No matter what computer system and software you use, there is usually more to
send to us than just the application document, e.g. the Quark/Pagemaker etc,
files. You may need to send fonts and graphics too. Below is some basic advice
on preparing your job for the Russell Press. We have tried to be non-application
specific.
Firstly, make sure that you send the actual application document, e.g. the
Pagemaker, Quark, Publisher file.
Fonts are the biggest cause of problems with DTP documents. Many jobs are
received with missing fonts, corrupted fonts or the wrong fonts. If you don't
supply your own fonts, we may be able to use our own versions, but this may not
work, or may result in subtle or obvious differences in the text flow of your
documents.
Even when you use the common, classic fonts such as Times New Roman it is still
better to send us the actual fonts that your document contains. You will need to
check your font license agreement, but generally it is an acceptable practice to
supply a copy to a printer in order to output your job correctly.
There are two main types of font in use: Type 1 and Truetype. We can use either
type, but prefer Type 1. There is an emerging standard which combines the two
fonts into one, called Opentype, but there are not many fonts in this format at
present, but we can handle these.
If you use Type 1 fonts then you will need to supply both the screen and printer
fonts. Make sure that you supply the whole family of the typefaces you have
used, e.g. Medium, Italic, Bold, Bold Italic etc.
You should avoid mixing Type 1 and Truetype fonts in the same document. Also
make sure you send the same version of the font, that is, if you use a Truetype
font, don't send the Type 1 version to us.
EPS (Encapsulated postscript files) that include text often require fonts that
are all too frequently overlooked.
To summarise, you should send all of the fonts used in your document, both
screen and printer fonts in the case of Type 1 fonts.
One way to ensure that you include all the fonts in your job is to use the
utilities of your page layout program, for example, Pagemaker has a Prepare for
Service Bureau feature which gathers the fonts used in your document, the
Collect for Output utility in Quark Xpress creates a list telling you which
fonts are used. There is also a range of third party applications which provide
similar services for other applications.
You should always include all of the graphics used in your document. It is
most likely easier to do a headcount on the graphics used in your publication
but it is still possible to miss a few. There are dozens of graphic formats but
only two - EPS and TIFF are the standards for commercial high resolution
printing. Beyond file type other graphics issues that can jeopardise a printing
project are colour, compression, complexity and completely missing images.
You should generally avoid using JPEG, GIF, WMF, BMP and PICT files as this may
cause a loss of detail in the final printed job. The JPEG format, in particular
is often used to make large high resolution files much smaller, but this format
actually "throws away" detail in an image in order to achieve this. Also, each
time you open and re-save a JPEG file, more detail is "thrown away". If you must
use JPEG files then we would advise you to set the quality to maximum, in order
to avoid visible loss of picture quality.
When Windows users cut and paste images from other applications such as Excel
you end up with WMF (Windows Metafiles) graphics embedded in your document.
Often these files print with the wrong colours or with changes in line width.
Gif images obtained from the web are usually too low resolution for printing. If
your graphic is in colour then make sure it is CMYK. Convert any RGB graphics in
your application to CMYK.
If your graphics contain a spot colour, you will have to save them in EPS
format, make sure the colours in your document have the same names, eg Pantone
154 CV and Pantone 154 CVC are two completely separate colours.
If your job is in colour, you should always output separated proofs to your
printer, and check that items appear on the correct separation.
It is important that you send a printed proof showing what your job should
look like. This helps us to spot obvious font differences, missing graphics, or
changes in layout.
If your job is colour then send a proof of each separation, as well as a
composite (or single colour) proof.
If you cannot send your proof at 100% size then mark it show what percentage
size it was output at.
Include a list of all the fonts used, as well as a list of all the files that
appear on your disk.
You may need to include a dummy or mockup of your finished project to show how
it is to be cut, folded or bound.
1. Send the document itself (e.g. the Quark or Pagemaker document.
2. Send ALL of the fonts used in your document. Watch out for fonts that may be
needed in Encapsulated Postscript files. In the case of Type 1 fonts make sure
you copy both screen and printer fonts.
3. Send ALL of the graphic files used in your document. Make sure that they are
in the correct format, e.g. CMYK for full colour jobs
4. Send a hard copy proof of your job, including separated proofs if your job is
in colour.