PLEASE Help Me With Basic Print Information

[xXxMikhailxXx]

Hey there,

I really hope someone can help me out. Basically, I'm new to the world of commercial graphic design and I would really love to learn more about the process of preparing an image for print. I've read, or tried to read, some articles online regarding this topic, but can't seem to find one that is helpful.

I want to know, in english and not in extreme technical jargon, what to do to get an image ready for commercial, offset printing. e.g. What the hell is colour separation and all that? Once I've created my artwork, what do I need to do with it? etc.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks muchly

[SpugNothuson]

I imagine that right now, you're feeling a bit like Alice. Hmm? Tumbling down the rabbit hole?
It's not as bad as all that honestly. :D

Separations are the individual colours that your job will be split into.
e.g. Full COlour CMYK print. The job will be split into a Cyan Plate, Magenta Plate, Yellow Plate and a Black Plate. Then when slapped onto a press, wham bam thank you mam a full colour job appears at the other end.

This also applies to spot colour jobs. Just substitute CMYK for Pantone 032, Pantone ??? and so on.

[Virgo Nightingale]

Honestly the best answer you're going to get is to contact the printer. They will give you the specs that work best for their press.

What exactly are you looking to prepare? What programs do you have at your disposal? This information will help us tell you what the best course to take will be.

If you're just talking about an image (a regular photograph, no text or logos), open the image in Photoshop, go to Image > Image Size. Make sure the dimensions of the image are set to what you want it to be printed at. Also make sure the resolution is set to 300 dpi. <<This is of tremendous importance. If the resolution is too low (as is the case for just about any image intended for web use) your image will look blurry and pixelated. Ick.

If you're talking about adding text, you should also use a program like Quark or InDesign to set your text (Photoshop is NOT intended for text layout).

Color separations refer to each of the plates used for a print job: each plate prints a different color on the paper. Full color (necessary for printing a photograph) will use four color plates: cyan, magenta, yellow and black (CMYK). If you have additional spot colors (premixed colors) each will get its own plate.

It really sounds like you're starting from the beginning. You really should consider hiring someone, it will cost less than the toupee you'll need after pulling your hair out trying to figure out all these things on your own to get this to print correctly. In the very absolute least, contact the printer who will be handling this.

[PrintDriver]

I always get a kick out of answers that assume everything needs to be 300dpi CMYK. And I get a kick out of saying, "not for all print processes".

If you don't have a good working relationship with a printer already, always call BEFORE doing your artwork. Save heartache and time later. Because if you are doing a mural, I might tell you I want your images at 150dpi in RGB, which I would, for a Lambda or Lightjet print. But I might want your layout program color space in CMYK and if you swap from RGB after designing, all kinds of color hell breaks loose.

In fact, call your printer after each Adobe upgrade just to make sure Adobe didn't do something really stupid (there's always something).

[Virgo Nightingale]

^^ You do have a point PD. I figured that since he was mentioning offset, that he was talking about those average little itty-bitty pieces and not a mural. I could be wrong though, it's not like there was a ton of info to go on.

[CkretAjint]

PD is correct. I just whiped out some 7 foot by 5 foot images today. The printer wanted 200 dpi RGB files built at .5" scale...

[PrintDriver]

It's funny but a lot of the wide format rips and/or color management seems to be working better in RGB.

Yeah, I saw the offset. I just like to throw wrenches.

[budafist]

Just want to point out: checking your separations to make sure a job is looking the way it should is a good thing, but please don't send the file separated to your printer unless that's what they ask for.