"Camera Ready Artwork"
or Print Ready Artwork
Almost everyone has heard the term Camera Ready Artwork. In the modern world of desktop publishing, where artwork is prepared on a computer, the term Camera Ready Art is rather obsolete; all-digital artwork has become the status quo throughout the printing industry. Print-ready or press-ready art is more accurate terminology now, and some printing facilities will not even print from artwork that is not digital.
Although computers have transformed the entire printing process, some old issues persist: properly prepared artwork. Receiving artwork that is ready to print "as is" has always been a great challenge. Now that nearly everyone has a computer has only exasperated the problem.
If you plan to deliver print-ready artwork to your printer, consult with him or her before opening your drawing or layout program, or before scanning any artwork or photos. You will get better results, save time, and possibly save money. Find out what file formats they accept to be sure you use a software program that they even support or won't charge you extra for.
Common Reasons Artwork is Not Print-Ready Include:
Document Size should always be set to the finished size of the final product. Many people just leave their document size at 8.5" X 11" (the default letter-size). Setting the document size correctly is important in order to make sure that the you and your printer understand what the margin are on the final product. Your printer needs the art prepared with the correct document size for other technical reasons as well. If you are unsure of the size, such as the dimensions of a "standard" business envelope, find out before preparing the artwork.
Bleed is when anything is to print the very edges of the finished product: a line, photo, illustration, background, etc. that will "run off the edge" of the paper. Whatever you want to bleed must be positioned PAST the document edges where you want it to bleed. This is due to minor variations in printing, trimming, folding, etc. to ensure that there is no exposed paper on the edge(s). The industry standard is 0.125" (1/8") past the document edge.
Margin is the opposite of bleed: anything that you do NOT want to get cut off shouldn't be placed too close to the document edges. Due to minor variations of the production equipment involved, you need a clear margin of free space around your art. Industry standard is to never place anything closer than 0.125" (1/8") to the document edge.
Image Resolution - all photos should be at least 300dpi to ensure that they print clearly. Anything lower than this may result in blurry, bit-mapped or pixelated quality. Note: images used from the web are only 72dpi, although they look fine on screen, they are not appropriate for commercial quality printing unless scaled down to 25% of the original size while maintaining pixel resolution. In most cases, if the image is reduced by 75% it will be too small to be suitable for your needs.
DO NOT scan previously printed images (rescreens). When printed they will contain a strange looking pattern called a moire unless you blur the halftone scan to remove all of the dot pattern. NOTE: even a proof from the printer will not normally reveal a moire problem, as most proofs are continuous tone, not halftones. The moire will not become apparent until your project is already plated and on the printing press.
Color - CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow & Black) is the industry standard color space for full-color commercial printing. There are also Pantone colors for spot-color printing (such as 2-color printing). Using the wrong ink colors for a given type of printing in your artwork can cause problems.
If you want full-color printing and your printer is using modern equipment, artwork received using Pantone, Spot or RGB (Web) colors may simply be converted into CMYK format automatically, but this may cause some colors to change significantly.
Supplying artwork with incorrect colors to printers using older equipment (or those lacking the proper experience & knowledge) may result in the incorrect colors used not printing at all, as they are never put on the printing plates at all.
Check your color separations: all document components (text, images, backgrounds, etc.) should be prepared for the color mode in which it will be printed: CMYK, Spot-Color or Greyscale.
Click here for a more detailed explanation of the various types of ink colors & color charts and their proper use.
Unless you have a calibrated monitor, your artwork is likely to have slightly different colors when printed. Ensure your color choices are correct before sending to print. Professional Designers use Pantone Color Charts to ensure proper color choices.
Final Considerations
Before Sending Your Artwork to a Commercial Printer
Check your artwork for spelling mistakes and grammar; most programs have built-in spell check capabilities. Double check to make sure all images used are high resolution and embedded into the document. If the images are linked, you will need to supply the printing company the original images too. Make sure that bleed and margins are correct, and check ink colors for proper color separations.
Font Issues - There are literally thousands of type fonts, and your printer doesn't have them all. Even if you use a common typeface, there are often several font foundries that make the same font, and this can cause problems.
Your printer may substitute their version of Helvetica, for example, for your version of Helvetica. It is usually insignificant, but I have seen line-lengths change enough to throw the ending of a sentence into a photo.
There are three solutions to avoiding a font substitution scenario with your printing project:
- Outline Your Fonts - many design programs, including Adobe Illustrator, InDesign & CorelDraw, have a method of turning the type fonts into objects, so they are no longer a type font. Obviously you will need to make a copy of the digital file first, as the typesetting will no longer be editable. This method will eliminate any possibility of a font problem without losing any quality, such as rasterizing the art.
- Supply Your Fonts - many design programs (including Adobe InDesign, Quark Xpress and Microsoft Publisher) can automatically collect all of the fonts that you used in your project and put them in a folder for you to supply to printing facility. Adobe InDesign calls this process "package," in Quark "collect for output," and in Publisher "pack and go."
- Make a PDF - there are many advantages of making a PDF of your finished artwork. One of these advantages is that all of the fonts are embedded into the PDF file, so anyone that you send it to is guaranteed to see the type font exactly as you intended for them to look.
Click here for information about PDF software and how to
properly make a PDF for a commercial printer
To learn more about print-ready artwork, pass4press.com has an extensive PDF document for free download here. The site also has useful guidelines on the best PDF configurations for Quark, InDesign and Distiller.
Graphic Connection is a freelance graphic design studio based in Lee's Summit, Missouri. We make creative ideas "come to life" in print and on the world wide web.
The first step in the design process is to discuss what your project goals are and the audience you are trying to reach. Once I have a feel for who you are and what you do, we can begin looking for ways to communicate your message visually.
As a freelance graphic designer with "on hands" experience in a commercial printing facility, I offer many advantages which can save your company both time and money when it comes to printing a graphic design project.
To see some of sample websites or graphic designs in my portfolio click here.
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