Preflighting A Win-Win For Both Printer And Print Buyer
Preflighting for graphic arts is a win-win for both printer and print buyer. Markzware invented FlightCheck, the patented preflighting solution to check documents in a variety of file types for print quality assurance. FlightCheck thoroughly scans Adobe InDesign, Acrobat PDF, QuarkXPress, and many other file formats to find potential printing problems before the output process.
Graphic arts has never been so dynamic, so ripe with change and new opportunities afforded by emerging creative technologies. All the more reason why preflighting with FlightCheck is so important to ensure print quality control. Creations made in popular desktop programs, like QuarkXPress, Adobe InDesign or Microsoft Publisher, are no longer bound by the traditional constraints of print. Businesses now create content for any number of purposes. FlightCheck can be used for preflighting this content for quality assurance.
Even small to mid-sized businesses generate a significant amount of content for dissemination in one form of media or another – brochures, marketing materials, advertisements, educational and training materials, presentations, Web site copy, and so forth. And no matter the output intention, whether the information will be printed and distributed, or used in some electronic fashion (the Web, an Intranet, a DVD/CD-ROM, email newsletter, etc.), it’s up to the content creator to ensure that it reproduces with integrity. While the ‘new media’ enables businesses greater opportunity for exposure and reach, it prompts those creating content to adapt and learn new skill sets. Preflighting is an important skill set in the graphic arts workflow.
David Creamer, owner of I.D.E.A.S. Training in Bonsall, CA, says that there is a greater burden on businesses to stay on top of the rapidly evolving world of graphic arts and electronic media. For example, while most professionals are fairly familiar with PDF as a universally embraced way to share content, PDF creation is quite complicated. Depending on where and how the information is being disseminated, the PDF file must contain certain attributes to drive output. A PDF document that is to be posted on a Web site is very different from a pdf document that is to be printed. This is just one example of the nuances in the graphic arts workflow of which content creators may not be aware. FlightCheck handles preflighting for PDF files and many other formats.
Like a Microsoft Publisher or a QuarkXPress document, Creamer asserts, “PDF is just a format. It can eliminate the problem of missing graphics or fonts, but there is still the issue of garbage in, garbage out. That’s why a content creator’s continuing education is so critical these days. I’m not talking about how to design, but how to create files properly – when to use a spot-color guide, when to use a process-color guide, how much resolution is necessary, how to eliminate transparency issues, how to make PDFs, and so forth,” Creamer stresses.
“Everyone can make a PDF file on the computer simply by selecting the print-to-PDF option. It does not mean that it is a production-quality PDF,” agrees Stephen Shinnick, the vice president of sales for All Systems Integration, an international graphic arts and printing integration firm, who consults with businesses across the globe, suggesting and implementing technologies to help clients create, manage and distribute content in effective, cost-efficient ways. FlightCheck is the affordable, standard preflighting solution that is both effective and cost-efficient.
Fortunately, a content creator doesn’t have to be a formally trained graphic artist to prepare good documents, Shinnick suggests. There is a low-cost preflighting solution, FlightCheck by Markzware, to ensure content is rendered precisely the way you expect.
