.) Trapping is a process that compensates for minor misregistration that can occur on a printing press. It is compensated for usually by overlapping adjacent colors (the lighter color into the darker) slightly so no paper color will show if the inked areas don't quite touch everywhere. Typically, light colors are either spread (enlarged) or choked (reduced) into darker colors. VIGNETTES & BANDING PROBLEMS Generally speaking, the best vignettes are created in a program like Photoshop. Vendors often decline responsibility when banding occurs in drawing programs and page make-up programs like QuarkXpress and Pagemaker. Banding is the problem of optically noticeable bands running through a graduated blend. 1-color PMS blends tend to cause more banding problems than 4-color or multi-tint blends. The "speed" (amount of gradation from one endpoint to another) and distance of blends are variables that impact banding. Too long a distance and too little a gradation or, inversely, too short a distance and too great a gradation will result in banding. (Try to keep blends/gradations under 9 inches.) Rastering an Illustrator, Quark or Freehand blend in PhotoShop to produce a tiff tends to reduce banding somewhat. This also allows you to apply filters to the blend, such as despeckle, blur or noise. Experimenting with lowering resolutions of blends, we've found that even at 72 dpi they look much smoother than higher resolution version. There are two types of blends: object-oriented and bitmap. The first, object-oriented, are generated in programs like Adobe Illustrator, Aldus Freehand, or QuarkXPress. These blends can be problematic: their steps are just too perfect. Your eyes are naturally drawn to the transition from one perfect step to another. For Illustrator or Freehand users, keep your object-oriented blends to a net change of no more than 75% from end to end. A blend that starts at 10% and ends at 80% is much less likely to band than one that begins at 0% and ends at 100%. If you create a bitmap blend in Photoshop, add a pixel or two of noise (found in the filter menu) to the selection to avoid those nasty stair-steps.