Print-ready artwork… is a phrase that is commonly used but not very often fully understood. With deadlines ever reducing, customer expectations increasing and a willingness by print companies to deliver on time and on budget, the squeeze is often felt by the pre-press team.
Sprinkle of fairy dust
Time and time again we see projects discussed at an early stage for far longer than the time ever made available for pre-press and production once the job has been submitted by the customer.
The promise of print-ready artwork often doesn’t materialise, which leaves the pre-press team with a dilemma, print files that their experience tells them won’t meet the expectation of the customer. So, do they either push back knowing that this will negatively affect deadlines, or take it on and sprinkle fairy dust over what they have been handed to fix the problem?
Masters in the art of pre-press
At Studio One we aim to please, it is not always easy, but our customers purchasing the more complex products to set up for print such as, site hoarding graphics and large scale development signage, building wraps and bespoke wallpapers, will know that a master in the art of pre-press is the single most important person in the whole mix.
Mathematical wizards and colour geniuses
Pre-press architects are masters of a craft that most don’t even know exists; they are problem-solvers, mathematical wizards, colour geniuses, manufacturing professors and skilled in understanding how these things get installed once they leave the factory.
There is a vast amount of knowledge required to be able to make supplied artwork suitable for production, especially since almost everything now is automated. Automation is great… but it takes a lot of understanding! If it’s not programmed then it cannot be automated. All of this information needs to be included in the artwork before it is sent down to the shop floor to be printed, cut, milled, oscillated, folded, creased or bent into the final desired form.
It is only right that we highlight and draw your attention to the small team that sits between the account managers, who make all the promises, and the production team that tirelessly battles to output the magnificent work as quickly as possible.
It is worth remembering that the more complex the project, and more important it is to get right, the more it relies on the pre-press team to be set up correctly. Time is the most important commodity to a pre-press artworker. It enables thorough consideration of the requirements, problem-solving and strategy to be adopted, which will inevitably result in a more magnificent output for the customer.
Making no consideration for these tasks is likely to result in a product that is substandard, not well thought out and, in the worst case, unusable.
For more information about pre-press production and to discuss your next project, please contact us on +44 (0) 1604 774 860
or email us at enquiries@studio1.org.uk
