The New Rules for Printing

2

You don’t get your messages from a beeper, or carry your files on floppies, so stop preparing your print files like you did in the 1990s!

This article appeared in Issue 82 of InDesign Magazine.

At the advent of desktop publishing, way back in the last century, powerful tools were placed in the hands of people who had no experience whatsoever with the actual process of printing. To say that chaos reigned would be an understatement. Suddenly, printers were being given files built by designers who had no concept of spot colors, bleed, resolution, or even cyan.

Printers scrambled to educate neophyte production artists, dictating stringent rules for file submission: No RGB! No JPEGs! No TrueType fonts! Thou shalt submit only TIFFs and EPSs! Thou darest not use Microsoft Word!

But now… Welcome to the 21st century! Times are different, and while many people are still following 20-year-old guidelines, the truth is that many of the old rules have changed (well, not that Word thing). Let’s take a look at some modern approaches that might convince you to change some old habits.

This article is for members only. To continue reading, please sign in, or sign up for a membership today. Thanks for supporting CreativePro!