Basics in sending an ad to a publishing co~VERY NEW and need HELP! 2

[EveE]

Okay so I'm sending an ad to a magazine and the specifications are a bit overwhelming...trapping, color guidance, etc. I looked up trapping but this is a full bleed picture with some text on top, do I need trapping then? Then they say that all digital images should include a printout of contents of each disk supplied as well as correct copy information for content and positioning...what's this about and is it necessary?
What does this person need?! I'm used to just sending it to the printer in an InDesign file and everythings fine. They want a 2400 pdf saved for "print". Any help would be great!!!and very very much appreciated for this new designer!

 

[tangerinewoman]

Generally I find that they overspecify. This is quite straightforward these days.

Your best bet is to export your file to a pdf – and that's where you can use the preset "pass for press". This should do all the work for you. It's at the top of the dialogue box.

If it's a full page with bleed, remember to put bleed in (there's an option for marks and bleeds). If not, you don't need to worry about that. Compatibility usually to acrobat 5, but again, don't worry too much.

Send them that and they'll get back to you if there's anything wrong!

 

[jmgalvin]

Yeah, just follow tangerinewomen's advice. Use the Press pdf export feature and make sure that you include all marks.

The "2400" they were referring to is the base text resolution of a "press" quality pdf. They made a good when they said "print" as that's a setting for local printing off your own printer - much lower resolution.

If you have Acrobat pro you can open the Distiller presets for Press, Print, etc and see a more complete listing of the differences among them. The pdf export presets in Indesign, mimic the Distller presets in Acrobat pro.

Using OSX 10.3.9 on a G4

 

[Eggles]

I would strongly recommend you don't use the 'Press' setting under the Export to PDF - instead use the PDF/X-1a. Why? because you don't know what they are going to do with the PDF once they get it.

I had a bad experience in the past when I sent a Press quality PDF of an ad (with marks and bleeds checked) to a magazine and they placed it in a Quark document (which was how the mag was laid out), and the version they were using could not cope with IDs transparency features. The ad looked terrible.

In subsequent dealings where I don't know what will happen to the ad, I have always sent a PDF/X-1a, and never had any problems since. The PDF/X-1a is an ISO-accredited PDF that dumbs down IDs advanced features for older RIPs and programs like Quark, effectively flattening all transparency effects. The quality is still the same as a Press PDF (compression, fonts, etc).

Like the Press setting, you have to specifically check the box to show marks and bleeds, as it is not part of either pre-set. You can save the amended PDF settings (I call mine 'X-1a with marks') and it will show up in your list of presets when you export to PDF.

 

[jmgalvin]

Eggles: One thing. At least under Indesign 3 the Press setting default is for compatability with Acrobat 4. Under that, the transparency is flattened.

Using OSX 10.3.9 on a G4

 

[rossmcd]

Eggles- your comment about PDF/X-1a is very curious- I've not come across this before. Does your recommendation also apply to PDF documents destined for commercial printers?

I send 'Press' PDF files to various print firms and rarely have problems. Have I simply been lucky?

Maybe more broadly, under what circumstances is PDF/X-1a a better export method than 'Press' ?

Thanks
Ross

 

[Eggles]

rossmcd

My recommendation for creating PDF/X-1a files is for when you do not know what will happen to the PDF. Such as sending an ad to a magazine for inclusion as a graphic in their layout. This is quite different to the situation where the PDF is going direct to a printer who you know can handle Press PDFs created from the latest version of InDesign.

I create a lot of ads for my employer, and these go to a variety of publications. These in turn can be laid out and produced in a variety of ways - and if they happen to be using older versions of Quark for their layout, any transparency effects in the newest PDFs will be flattened - sometimes in unexpected ways. For example, I had a a product phoro with a transparent background placed near another important element in the design, and once placed into Quark and printed, my transparent BG was no longer transparent and in fact printed as a white box overlaying the other element. Not good.

So any time I send an ad to a magazine, I send a PDF/X-1a which is thus already flattened. I can look at it in Acrobat and determine if anything unexpected has happened in the creation of the PDF (such as the dreaded white boxes behind graphics), and make appropriate changes to the design before it is sent.

 

[rossmcd]

thanks eggles.