Printing process techniques

[Spiral]

Hello,

I need some information on the printing process with regard to what happens with a finished piece of artwork when it gets sent to a printers. I know you have to set the bleed and trim, create outlines to any text, change the image to CMYK and set to at least 300dpi.....is there anything else you need to do? and what file format (EPS, PDF, JPEG) does the image have to be in? Also what happens once the file gets to the printers?

Thanks loads for any help.

[LovesPrint]

Hello,

I need some information on the printing process with regard to what happens with a finished piece of artwork when it gets sent to a printers. I know you have to set the bleed and trim, create outlines to any text, change the image to CMYK and set to at least 300dpi.....is there anything else you need to do? and what file format (EPS, PDF, JPEG) does the image have to be in? Also what happens once the file gets to the printers?

Thanks loads for any help.

It's actually better to send your printer the files with the text as text, and supply the fonts rather than outline most of the time, but again that depends on which printer you deal with.

File format depends on the printer, here we prefer PDF's, saved to PDFX -4. It's important to use the right PDF settings or your fonts won't embed which means the doc won't go through our RIP.

When your file gets here, it gets put through our RIP and proofed back to you. If it's not right (fonts not embedded and other issues) I hand it back to you and tell you what the problem is and what I need you to do to fix it, or you get me to fix it. Or, you look at me like I'm an idiot, tell me you know better, get it printed anyway, then pay for a re print when it's wrong, whilst trying to make up some excuse as to why it's happened instead of acknowledging what the issue actually was, and that you were told bout it before print ;)

I'd always check with your printer what their preferred settings are for artwork and what they need from you, as every printer is different. LISTEN TO YOUR PRINTER. All they are interested in is printing your job right, they aren't asking for artwork/fonts/images so they can change it/rip it off/sell it to their granny. It's all to get you the best result!

Hope this is helpful.

[Minuteman Press]

Artgem1984 - a great reply. We're printers and graphic designers - so our view is not simply one sided. Artgem has summarised brilliantly.

[Spiral]

Well thanks for the useful tips it really helps alot! :)