July 28 2006 • 3:40 PM

Real World Print Production by Claudia McCue is Off Press and On Target

I have in my hands a copy of Real World Print Production, by Claudia McCue, hot off the press from Peachpit Press. (Well, okay, it’s not in my hands; I’m typing. The book is on my desk, next to some coffee that has gotten cold because I got caught up in reading the book.) The book is exactly what I had hoped it would be: A great combination of Claudia’s wit and wisdom on a topic she knows far-too-well: How to get great print output.

I don’t agree with everything Claudia says (for example, she discounts the value of embedding images, while I think there are times when using the Links palette to embed a small image into InDesign can be extremely useful), but there is so much good material in here that I would encourage anyone involved with preparing files for print to buy this book. For example, her focus on issues such as drop shadows, transparency, and imposition are wonderful. Note, however, that this book does not get into many of the high-end concerns of printers and output providers.

4 Responses discussing this post. Add yours below.

  1. Tom
    August 2nd, 2006 • 4:19 pm • Link

    Claudia is an awesome trainer/presenter, one of the best I’ve ever seen. If her book is half as good as she is in person, it’s a winner.

  2. harry
    December 30th, 2007 • 4:59 pm • Link

    Although Claudia’s book is very useful, you may want to check out Exploring Digital Prepress by Reid Anderson. It goes further into printing and plate separations.

  3. January 11th, 2009 • 3:14 am • Link

    I have to agree, Claudia’s book is a great study /primer for those in the print business. As you say, the higher level stuff is not in the book but nevertheless, perhaps its not the higher level information that this book aims to provide.

  4. Roy
    April 6th, 2009 • 10:53 am • Link

    Can anybody help me out? im taking classes and we are using this book, i have a really big project due wednesday, and i need some oline credited sources talking about chaptyer 9. can anybody help me out? e-mail me roydogroybaby@yahoo.com

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