Digital PrePress Checklist

Digital Prepress…the most complicated part of printing for both printers and designers alike. Common Problems: missing fonts, low resolution photos, files saved and packaged incorrectly. Oh my!

The next time you design a project and submit it to your local printer, take a peek at this list and your life and your printer’s job should be much easier! It might even be cheaper because your files were submitted correctly.

When creating documents to send for digital output, please ensure that:

• The document dimensions are correct and at the right size for output.
• All images are correctly positioned and linked.
• Logos or graphics created in programs like Illustrator, have all type converted to paths or outlines.
• In your page layout program, the status of all imported pictures or links should be “ok.”
• You have only used fonts that you intended to use for output.
• All unused colors have been deleted.
• The pasteboard’s surrounding all design pages are empty.
• All document bleeds have been extended at least 1/8″ beyond the desired finished size of your project.
• All documents have been proof-read and double-checked before submission. Have a friend proof read it!
  

Design & Pre-Press Checklist:

• Do not use Publisher or Quark. Stick to Adobe Products for ease of use.
• Remember, Photoshop is for photos. Illustrator is for illustrations. InDesign is for Page Layout.
• Do not enlarge images beyond 120% of original size when placing it in your document.
• Do not use images downloaded from Google. Read second sections of post.
• Do not use compression methods (i.e. LZW or JPEG) on placed images for output.
• Do not use RGB images whenever possible. Convert them to CMYK.

Before submitting files, please make sure that you have included:

• All fonts required to process and print the document.
• All attached EPS and/or TIFF/JPG files.
• Final laser prints of all document pages.