R & R: Resolution and Richness

Today was a day of riding around prospecting. For most in sales, this is always tough, but I rather enjoy it. You never know what business and opportunity is right around the corner...until you get out and look for it! Peppered throughout the day were calls and emails from clients pertaining to the most common problems faced by all marketers and designers: you guessed it, file problems.

If you ask any BPI prepress technician how often they receive perfectly-packaged files, the answer will be almost never. DO NOT feel badly because you're not alone if you have occasional preflight problems. This is one of the main conversations I have when sitting across the desk from a client. A great solution for our clients has been to use our Kodak Insite proofing system. This allows customers to easily upload files and within minutes (REALLY!), a proof is ready to view/approve OR a notice of preflight problems is sent. Any preflight problems will be listed per page and identified as either being inadequate bleed, low resolution images, etc.

I thought I'd share a few common problems and solutions with you today and hope this will be helpful on your next print project. After all, the best way to learn is from our peers & colleagues, right?

Fellow BPI Rep, Wendy, with me in the Kodak booth at the Printing Show in Chicago a few years ago. Always good to enjoy the company of and learn from your peers!

Issue 1: No bleed. For printing, there should be 1/8" bleed. This allows room for the final trim.

Issue 2: Low-res images. For printing, all images, including logos and photos, should be at least 300 dpi. Anything less will not print crisp and clear the way you want your company to be represented on your collateral and marketing pieces. This seems to be a bigger problem in desktop publishing software such as Publisher, but can sometimes be a problem in InDesign too depending on the source of your images files. (Note: All images downloaded directly from a website will be low resolution. Instead, try getting your images from a stock photo provider such as istock or stock exchange. Many of the images on these sites are free or at a minimal cost. Just be sure to check the copyright!)

Issue 3: Rich black text. It is best to only use rich black when you have a large, solid area of black. On all text, keep the black at 100% black only. Here's the formula we prefer for rich black areas of print, just in case you need it:
100% black
40% Cyan
30% Magenta
30% Yellow

Issue 4: Missing fonts. This common preflight problem can be easily avoided when packaging your print files.

Issue 5: RGB images. In printing, the colors used are CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow and black). RGB (red, green, blue) is what most monitors see (tv and computer). If an image prints in RGB, it appears "washed out" or faded.

BPI's prepress department can always answer any questions relative to specific file problems. We also have exporting guidelines that can be very helpful much like the screen shot shown here. As always, please call or email me anytime, and if I don't know the answer, I will get it for you. (If you'd like any screen shots emailed to you for reference in file prep, drop me a note, and I'll be glad to send them right over to you.)

PS-Don't forget to sign up for our bimonthly webinar--this time we'll be covering Kodak Insite! Tuesday, August 9th @ 11 am ET/10 am CT. Click here to join the webinar.

Until next time...Elizabeth