Wednesday, 17 October 2012

Design Production: Problem Solving

In todays session we were placed into groups and given the task to decipher the problems within a four page document. We screen captured key aspects to the task to illustrate how simple but costly some of the mistakes could be.


On the first page there was a couple of errors that became evident as soon as you exit the preview setting on InDesign. The image tree image placed in the document was missing it's link to the original file of the image which would cause the image to now print at 72 dpi as opposed to the original 300dpi image.
Secondly, there was a bleed set up on the document which wasn't being used, due to the background colour finishing where the document does, making the bleed ineffective and pointless.


This image illustrates that one of the images in the document had been set up at 72dpi, which again, could be a huge problem on a large print run. You could add pixels too the image but that will blur the image somewhat.


This image however was in 300dpi as required, but the size of the image was ridiculous. As we were supplied with the original image we could edit the image to the required size of roughly 463 x 312 pixels. Just saving the file over the one supplied and reconnecting the link solved the problem.


Another problem with the images was that one of them was left in RGB mode when placed and overlooked. Not a problem, we opened the original file in Photoshop, changed the colour mode to CMYK and saved over the original file. Reconnect the link, problem gone.


An abundance of unused Spot Colours still left in the Swatches, which could end up costing more money on a print job and confusion to yourself. Tidy up them swatches.


We checked that all the inks were fine to be printed via the Separations window which shows any colours that wouldn't be produced in the print. Weirdly the text on the back page showed up, it was set to be the registration. Change to straight black, everything is printable.


Another swatch problem was the fact that there was an RGB colour making an appearance somewhere in the document. Change the colour mode by opening up the swatch, luckily, this one transferred nicely from RGB to CMYK.


Use the Preflight menu at the bottom to see how many problems you have. This was indicating the missing link of the tree image, not available with the document and other images.


When dealing with a commercial printer, package your publication. This enables you to give the printer instructions that are embedded with the file as well as making sure you keep your fonts, images and a final update of the image links.

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