Changes or something else?

Printing and Prepress
#1

I’ve worked as a graphic designer since 2008. I do a little bit of everything but we do a lot of printing for government/government subsidized programs that use design houses that they are contractually obligated to use.

The last year or so these designers provide files for full color gang run printing that have linked files, fonts intact, RGB color. One in particular has this in their email, “If the Printer needs to set up or export the files according to their own production specifications, you can share the working files with them. Here’s the direct link again to the Working Files folder” and they link to a hundreds of files that I have to sort through that are working files.

Am I missing something? Has something changed? I am not as passionate as I once was for graphic design, maybe I’ve missed the new trends or changes. If I was providing a file for print, I would provide it in a pdf, 300dpi @ size w/ bleed, flattened, images embedded and in CMYK. I’m not sure who to ask. If it’s a me problem, I want to learn. Help?

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#2

I would prepare a gang-run file the same way you would, because that’s how gang-run printers usually want it. First, though, I’d find out their preferred specs, but they’re usually small variations of what you mentioned. Even for more traditional custom offset runs, I’ve almost always done it that way for at least the past 15 years unless the printer specifically asked for the working, packaged files.

I would never send a mess to a printer and expect them to sort it out. That’s plain sloppiness, and I’d expect to be charged for the time it took to sort out the mess. I have too much pride in my work to do it any other way, even for government work.

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#3

Yeah, the best way to make my life easy is to make other people’s lives easy.

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#4

This has me doubting myself, especially the RGB thing. This is not something I’d expect from a design house. (especially a large one). I expressed concern with my employer and was basically told to just make it work.

I’m tempted to open their working files and export as a 300dpi CMYK tiff and be done with it.

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#5

I gave up using .tiff years ago in favor of .psd. In addition, modern RIPs can usually handle RGB-to-CMYK conversion on the fly. In many cases, it’s even preferable, but I still prefer doing my own conversion from one to the other unless it’s for digital printing. There, I’d be needlessly restricting the larger color gamut of most digital printing to the more limited CMYK space.

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#6

In my experience, there are 2 types of printers…

Printer #1 - Desperate for work. They’ll take anything you give them and they’ll either run it as is, or they’ll fix it and not tell you and not charge for the labor. They’re not doing you any favors. Not telling you deprives you of the opportunity to learn from your errors and do things the proper way. This is one way designers pick up and perpetuate bad habits.

Printer #2 - If it’s not set up properly they’ll tell you it’s not acceptable, then give you the option to fix it, or they’ll offer to fix it for you, for a fee. I sent a client’s publication to print this week and got a note back from the printer that I didn’t set the bleed on the back cover. I sent them a corrected page and they told the client there would be a prepress charge of $60 to replace it. I told my client that was my mistake and I’d pay it. Ouch. But that’s how you learn.

As far as RGB… The problem with leaving images at RGB is that the client may have the expectation that’s what they’ll see on the printer’s proof or the final printed pieces. And it won’t look the same and you might have to explain something most people have a hard time comprehending. I avoid that by converting everything to CMYK.

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#7

I work pretty simply and it serves me well. Whatever the client sends, eps, ai, jpg, png, I place it as is in InDesign. I avoid opening or altering anything unless the job is colour critical and I need to fine tune specific CMYK values. Letting InDesign handle the colour conversion at export is cleaner and more predictable in most cases, and the exact same conversion Photoshop does.

For printers I know well I use their preferred settings or PDF X4. If I am unsure of their workflow I play it safe and use PDF X1a. And if they have a joboptions profile I will happily use it. Saves everyone guesswork.

When handing files back to the client I do not touch a thing. They get the working files as supplied and it is up to them to export however their printer requires. That keeps responsibility exactly where it belongs.

As for RGB, I usually leave images as supplied. Converting everything to CMYK too early locks you into one colour space, which can throw away colour unnecessarily. Keeping RGB gives more room for the PDF export or the RIP at the printer to get the best out of the chosen profile, or export for different mediums easier.

Nothing dramatic has changed in the industry. You are not missing the latest trend. It is more that some design houses rely heavily on printers to clean things up. Your instincts are still sound.

On the subject of missing bleed, I’ve been fixing that in prepress since nineteen digity two. No drama, no charge. With the tools we have now, from PitStop to AI assisted bleed generation, it is quicker than ever. I don’t believe anyone should be billed for that. It is basic prepress housekeeping. And on the rare occasion where bleed was impossible, nudging the page size up a percent or two usually made the problem vanish without anyone noticing. Again, that sort of thing should never incur a fee. Charging for it is a bit ridiculous in my view.

#8

When you need 1/2" bleed for some print processes or, even better, 8" bleeds to wrap scenic flats, pulling those goes right back to the designer. We don’t even offer, unless it’s simple Illustrator pulls. AI costs money now too. Sure a few credits here and there, but it is now a billable charge. Upping scale isn’t really an option either, when things have to fit into other things. Safeties get pinched. Or you lose visible image width, quite a lot of it, to pull a couple inches in height on a landscape-orientation thing, like a stage drop or billboard.

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#9

Oh yeh, large format, keep forgetting that exists ha ha.

Only relatable thing I have there is a hardback cover, needs to wrap to the inside and glued there, so long since I did a hardback cover, but 20mm bleed comes to mind.

Prepress for litho, the 500 euro an hour machines are waiting, slots are filled, plates are being made, materials are bought, ready to go on machine… prepress can’t hold it back for a simple bleed fix, we either scaled it up or added the bleed ourselves.

I get the reasons for sending back to designer - and in todays world, I get the added charging.

But I still think it’s a bit silly when a quick fix can do it. I’d still let the client know - but can’t be waiting for fixups.

Timelines were extremely tight. I think it started back in the day before even email was in the office - before mobile phones (if you can imagine such times).

Getting someone on the phone was hard, they could be on the road, in a meeting.

We would have had deadlines to get the thing printed, finished (like trimming, folding, putting it all together) and then it had to be on the 3 O’clock train.

Often had the sales guy in the office rubbing their chin saying ‘just get it done’ and then jumping into the car racing to the train station to get it on the next load.

But times are different now, everyone is accessible, times have probably moved on.

I’d never charge for it - figure it’s part of my job to spot this and make it right.

Either that or it goes on press and have the sliver of paper colour.

Anyway - I told the story the other day of how a job I sent to print was rejected for having the right bleed… the world has gone mad.

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