What is a mono advertisement??

[Limbo Lady]

I should probably know seeing as I design adverts, but I have never found a comprehensive definition of a mono ad. Is this just a design in black and white, or an ad with one colour plus black? How should the artwork be set up for print?

Thanks, any help appreciated!

[Jam]

mono is just one colour - black or one other

[Limbo Lady]

Thanks Jam - how should the artwork be set up? My client has asked for a two colour ad (black and possibly cyan), which I will send in PDF format.

[Jam]

can you speak to the printers?

[Maker]

you need to output in a file format that supports pantone colors. eps, pdf (set up correctly) or a native file that the printer can read (Indesign or Quark file, properly packaged).

Its always best to ask your printer what file types they want. If they say "PDF is Fine" make sure you still go to the output section of PDF dialogue and make sure "no color conversion" is selected.

We get alot of PDFs in the shop where people use the "smallest file size" pdf preset which takes their file they have carefully picked out PMS colors for and converts everything to RGB on output. -- whoops, read those dialogues carefully.

[Limbo Lady]

Jam - Unfortunately my client is the one who will be sending on the artwork after proofing the PDF, so I have no direct communication with the printer...


Maker - Thanks loads for the advice. I've been told by the client that a high res PDF would be OK; I'm not sure though at which point I should watch out for that nasty colour conversion problem... I usually design in Quark, save as EPS and distill the file in Acrobat Distiller (set to Press Quality - does this still convert to RGB???).


Also if the colour I need (other than black) is Cyan, should this be indicated as a Pantone colour too? Or is 100% Cyan OK?


Thanks again; this doesn't have much to do with mono ads but I appreciate the good advice!

[Maker]

100% cyan should be OK, so long as your distilling process doesn't FUBAR your color values... Pantone is good to use because it lets the person running your job know it's supposed to be that color (if there is any CMYK values mixed in with the PMS colors they will instantly know it's wrong where they might not notice with a 100% cyan)

I wrote up a "how-to" package PDF's on my company's website, it might help you out to avoid some of the back page pit-falls :

http://www.rpandg.com/PDFprep.html

hope this helps!

[PrintDriver]

Just remember that Maker's pdf presets may not be your print vendor's presets. Some work flows differ. Always best to get the spec sheet from the vendor you will be using.

[Maker]

definately good advice. always call and ask the guy who is going to run the job how he wants it packaged.

[Limbo Lady]

Maker - Some good advice on your PDF page, thanks for the link; the rest of the site looks good too. It seems that Quark 6.5 isn't quite as customisable as InDesign (which I would much prefer to be designing in, if only to be able to add drop shadows...) - PDF export options are limited to image compression, printer's marks and other bits and pieces of varying usefulness.

Out of interest, what does FUBAR mean? And how might Distiller do this to my colour values? I see Pantone has a Process Cyan reference; does it matter if I choose Coated/Uncoated etc. (my clients are often first-time advertisers, and have no idea themselves how the artwork will be printed or on what stock!)

Print Driver - you're right, always a good idea to contact the printers - they know best!

[Maker]

Fubar is a military term. It means F*ed up beyond all recognition.

If you had your working color space as one CMYK model (like SWOP) and the distiller output in a different color space (Like sheetfed coated) it could possibly take your build CMYK color of 100/0/0/0 and turn it to 97/0/2/1 thinking it needs to adjust the color space... but this would turn your 2 color job into a 3 color job and your printer would kick it back to you. fubar.

Use your coated pantones for stuff that will print slick (like Mcdonalds large fries container) and uncoated for stuff that will be ... 'papery' - like a grocery store paper bag. It does matter which you use, but you wont be able to tell why on the screen.

edit: and always take the advice of the printer you are working with over the advice of a cartoon robot on the internet. ;)

[Limbo Lady]

Lol, I was wondering why I couldn't find FUBAR in Distiller help... Right then I'll check my colour spaces with religious dedication; thanks again! Best of luck with the designing and printing :)