When I hear people saying “Print is Dead”, I am shocked at how little is known about its dynamic capabilities. Not only does print (traditional and digital) have a place “in the mix”, the print industry is a leader with its tried and true history of adapting to new technology and customer demand in order to stay relevant and innovative.

Printers are creating pieces that change copy and imagery according to our likes and dislikes, age, sex, income, etc. Through large format technology, entire buildings and vehicles are being wrapped in print. There are eco-friendly seed papers that can be planted after use, special varnishes and finishing processes that provide texture, glitter, pop, scent – the amazing experiences you can provide only through print are endless!

Right in our own backyard, Georgia’s printers are producing some of the most powerful and compelling examples of how print can be used better than any other medium. Ask your printer what they can do to make your next job stand out from the competition, and you’ll see their eyes light up as they tell you everything that’s here, and everything that’s coming. Printers are passionate about their craft, and for good reason. No other media offers the same visual, tactile, human experience…or has undergone the world-changing advancements that print has.

Ashley Lenz
The Printing & Imaging Association of Georgia (PIAG)
We believe in the power of print, that’s why Georgia Printer magazine, published by PIAG, recently teamed up with Envision Printing, Neenah Paper, & Scentisphere to produce our first-ever bubblegum scented cover. To request a copy, contact me at alenz@piag.org.

Here is a listing and explanation of common files and the common uses of each:

First off, to fully understand the differences there are 2 terms that need to be defined; Vector graphics and Raster graphics.

A vector graphic is any graphic that is based off of math which in turn makes vector graphics resolution independent. What all of this printer babble means to you is that if you are using a vector graphic, you can stretch it or enlarge it to any size imaginable and it will still output nice and sharp because the graphic just recalculates the math. Another advantage of a math based graphic is small file sizes.

A raster graphic is a totally different story. Raster graphics are based off of pixels which are basically small chunks of information. For this reason, raster graphics are resolution dependent which means that there is a set amount of information contained in the graphic. If you enlarge the graphic, no real new information is created; which is the reason you see pixels and graininess in printed graphics that do not have enough resolution.

.ai – This is Adobe Illustrator’s native file format. Adobe Illustrator is the most popular vector graphics creation program and .ai files support layers. If your designer is using other Adobe programs for print and/or web design (such as Indesign CS4, Dreamweaver CS4 and/or Flash CS4) .ai files can be imported directly into those programs which makes this a good, high quality file format for your logos for use in print or on the web. Just be sure that that you convert all of your type to curves beforehand. Also, please note that in the final code that is uploaded to your webserver, an ai will be converted to a .jpeg or .gif by Dreamweaver.

.eps – This is also a vector file format and it stands for encapsulated postscript. Postscript is a computer language made to send to output devices such as printers, imagers etc. This is a high quality file format for print and mainly used for logos and similar graphics. Unfortunately, postscript does not display on your computer monitor very accurately so an eps is not a good choice for web graphics. Please note that this is not to be confused with a Photoshop eps which is a raster file format and not vector based.

.tiff – This is the preferred raster file format for printing. A .tiff is preferred for printing because it is considered a lossless file format which means there is not a compression system applied to the graphic that throws away your precious data upon saving and/or opening. Basically, all of the original information captured by the native device is maintained and preserved unless purposely edited. However, because of this, .tiffs will often have large file sizes which makes it a poor choice for use on the web which prefers optimized images with the smallest file sizes possible. Tiffs also support layers.

.jpeg – This is considered a lossy raster file format which means, you guessed it, it applies a compression to graphics that does throw away your data upon saving. Some images are high enough quality that throwing away some original data will not make a visual difference especially with today’s high resolution native capture devices. However, on images that you want or need to preserve all of the data possible and get the best quality out of, this is not a good choice. We can output files with placed jpegs with no issue, however do keep in mind that every time a jpeg is opened in a program, edited and saved it throws away data. This quality makes jpegs file sizes a lot smaller than .tiffs which in turn makes it a preferred file format for use on the web.

.gif – This is considered a lossy raster file format just like the jpeg. A gif can only have a maximum of 256 colors which makes is a low quality image file format that is not acceptable for use in print. Gif files are popular for use on the web due to their ability to display simple images well  with very small file sizes. Gifs can also contain simple animations and transparency.

If you are on a MAC, you have it easy. Just highlight all of the files and/or folders you want to include in your zip folder, ctrl + click (right click if you have a mighty mouse or other 2 button mouse). This will bring up a submenu. Select the option “Create Archive of” (or on some versions of OS X it says “Create Compressed file of”). This will zip all of your files up into one file with a .zip extension.

If you are on a Windows based pc, you will have to download a simple third party program to create zipped file such as WinZip or FreeZip. Follow the simple on screen instructions to create your zip file.

If you are uploading your files to our FTP site, our site will automatically zip your files for you so your files will get to us in one piece.

If you want to unzip a file someone sent to you, just double click. Both Mac’s and Windows based pcs have a unzip utility built in.

Mozilla Firefox – This is the world’s second most popular browser, behind Internet Explorer. Mozilla Firefox is an open source web browser that has a wide variety of add ons available, is twice as fast as Internet Explorer, offers more security, renders pages more accurately and is easier to navigate. With the thousands of plugins and themes available, you can customize the browser to look and do just about anything. I also like it because when using the default theme, it functions the same on both macs and windows computers. Available for Mac, Windows and Linux.

Google Chrome - This is a free web browser based on the Mozilla browser platform that Google has modified which means renders webpages quickly and accurately. Google originally created it as the browser for it’s Andriod mobile phone operating system (used on such phones as the G1), they have since modified it and released it as a browser for computers. It is just as fast as Firefox, although I find it a little harder to navigate. One of Chrome’s best features is that you can create shortcuts on your desktop for your web applications. For example, I could go to Google docs and tell Chrome to create a shortcut. It would then place a shortcut on my desktop so when I double clicked it, Chrome would open up my Google docs account like an application that was installed locally on the computer. Very handy if you do a lot of cloud computing. Google Chrome is available for Mac and Windows.

Apple Safari - Safari is the default browser on the Mac OS. Like Chrome, it was also built using Mozilla as its base. Safari is a little slower than Firefox or Chrome, but still offers better performance than Internet Explorer. It is also is easy to use and has a simple and elegant look that ties in nicely with the Apple OS and iPhone OS. While Safari works well on a Mac, on windows based computers it does not function quite as smoothly.  Safari really took off in popularity because Apple uses it on the Apple iphone. Available for Mac and Windows.

Flock – This is a web browser you may not have heard of before, but is really great for people that like to social network. Flock is basically a modified version of Mozilla Firefox. From Flock you can easily update and keep track of all of your social networking accounts including Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Flickr, Picasa;  even update your blog and upload photos. However, because the broswer is constantly checking multiple web accounts and RSS feeds, it uses a bit more resources than a normal web browser so it does run a little slower compared to Firefox. Also, it is more of a personal broswer and might not be the best choice for use at the workplace due to the personal information it stores. Available for Mac, Windows and Linux.

There are several simple guidelines that designers and file submitters can follow to avoid unnecessary prepress charges and project delays.

To ensure a file outputs correctly and consistently it is helpful to have the following:

• The native art file (sometimes called layout file). This is the file that you would produce in a layout program such as Indesign or Quark.
• All support files. A support file is anything brought into the layout program, such as an image. When you import a file (like an image), the layout program does not place the entire image; it only places a low-resolution preview and creates a link to the actual file. This means if the support file that is referenced in the layout file is not provided, we cannot output that image. Also be sure to update all of your links before submitting files for printing.

• All fonts. Due to so many different variations and versions of fonts, it is best to have the font used to create the layout to ensure that your type does not re-flow and otherwise look different that intended. Also, it is worth noting not to use the italic and bold buttons within programs. Use the Italic and Bold versions of the actual font.
• Lasers or a pdf of the file that you are sending us so we can have something to reference to ensure your file outputs the way you intended.

or….

• A press quality pdf (such as a pdf built to the x1a-2001 standard) with bleeds
  

Providing us with all of the types of files is very easy these days with built in features in common layout applications. With the click of a mouse, these features will copy all the necessary files into a folder for you.

• In Indesign this feature is called Package. Package is located under File > Package.
• In Quark this feature is called Collect for Output. Collect is located under File > Collect for Output
• In other programs such as Illustrator, Freehand, CorelDraw etc. the files linked in the layout program and the fonts will have to be tracked down and put in a folder manually.

Here are some other guidelines that will help your digital files not only become a printed reality, but look their best while staying on budget and on schedule.

• Make sure all images are 250 – 300 dpi when placed at 100%
• Make sure all images are converted to CMYK
• Build files to final size and in reader’s spreads. This means if your intended product is 5×8, make the page size in your layout 5×8. If the project includes bleeds (where ink runs off the edge of the paper), extend your images or color 1/8 of an inch beyond the edge of the page where bleeds are intended. If your file is built in printer’s spreads, please inform us so that we can make sure your project is imposed properly.

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]]> http://craftsmenprinting.com/blog/2009/05/19/submitting-a-print-project/feed/ 2 http://craftsmenprinting.com/blog/2009/01/16/we-now-have-the-adobe-cs4/ http://craftsmenprinting.com/blog/2009/01/16/we-now-have-the-adobe-cs4/#comments Fri, 16 Jan 2009 19:37:52 +0000 Brenda Bell http://craftsmenprinting.com/blog/?p=14 We now have Adobe CS4 installed and are ready to accept your projects built using CS4 applications. This includes Indesign CS4, Illustrator CS4, Photoshop CS4 and Acrobat Professional version 9.

Thanks!

Craftsmen