In the last “Preflighting 101″ post we covered text issues in the entry entitled, “Preflighting 101 - Part 2; Common Issues- text“. Today we are delving into the ever important (both technically and communication wise) area of images, which FlightCheck Professional checks with precision- after all, an image speaks a thousand words… I wonder how many words that is with today’s exchange rate, image filled, Internet world… anyway, back to the potential problems and solutions with images in your print-documents:
Mistakes do happen. Fonts, color and images quality are the prime culprits that damage smooth print workflows. These problems are just some of the topics covered as part of the Graphic Arts Institute [GAI] training program in San Francisco.
Located in the Northern California Print Center, which also is home to the Printing Industries of Northern California [PINC] and a number of other print-related businesses, the GAI’s in-plant uses a four-color 20-inch Heidelberg Speedmaster press to produce fliers, brochures, booklets and envelopes in print runs up to 8,000 units. Many of these printed pieces include information about PINC’s and GAI’s health program and health insurance program.
Preflight, in the graphic arts sense, is the process of checking a digital document before it goes to plate, print or otherwise output (exported - such as to PDF). It traditionally is a way to check quality before going to the printing press, digital or otherwise, but can also be used to check online banners and gifs. Preflight is best done on the source document, such as those created in Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, QuarkXPress or Corel!Draw as some examples, before becoming a PDF (Portable Document Format). Similar to a pilot whom walks around and performs a pre take-off pre-flight check, preflighting for designers and prepress operators should be a must.
We have heard of many creatives and designers starting to use FlightCheck to check their web banners before posting.
This video explains the quick and easy process of batch checking images files to ensure either web or print quality. Users of Photoshop or other image editing tools, should love this one!
