A design that looks perfect on a screen will not necessarily print well. During prepress we adapt the finished design to the printer's machines and specifications, so the print turns out the way the designer imagined it, and a mistake does not come to light only when a pallet of wrong copies is already there.
Every printer has its own requirements. One asks for a particular PDF standard, another for a different colour profile or a larger bleed. That is why the work starts by checking with the printer, and we prepare the file to their specification.
This also requires knowing the printing technology. A digital printer produces a piece quickly in a small run, an offset printer in a larger run with different specifications, and the file has to fit both.
What we pay attention to
- The colours are in CMYK or in the specified spot colours, and the images are converted to the printer's colour profile
- The resolution of the images is enough for printing, typically at least 300 ppi at print size
- The fonts are embedded or converted to outlines, so they are not replaced at the printer either
- The bleed and the crop marks are set as the printer asks
- Small black text is made of black ink only, so it does not come out blurred
Most printers also run a so-called preflight check when the files are submitted, which automatically flags missing fonts or images with too low a resolution. We run this check ourselves before submitting.
Packaging brings further considerations. The dieline has to be kept on a separate layer, and the position of varnish or embossing has to be marked in a separate file, so the printer applies every technique in the right place.
For larger runs or a new material it is worth asking for a print proof. It shows how the colours come out on the given paper, and there is still time to change something if it does not look as it should.
With us, preparing print-ready files is part of packaging design, so the design reaches the printer to their specification, and only the final refinements are left for the print proof.
