Publication Construction and Design
File Organization
The following illustrates the preferred way for organizing your files. Any fonts
used other than basic system fonts should be provided in their own folder.
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Color Usage
Determine if your final piece will be printed using spot or
process color. If you are printing in process color, you can have any
number of colors within your document, but they need to be specified as
process colors. This not only makes them separate to CMYK plates, but
also can change the way that they display on your monitor to more accurately
reproduce how they may look in ink.
If you are printing in spot color, you must have colors only for inks
that you are using, with the exception of tint or screened colors. If
you use EPS or DCS images, make sure that the spot color name you specify
matches the name anywhere else in your publication, including other
images. Otherwise you may wind up with a duplicate color that looks
the same.
When finished with a document, remove any unused colors. This
is the quickest way to ensure colors you've used are the ones you want.
It also avoids accidental printing of a color or plate you don't want
once you've sent us your file.
We recommend use of the Pantone
Matching System®.
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Links and Embedding
You should store graphics externally from the document to reduce
the size of your publication. It will open, redraw, and save faster.
The only disadvantage to this method is that you must maintain current
links to the images you use. If any of the links are broken, your
publication may use its low resolution internal copies to print.
QuarkXPress by default does not store images internally, while
PageMaker by default stores images smaller than 256K.
We recommend disabling Store copy in publication in
PageMaker's Element -> Link Options menu. If this is
done when no documents are open, it will become the default for PageMaker
when creating new documents. For existing documents, they will
retain the settings that were in effect when the document was created.
To change these documents, first locate all of their links using the
File -> links manager option. Then select Utilities
-> Plug-ins -> Global link options and change for All
pages the Change link options for graphics such
that Store copy in pub is deselected (see
figure 1). PageMaker will remove the stored version of the
graphic from the publication.
When saving your publication with the intent to print as the final
version, you should File -> Save as and select
All linked files. The destination you specify will place
your document and all its linked files into one location on disk.
We recommend moving all images, regardless of format, into a
Links folder for ease of locating the publication and managing
its archival.
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Layout Guide
Whenever possible, the document size should reflect that of
the finished printed piece. Our imposition specialists will arrange
the document so that it prints most time- and cost-efficiently.
Business cards should be 1-up on a 3.5w x 2h inch document. If you
have more than one card, they should be placed on additional pages.
Newsletters and books should be set up with multiple pages where the
page size reflects that of the finished book or newsletter. With the
possible exception of the outside cover, you should avoid setting up
the publication as spreads.
Brochures should have a page size that represents the document in its
unfolded state. Each page should represent a single side of the
brochure.
Avoid drawing crop marks around your printed piece; if you use the
correct page size, the layout software will automatically add them at
press time. If you must design something using a larger page size
than the final printed piece, then create hairline crop marks using
registration ink.
There are exceptions to all rules. If your project looks like
it may need special layout considerations, give us a call.
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Bleeds
Any time your printed piece has an element that goes to the edge of
the sheet, it must have appropriate bleed. This is due to slight
shifts that occur both during printing and cutting that can cause individual
printed pieces to exhibit white hairlines near the edge when cut.
This is avoided by extending images beyond the page dimension.
Bleed items should extend to one eighth (0.125) inch beyond the page
boundary (see
figure 2).
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Fonts and Font Management
Fonts are often chosen based solely on their look. However,
an equally important consideration should be its format and version.
PostScript® Type 1 and TrueType fonts from well known sources such
as Adobe, Bitstream,
etc. are fairly reliable. These support advanced features like kerning,
tracking, and horizontal scaling. Avoid old or unknown fonts, such
as Type 3, or any free or inexpensive font downloaded from the internet.
A bad font can cause lots of problems ranging from undesired printing
results to system crashes and freezes.
We recommend MarkzWare's
FlightCheck Collect for packaging fonts for your publication. PageMaker's
"save for service bureau" option does a good job, but has
troubles with fonts on all platforms. In QuarkXPress, the "collect
for output" option does not manage fonts. Without a collection
or packaging program, we advise you to keep track of fonts used in your
publication and copy them to a Fonts folder for supplying
with the final publication. Please see our Font
Saving guide for more helpful information.
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More Information
For more information on creating and saving publications in PageMaker
or InDesign, visit Adobe
Online and check their technical guides. For QuarkXPress information,
go to Quark
TechNotes Online.
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© 2008 Watkins Printing
Updated Monday, 09 May 2005
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