Adobe Photoshop
The days of having to convert color images to CMYK are gone, yet most designers still cling to the idea that you MUST convert your images to CMYK to avoid all manner of disaster when printing a project.
Read more “How to switch from a CMYK to RGB workflow”
Adobe Illustrator
Your design is done and you’re printing your file. Then you see it. Some white object or text simply refuses to print. You’ve tried printing directly from Adobe Illustrator, you’ve placed the object into InDesign and printing from there, and you’ve even tried saving it as a PDF. But no luck, that object still won’t print. I’ve seen this happen a ton of times. In almost every case, it’s an object created in Adobe Illustrator—usually a logo.
Read more “How to deal with disappearing white text & objects when printing”
Adobe InDesign
I know. You’re probably thinking “just type the page number in the Print dialog box.” But that only works when your pages are numbered in the default method where page one is actually the first page in the document. This isn’t always the case. Many times, you’ll have a multi-page document where you’ve used the Numbering & Section Options in the Pages panel and the page numbering doesn’t start until (for example) page six—to accommodate a cover page, table of contents and intro pages.
So if page one is actually the sixth page in your Adobe InDesign document, and that’s the page you want to print, you can’t just print page one, because that would actually print the first page of the document—which in this case is the cover page.
To print the specific page that is numbered page one (the sixth page in this example), you have to print the Absolute Page Number. To do this, simply add a + (Plus) symbol to the absolute page number in your document (in this case, 6) as seen in the image above.
General
Many users of Adobe’s Creative Suite software are unaware that Adobe provides an excellent printing guide in PDF format to aid in learning the ins-and-outs of successful commercial printing using the Creative Suite apps
The guide is an excellent resource for new users, serving as a training manual, as well as a brush-up for experienced users. The guide covers a wide-range of printing-related topics in Adobe InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator and Acrobat. The free Creative Suite 5/5.5 Printing Guide is a 22MB download.
General
A guide to examine ways to prepare files for print, covering applications in the Adobe Creative Suite. The examples used are for InDesign, but can apply to Photoshop and Illustrator.
This is a basic guide aimed to help people just starting out in the print design business or are looking to learn more about preparing files better to send to press.
In my experience, designers with a background (or at least a deep understanding of what it takes to output files commercially) are better at their job because the results of their design more closely match their expectations.
General
Commercial printing is expensive, but there are ways you can save money with little effort if you’re willing to be flexible and spend some time before the bidding process with your printer. The key is communication. Your printer’s sales rep should be most helpful in finding ways to save money on your job. After all, if you’re happy with his or her service, you’re more likely to give him repeat business.
When requesting a bid from your preferred printer, and paper stock isn’t set in stone, be sure to ask your sales rep if they have access to any discontinued paper from the manufacturer. Many times, limited quantities of discontinued paper is available at a heavy discount. It’s a great way to save money on your print job if you’re willing to be flexible.
Consider printing multiple jobs at the same time, on the same paper stock. Many times, paper is only available in large sheet sizes and your job doesn’t quite fill the sheet. You can add a smaller print piece on the same sheet and save money on the print run.
Ask if your printer offers a cash in advance or upon delivery discount. Printers have to pay for the paper and print your job on their dime, then wait for you to pay them. By offering to pay for paper and ink costs, or even the whole job in advance, you may find the printer willing to offer a bit of a discount.
You can save a hefty amount on your print job by specifying a Grade 2 sheet. Premium (Grade 1) paper costs substantially more, and often times is really no better than 2nd grade sheets. When in doubt, ask for a sample from your print sales rep.
General
If you’ve worked in the print design business for any amount of time, you’ve no doubt heard the term “rich black” more than once. If you’re not quite sure when or why to use it, read on for a brief explanation.
Because large areas of black ink tend to appear a muddy brown or charcoal gray color lacking richness and depth, printers recommend using a rich black (a mix of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black ink percentages) in large solid areas where black ink is desired.
There are no “set-in-stone” rules as to when to use rich black, but the following are times when I’ve found it best to do so.
While there are no rules as to when you should use rich black, there are a few rules on when you should NOT use it.
Most designers eventually find a rich black that works best for them. For me, a 50% cyan, 50% magenta, 25% yellow, 100% black mix works great in most cases. But how did I come up with those percentages? Obviously 100% black is a standard. The remaining three colors are usually where the fluctuation occurs. I’ve found that having an equal amount of cyan and magenta, with yellow being about half those amounts, works best. I use less yellow because the yellow pigment in the ink tends to really muddy your black quickly. Why not use 100% of all four colors? You must take ink levels into consideration. Ink levels are the amount of ink your printer is putting down on the paper. Using too much ink will muddy the image, wrinkle the paper, and requires more time for the ink to dry properly; possibly causing you to miss a deadline. Using rich black is a trial and error type of thing. You can save yourself a lot of time by simply asking your printer what settings they get the best results with. Many printers have nailed down exact CMYK ink amounts for the best results on their particular printing press. If you’re using Adobe InDesign and Illustrator, be sure to visit the application preferences. You’ll find a section that allows you to display the color black accurately. Be sure to turn that feature on; it will save you plenty of grief later on.
General
Many users of Adobe’s Creative Suite software are unaware that Adobe provides an excellent printing guide in PDF format to help in learning the ins-and-outs of successful commercial printing using the CS apps.The guide is an excellent resource for new users, serving as a training manual, as well as a brush-up for experienced users. The guide covers a wide-range of printing-related topics in Adobe InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator and Acrobat. The free Creative Suite 4 Printing Guide is available in PDF format in both low-res (4.6MB) and high-res (17.7MB). If you’re still using Creative Suite 3, a link is available for that as well.
General
Adobe has posted the Adobe Creative Suite 4 Printing Guide, which serves as both a detailed technical reference for handling Adobe Creative Suite 4 Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, and Acrobat files from your customers, and as a training tool for your staff. If you want to know more about graphics, exporting and printing, font issues, working with book files, output troubleshooting, color management and more, you’ll find this downloadable PDF guide extremely helpful. Direct-download links: CS4 Print Guide – low-res (PDF, 4.6mb) CS4 Print Guide – high res (PDF, 18.1mb) If you’re still using Adobe Creative Suite 3, you can download the Creative Suite 3 Printing Guides here: CS3 Print Guide – low res (PDF, 6.6mb) CS3 Print Guide – high res (PDF, 24.4mb)
Apple | Mac
If you generally print a lot of PDF files at a time, it can be tedious to open each file individually and deal with the print dialog box for each file. Thankfully, OSX provides you with a faster way. Open the Print & Fax preference pane from OSX’s System Preferences icon in your Dock and select the printer you’d like to use to print the PDF files. Once the printer is selected, drag it to your desktop, which will create a Desktop Printer. 
General
For your average designer or production artist, preparing your files for printing is nothing more than selecting “collect for output” from a menu in your favorite layout application. But if you want to be more than average, you should get to know the pre-press & printing process and how you can make your jobs run more smoothly. Gregg Stalter at PhotoshopCafe has a lengthy article covering the entire printing process from terms used and selecting a printer, to prepress and finishing your job.