Preparing artwork for print

Preparing artwork for print

Love it or hate it, you just can't escape printed material.
Love it or hate it, you just can't escape printed material.
From the moment you wake up in the morning, you read the newspaper, curse the amount of junk mail on your doorstep, pass billboards on your way to work, hand out your business card, get given a flyer on the high street, pick up a swanky looking brochure at your local shop.
For all these rainforest-depleting elements there was someone who has had to get the job printed.
Whatever you want to print, whether it's books, brochures, complicated packaging, mailers, ads, posters, flyers, business stationery, signage, free standing display units, point-of-sale, billboards, or even clothing -- whether rotogravure, flexographic, offset lithographic, inkjet, lazer or digital printing -- from Macs or PCs -- it is incredible how just a few basic principles hold true across the broad range of output.
Between the designer's idea and the finished product there are a host of problems, issues and glitches waiting to be experienced and in ten years I have probably come across most.
There are two basic digital ways for printers to receive artwork. As a PDF (my preference) or everything collected together (usually a QuarkXpress, Adobe InDesign or Illustrator document with images and fonts).
But before this can happen there are many things to check in the document, which could be in Quark, InDesign, or Illustrator.

If you want to know the steps, go to: 

http://www.user-groups.net/articles/prepare_to_print.html