Posted by: Catherine Wentworth
Category: Designers Working With
Bookmark on: del.icio.us

Some of us went to design school, others are self-taught, but one thing many of us share in common is needing to learn the ins and outs of printing.

When it comes to learning about printing, what works and what doesn’t, don’t be afraid to ask. Your printer and/or printing rep can become one of your best friends and make you look good. They can also help you avoid needing to reach for the antacids and aspirin.

When asked, “How can a designer improve their skills in your industry?”, the answers below will help ensure your printing goes smooth.

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Alex

By doing two things:

1. Before submitting projects, ask the printer questions about necessary precautions and parameters required by the printer for the project.
2. Do a bit of their own research into the printing process and how the printed page is put together.

Designers should also learn some common binding methods and how those methods require a bit more tweaking by the designer for a solid workflow and better final product. Most printers would be happy to answer these questions instead of having to have a back and forth after problems have already occurred.

Alex Noguera | Prepress Operator
www.bowne.com

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Chris

I think it’s been said time and time again and I’ve heard it myself and even said it. Get experience in the field with others who know the industry and have been doing this work for some time. Whether it be an internship or part-time job, experience with a design firm or even a printer is priceless for any designer. I know for myself, that’s always been something that holds me back and I have to learn a ton on my own.

Chris Tomlinson | Owner: Gonink - Design & Print
Gonink - Design & Print | A Designer’s Journey | USA

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Derald

Designers need to have a good working knowledge of the printing process. Printers can be the best educators so it is important to ask questions and use that knowledge for future design work. Ultimately, designers and printers want the same thing; a printed product that your customer is pleased with.

Find a few printers you enjoy working with and have reasonable pricing and develop long-term relationships with them. The information they provide builds value in your design company and can save you unexpected errors that can cost you and your customer additional charges.

Derald Schultz | Atlanta Graphic Design + Web Design + Printing
Mediarail Design, Inc. | USA

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Genie

Ask questions BEFORE starting design. If you don’t know about dielines/embossing/foils/spot colours, ask BEFORE making them. Don’t tell the prepress person that it is their problem because it prints fine on your printer at home. Offset printing is not the same as your printer at home.

Genie Ho | Prepress and design
PDQ Print | New Zealand

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George

Learn the printing process. Visit printing factories.

George Lee | Printer
Nan Sing Printing | Thailand

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HotGloss Printing

Learn and buy the appropriate tools of your trade. For goodness sakes, don’t use Publisher or Word for your next design project. Find out your printer’s needs and set up your files accordingly. The less work a printer has to do to your file, the greater the chances of success.

Understand that the Printing Industry is still a craft, even as equipment gets more high tech. People are running equipment, and a ‘perfect’ print job is rare (closely examine print all around you that is riddled with imperfections - menus, magazines, etc). There are many variables and steps involved in completing a print job. Don’t accept crap printing, but be realistic in your expectations.

HotGloss Printing | USA

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John

Well, if you are young, get a production artist job at a newspaper, magazine, print shop, etc. Invaluable typography training and preproduction procedures will be learned. If you are older, ask a lot of questions to your printer and to designers you think have different experience. Keep an open mind, there is always room for self development.

John Carvalho | Owner/Graphic Designer
Mixed Media: Design & Printing Services | USA

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Matt

In a perfect world, designers would pop out of university “print ready”. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case. My advice; do your homework. If you are not sure how to set up your files for printing you are going to have to educate yourself (either that or prepare for a lot of mistakes and extra costs). Pick up a book, “google it”, call your printer when in doubt (trust me, we really want to get files we can work easily with. If we have to take a minute or two to save us a headache down the road, we are more than happy). An awesome resource for any designer would be to join a desktop publishing or prepress forum, ask and learn from the pro’s. Links below:

Prepressforums.com

Desktop Publishing: About.com

www.allgraphic.com: Working with a Commercial Printer

Below is a complete list of printing definitions (learn to speak print):

PrintUSA.com: Glossary of Printing Terms

Matt Beazley | Printer
www.eyemean.com | Canada

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PrintDriver

A designer who has basic prepress skills will do ok as long as they call beforehand to get the specific machine specs and bleeds for their project. Also, a designer working large needs to know the vagaries of the various programs. There are mistakes you can get away with at letter size that will cost you a lot of money at mural size because the programs are not built with wide format in mind. Learn about gradient and blend stepping, what happens with gradient meshes and color, the proper application of fuzzy drop shadows, glows and other raster effects in Illustrator (a common misconception is that Illustrator is only vector but these effects are RASTER based and unless applied properly, they will pixellate at scale), how to use scale when designing large, in Quark especially, but also in other programs when the artboard isn’t big enough, and how to use the coordinate system and snap tolerance to align your design elements. A 1/32″ at 1:12 scale (inch=foot) is 3/8″ at actual size. That’s a big gap.

PrintDriver | Print Consultant | USA

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Tom

Asking questions without fear of looking inexperienced or foolish. This requires a thick skin at times, but most prepress operators that I know are more than happy to answer production questions.

Tom Stege | Lead Prepress Operator - Seattle Location
Print Time Online | USA

And there you have it. Follow their advice and you’ll be save yourself from loads of aggravation.

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until the next
Designers WW,
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