With the advent of digital workflow, new responsibilities emerge for the newspaper publisher and the ad creator
Ask most newspaper sales executives, and they’ll tell you just how competitive the market place is these days — how tough of a sell it is when other media forms are drawing the interest of advertisers like never before.
Newspapers must be able to compete with these other vehicles, present compelling circulation numbers, and provide excellent customer service to the advertising client. They must be able to accept, position, produce and print the advertiser’s copy and images, with particular attention paid to reproduction quality.
In the cases of ads supplied by larger agencies and experienced design firms, digital content may come in by way of “prepress-ready” file formats, all the elements present and accounted for, all the specifications for print met. But not all ads come in from clients well-equipped to supply these types of files. As a result, plenty of bad files come in the door — files rife with font, resolution or color space problems. And these “bad files” must then be fixed before they can be placed in the imposition, which, of course, takes time and money.
Fortunately, there are inexpensive software tools available to newspaper publishers and their advertising clients that smooth out these workflow wrinkles, and enables advertisers to supply well-prepared and accurate digital ad files to the publisher, as well as enabing the publisher to confirm that the files are “good” upon receipt.
The publisher’s role
Newspaper production departments have been long – (and well) equipped to receive any number of types of digital ad files — everything from native application QuarkXPress and Adobe InDesign documents to more standardized, locked down PDF files.
As the publisher, accepting these digital ads, the newspaper production team is often equipped with software — referred to in the print industry as “preflight software“
– that will analyze digital ad files and alert the publisher to any inaccuracies in their preparation. Preflight software will sound an alarm when there may be missing fonts and graphics, improper color space (RGB vs. CMYK) or resolution discrepancies.
While preflight technologies have been a staple for newspaper and other print publishers for more than a decade, the workflow between advertiser and publisher remains replete with flaws, with publishers and printers reporting as many as 85 percent of the digital files they receive from their clients are ill-prepared and require some intervention before they can be printed.
Most publishers and printers agree that the ideal advertising workflow comprises digital fields that are supplied in good form that meet the ideal printing specifications established by the newspaper publisher and its printer. And there’s really no reason why advertisers — whether large, print-savvy agencies or independent designers — can’t supply their files in this way. The tools to verify their content before submitting it to the newspaper are inexpensive, easy to use and accessible. But if may fall upon the publisher’s production and sales staff those who have direct contact with the advertising client — to evangelize their use.
Fortunately, it isn’t a tough sell for clients who share the publisher’s goal — to produce good print ads. Increasingly the culture is shifting, and ad creators are more inclined to do whatever is necessary to ensure the files they release to the paper will process seamlessly and look great in print.
The agency’s role
These days, it’s no longer the publisher and printer who share the responsibility of quality control; it’s everyone’s responsibility — from content creator to production to prepress to press.
“I examine and check all the files before they’re released from the agency — whether they’re for outdoor media, newspapers or magazines,” suggests Donna Carroll, quality control manager, newspapers or magazines,” suggests Donna Carroll, quality control manager, print production, Crispin Porter and Bogusky (CPB Miami).
CPB produces graphics and ad campaigns for some notable clients, including Virgin Atlantic Airways, Burger King, Mini Cooper, and NOW HIV/AIDS, just to name a few. Carroll says that no matter the size and prestige of the client, it’s the agency’s primary responsibility to ensure their ads are visually spectacular when they appear in print.
To ensure that the digitial ad files she offers to newspaper publishers, Carroll uses a low-cost application called Flightcheck Professional from Santa – CA – based Markzware. The solution according to the developer, is designed to “look inside” the digital file — whether it’s a native application file (such as QuarkXPress or Adobe Illustrator) or a final-format PDF — and determine whether all of the file elements are present and accounted for.
“We have 20 digital artists who work on files before I get them, Carroll explains. “For each of them, their last workflow step is to use FlightCheck [Professiona] to check these elements and then collect them to a single file package. Not only is it a checkpoint for us at the creative stage, it is also a collection tool that gathers all the images and fots, so that within the package, you know that everything required for the job is in there, and whe it gets to the vendor, it’s not missing anything.
“Then , they send the files to me,” Carroll ads. “I use FlightCheck again to double check them before they’re released to a publication or printer. It’s our last line of defense.”
Remember the common goal
Like Donna Carroll, Kenny Berwager is a big proponent of preflighting digital ads before they leave the agency’s doors. He’s a graphic and production artist for Lois Knott Advertising, a small, more-than-35-year-old advertising firm based in Hanover, PA.
While the firm produces a wide range of advertising media — everything form print to radio and TV spots — the majority of jobs Berwager works on are bound for local newspapers.
He describes the typical newspaper ad workflow: “Lois [Knott] is the creative director. She gathers any materials I’ll need to produce the ad, and also provides me with a sample layout — just someting simple like a pencil sketch. I take that layout and begin the design — in [Adobe] Illustrator or InDesign, usually. We currently use the Adobe Creative Suite applications,” Berwager explains.
Once the ad design is complete and approved by the client, Berwager finalizes the digital file by putting it through a complete preflight analysis and then collecting the document or output to a flattened PDF file that’s both “camera-ready” and “prepress-ready.”
Preflight is absolute necessity to the Berwager’s workflow, he insists. Using FlightCheck, Berwager is able to see all the file’s guts.
“It checks for things that may be corrupt,” he says. “I can see if images are RGB but should be CMYK. I can tell their resolution. I can see all of these details about the images and the fonts, so if something needs to be fixed, I can go back to InDesign or whatever application I’ve created the file in, and make the changes, recheck it with FlightCheck and then save out my PDF. That way, I know, when the file leaves my desktop, it’s not going to land at the newspaper and cause all sorts of headaches there, or on press.”
Berwager claims that he’s quite happy to preflight his files before he releases them to a client, a publication or a printer. While it may be an added responsibility on his shoulders, he says that it’s worth the few minutes it takes to adjudicate the files — especially for his clients.
“[Preflight] ensures there are fewer mistakes in the print job and ultimately, that means that our agency or our clients won’t have nay extra, unexpected charges for fixing problems with the files we produce,” Berwager asserts.
Confident in Your Content?
June 19, 2008
In the digital workflow for print and multimedia, graphic artist must think beyond aesthetics and accept some of the responsibility that prepress suppliers once held.
If any of your design work in the past decade has been for print, you’ve undoubtedly borne witness to a revolution unfolding — the advent of digital content creation and computer-to-plate (CTP) print manufacturing. Film went away and was replaced by the exchange of digital files between designer and printer.
Digital files are now the means for delivering content to any number of output possibilities — from traditional offset printing to digital printing, to Web sites, DVDs and CD-ROMs. The emergence of graphic design for new media forms simultaneous to the changes unfolding in print have put some burdens on the shoulders of graphic artists. It’s not enough these days to toil in your favorite desktop publishing applications, making “pretty pictures” for your employers or customers, as the case may be. To best serve the process, you’ve got to be both designer and prepress operation — knowledgeable about best practices in creating content for any medium.
The cost of sloppy production
Although print has been around far longer, designing for the Web is arguably a much simpler process than designing for print. It’s easy to make changes or fixes to online content. It can take mere minutes — even seconds — to make a change to a master file and re-upload it to a site.
In the world of print, the stakes are much higher. An honest, simple error in a digital file can bring the print production process to an abrupt halt. Printers expect that the files designers supply to them will be prepared properly — with all the elements present and accounted for, but more importantly optimized for print. A bad, or error-prone file — whether it’s a magazine ad, a postcard, a direct-mail piece, an insert, and so forth — that makes it all the way to the printer will, undoubtedly, cost your company, or your customer, time and money to remedy.
Ill-prepared files is “absolutely the biggest deal” in the print production workflow today, suggest Tom Clifford, prepress production manager, Banta Corporation, Menasha, WI.
“You need to understand that a 30-second change in the design stage, on a master template, could become a 10-hour change after the pages have been supplied to the printer — or worse, a $100,000 change once the job has been printed,” Clifford stresses.
Suzy Aycoth manages design, quality control and platesetting for Perfect Image Printing, Charlotte, NC. She sees, first-hand, the disparity in file formats coming through the door of her print sop, and she’s on the front lines when it come to resolving problems resident in her customers’ files.
Aycoth says the that file format she prefers to receive from customers are native QuarkXPress files, but only 50 percent of customers supply those files, and even then, she estimates that an average 90 percent of all files arrive in some state of disrepair. Depending on the intensity of the repair, Aycoth will recommend one of two options — have the customer make the fix on their end and resubmit the file; or make the repair at the printer and charge the customer for additional processing time.
New Challenges and responsibilities
So, how do you ensure that the content you’ve created will reproduce in print as you expect it to? By putting some simple best-practices and quality-control measures in place.
First, it’s important to know what the output intentions are. If it’s for print, you can bet you’ll need to pay particular attention to details such as color space, resolution settings, dimensions, trim and bleed, etc. The best way to ensure your understanding of how the file needs to be set up, contact the printer and ask about its specifications. The most digital-savvy printers will expect you to meet the requirements of certain standards. For example, a publication printer to which you’re submitting a magazine ad may require you to prepare your files according to the PDF/X-1a standard. Other printers may want a different file format, but it’s important to know what that is.
Knowing the specs is the first step, but ensuring that you’ve followed them to the letter is the critical second step. Here’s where technology comes into play. For a rather low-cost investment, graphic artists can implement quality-assurance software — commonly known as ‘preflight’ software.
There are several preflight developers in the market, but many of them are robust solutions most appropriate for high-volume workflows, like you’d find at a commercial printer. But there are a few solutions that are geared specifically to the graphic designer to designate document parameters — called “Design Policies” — based on the printer’s specifications. For example, the designer may designate resolution and color space, and if he or she mistakenly place as a low-res graphic or an RGB image, the application immediately alerts the designer. The fix can be made then and there, and designer can rest assured that the file being delivered to the printer is in its best possible condition.
“As client budgets continue to tighten, productivity in concept, design and production are more critical than ever,” explains Michael Bachleda, president of Bachleda Advertising, Schaefferstown, PA. “Preflighting all our … print projects in house, before providing anything to the printer saves us time later. Those savings more than pay for the cost of the software itself.”
Ensuring your marketability
As with learning any new skill, educating yourself about best practices in digital file preparation takes time and dedication, but it’s worth the effort.
“The increase in productivity, especially in prepress, has been phenomenal. It requires, though, a little more responsibility on the art director’s end,” Hipple forewarns. “Once you’re done designing a product, it’s not done when it leaves your desktop. It’s only done when it comes off the press. This is a production process, and you need to educate yourself on the total craft.”
“Even experienced designers have trouble keeping up with the latest productivity enhancements built into the latest Mac or PC operating software. The more a designer can troubleshoot, solve, and even avoid, preventable production problems, the more valuable the designer is to the agency and the agency’s client base,” Bachleda suggests. “For small and mid-size shops, there is little time to train entry-level designers, so the more productivity tools a designer has in his or her pocket, the more value he or she can build into a job supporting higher-level designers, which hopefully translates into faster-growing salaries and access to tastier projects.”
