Common name. J O H N S O N PRINTING Uncommon service.

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1 Common name. J O H N S O N PRINTING Uncommon service.

2 The purpose of this guide is to provide designers and layout artists with important information on proper prepress procedures that can save valuable time and money.

3 Table of Contents Raster (Pixel) Images Line Art Requirements...1 Grayscale Requirements...2 CMYK Requirements...3 Spot Color Requirements...4 Adobe Photoshop Tips...5 Vector Images...6 Adobe Acrobat (PDF) Preflight Checklist

4 Line Art Requirements 600 ppi Black and White pixel based (Photoshop) Line art should be saved as Tiff files (we can use other file types but for best results use Tiff). The minimum resolution for line art files is pixels per inch (ppi) at 100% of output size. If you scale an image up in your page layout program the effective resolution for that image will go down, so place all images in your layout at 100% of the intended output size. Likewise, do not scale your images down in your layout program more than 20%. Reduce the size of your images in the program in which they were created to the appropriate size (example: If you are using your company logo on the cover of your piece at a larger size than on the insides of your piece, create two separate files, one larger version and one smaller version. Do this with all of the file types in this guide). This will save on file size and the amount of time it will take our Prepress Department to Print and RIP (raster image processor) your file, saving you money ppi 150 ppi 300 ppi

5 Grayscale Requirements 300 ppi Grayscale pixel based (Photoshop) images should be saved as Tiff files (we can use other file types but for best results use Tiff) and only as true Grayscale files not RGB or Index. If your scanner only allows you to scan an image as RGB or Index color please convert your images to Grayscale before sending them to our Prepress Department or we need to be alerted to their presence in your file. The minimum/maximum resolution for Grayscale image files is 300 pixels/inch at 100% of output size. Any resolution over 300 pixels/inch is not necessary and will be stripped off when the file is ripped. Like Line Art images, if you scale an image up in your page layout program the effective resolution for that image will go down resulting in poor image quality. Images copied off of websites or downloaded from the internet are generally low resolution (72ppi or less) and RGB or Index color. These images are created to be small for quick downloading and are only intended to be viewed on screen. 72 ppi 150 ppi 250 ppi 2

6 CMYK Requirements CMYK pixel based (Photoshop) images should be saved as EPS files (we can use other file types but for best results start with EPS as the original file type for your files) and only as true CMYK files not RGB or Index. If your scanner only allows you to scan an image as RGB or Index color the image needs to be converted to CMYK before being sent to our Prepress Department or we need to be alerted to their presence in your file. If your scanner only allows RGB or Index scanning you might want to consider letting our Prepress Department do the scanning for you. The minimum/maximum resolution for CMYK image files is 300 pixels/inch at 100% of output size. Any resolution over 300 pixels/inch is not necessary and will be stripped off when the file is ripped. Note: Many hi-resolution commercial photo collections store their images as JPEG to save on storage size. Be aware that many of these images are in fact only 72 ppi, but they may be quite large in pixel width and height. For example a 20-inch by 20-inch 72 ppi JPEG would have to be reduced to approximately 5-inches by 5-inches to achieve true 300 ppi resolution. When you reduce the width and height of the file the ppi resolution goes up proportionately (Example: if you reduce the file width and height of a 72 ppi file by 50% the resolution of the file doubles to 144 ppi). JPEG is a lossy file compression format, meaning that in order to make a smaller file size some of the image data is removed resulting in loss of quality. Before purchasing or downloading any Hi-Resolution files make sure you know what type of file you are getting and what the resolution is. 3

7 Spot Color Requirements Spot Color pixel based (Photoshop) images should be saved only as EPS files and only as true Spot Color files, not CMYK, RGB or Index. Spot Color files are best saved as Monotone or Duotone files directly in Photoshop, however, they can also be created in your page layout program using Grayscale images colored in your layout program. If you are not sure how to best perform this please, feel free to contact our Prepress Department. The minimum/maximum resolution for Spot Color image files is 300 pixels/inch at 100% of output size. Any resolution over 300 pixels/inch is not necessary and will be stripped off when the file is ripped. 4

8 Adobe Photoshop Tips Here are a few things you can do to your Photoshop (pixel based images) files that will help our Prepress Department process your job more efficiently and with the best results. Your pixel based files need to be the proper Pixels Per Inch (ppi) for the line screen used to print your job. Your files need to be 2-times the line screen used for your job. (example: 150 lines per inch (lpi) require files to be 300 ppi, and 175 lpi requires files to be 350 ppi.) Contact your sales consultant for more information. It is important for the highlight and shadow areas of your grayscale images to be within certain percentages to look their best. We recommend that the lightest highlight areas of Highlight areas your photos be at least 4-5% black to avoid areas on the paper with absolutely no ink and a white overexposed look. The darkest shadow areas of your images should be no more than 94-95% black to avoid areas of solid ink and a featureless muddy look. The next examples show what the setting of a Grayscale image in Photoshop should look like. These 3 are the most important. Shadow areas 5

9 Vector Images Vector Images are composed of mathematically described objects and paths called vectors. Vector programs do not store line strokes as a collection of pixels but rather as a list of drawing instructions. Vector Images can be enlarged, reduced, rotated, re-shaped and re-filled with no loss of quality. Vector Images are ideal for company logos, which tend to be used at multiple sizes. If you are creating your images in a vector based program such as Adobe Illustrator the files are resolution-independent, meaning the output device will use the image in the optimal fashion. You may still want to create more than one version of your file if it is to be used at more than one size just to save on file size and RIP time in our Prepress Department. 6

10 Adobe Acrobat (PDF) Adobe Acrobat PDF is a universal file format that preserves all the fonts, formatting, graphics, and color of any source document, regardless of the application and platform used to create it. However, if the original source file (QuarkXpress, Pagemaker or InDesign) does not follow all of the previous guidelines in this booklet then the PDF file will be more problematic to our Prepress Department than an improperly prepared layout file because PDF files are not as easy to edit. Also, if the source files are well prepared but the PDF was created improperly then the PDF will be just as problematic as a poorly prepared layout file. Before submitting PDF files please review the following pages for help in creating a proper PDF file. Creating a PDF using InDesign When creating a PDF using Indesign we recommend using the following settings to achieve a good PDF. Make sure you are using the highest compatibility setting available for your version of InDesign. 7

11 Creating a PDF using QuarkXpress 8

12 Creating a PDF using Pagemaker When creating a PDF using Pagemaker we recommend creating a Postscript file first and then distilling in Acrobat Distiller using the for Print or for Press settings. 9

13 Preflight Checklist The most important step before bringing your files to Johnson Printing is Preflighting your files. This is a list of the most common problems encountered by our Prepress Department and what you can do to avoid them. 1. If at all possible it is preferable to build your layouts in Readers Spreads as opposed to Printers Spreads. Start your file with the Cover and end the file with the Back Cover. Setting up your files in printers spreads is not necessary because our Prepress Department will impose your pages into the correct imposition for our presses. Do not set up your layouts in programs other than QuarkXpress, Pagemaker or InDesign. Files created using programs such as Microsoft Word, Publisher or Corel Draw are unacceptable as layout files. 2. Make sure the final dimensions of the document are set to the finished trim size. Layout of your file in the finished FLATTENED trim size is especially important if you are creating a pocket folder. Contact our Prepress Department if you are not sure how to set up folders. 3. Make sure bleeds extend at least 1/8 inch off the edge of the document and not just to the edge. Images that do not extend beyond the edge of the document are not bleeds. 4. All unused text or graphics must be removed from the pasteboard of your document. Blocks of text or images that are left on the pasteboard are the most common cause of missing font and image messages. 5. All rules must be at least.25 points. Hairline rules are not acceptable and do not print well at imagesetter resolutions. Hairline rules are device dependent, meaning the higher the resolution of the output device the finer the rule. Hairline rules are often missing or broken at platesetter resolutions. 6. Do not color any text or rules Registration color, use Black instead. Remove all unused colors from the color pallet. Do this with your layout file as well as with all image files. Make sure you use consistent names for all of your spot colors (example: Pantone 185 CV or Pantone 185 CVU, not both) 7. If you wish to use a Rich Black (a black with more than just 100% black), use 40% cyan and 100% black. Using a higher percent of cyan or any percent of magenta or yellow will cause offsetting problems on press. 10

14 8. Make sure all Fonts used in your files are included (If you are not sure how to collect your fonts to a disk, call our Prepress Department). Missing fonts is the #1 problem encountered by our Prepress Department. If you are using Illustrator or Photoshop images in your file make sure all fonts used in those files are included as well. Send both the screen fonts as well as the postscript fonts. When setting type choose font styles on the font menu, not the style bar (example:) This Way Not This Way 9. Missing images is the #2 problem encountered by our Prepress Department. Make sure all images are include with your file including embedded images in your image files (example: Photoshop images placed in an Illustrator file). NOTE: Never copy and paste images out of one application into another. Example: Microsoft Publisher image into QuarkXpress. Always link to the image files in your layout file never embed the images. A good example of embedding is Pagemaker. Always choose NO to include images in file. With Pagemaker files this will create a smaller more efficient file and will allow our Prepress department to edit the image if necessary. 11

15 10. Assure that all images fill their bounding boxes completely. The following examples illustrate this. Taking the time to check this can save time and money. Bad Good 11. Provide color separated lasers of your layout files. Doing this before sending your files to Johnson Printing will also benefit you by catching any improper color separations (examples: text or lines colored Registration will show on all separations, or Spot colors that may look similar but have different names will show on different separations). If your lasers were output at less than 100% please note this on the lasers. 12. Label all disks clearly. Johnson Printing accepts CD-R, Zip and Zip 250, DVD & DVD-RAM. If you would like to or FTP your files please contact your salesperson for instructions. 12

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