PREPRESS

 Prepress is the term used in the printing and publishing industries for the processes and procedures that occur between the creation of a print layout and the final printing.
The Prepress procedure includes the manufacture of a printing plate, image carrier or form, ready for mounting on a printing press, as well as the adjustment of images and texts or the creation of a high-quality print file.

Since many publications nowadays are published both in print and electronically, many now refer to the shared processes as ‘pre-media services’ instead.

Some special Prepress services include:
Trapping
File Conversions
Electronic proofing 

The prepress processes that are listed below may take place at one single location, such as a large publishing and printing company, or at a variety of places.
Usually some tasks happen at a publisher while others take place at a printer or a dedicated prepress company (which are sometimes referred to as service bureaus or trade shops).
Design:
Since the advent of desktop publishing, many people in the printing industry no longer consider design to be a prepress task.
The design process includes:

• Preparing data, which includes copy editing and product photography, such as for a mail order catalog.
• Creating the layout is done using one of the leading design application such as Adobe InDesign.
• There is also a wide range of specialized  applications for corporate creation utilising online services and templates such as Canva.
• The correction cycle includes processes such as proof reading and image retouching, for which Adobe Photoshop is the leading application.

Preflighting:
Before finished pages go through the remaining processes, a validation is done to check if all the data meets the necessary production requirements.

Proofing:
During the design phase there are already page proofs being created. Proofs are usually also made by the company that is responsible for the printing.
This can be done for internal checks of the impositioning (imposition proofs) –  as well as for their customer who needs to sign off the proofs for approval.
More and more such proofs are ‘soft’ proofs that are evaluated on a computer monitor
‘Hard’copy proofing is available when there is sufficient time for it – and for colour critical or expensive jobs.

Imposition: Depending on the final output device, a number of pages will be combined into signatures.
Output to the final output device such as a digital press, filmsetter or CTP device.
To output data, pages or complete flats have to be ripped or rendered.
This process usually also includes:

• transparency flattening: transparency effects such as drop shadows behind text need to be resolved.
• color separation
• color management
• trapping
• screening

Some people prefer to delay the above destination specific conversions to the very last moment.
This is commonly referred to as late binding.
Once a job is printed, its data usually go into an archive.

Many of the above steps are nowadays heavily automated, by either stand-alone applications or prepress workflow systems. When the data exchange focuses purely on page content, solutions range from using an FTP server or e-mail system, to using file sharing tools such as DropBox or YouSendIt.
A more sophisticated web portal can add functions such as preflighting and page approval.
Registration is when all printed images are lined up over one another. 

Print Ready Artwork Specifications for Lionheart Offset Printing Projects:
Here is what is required for Artwork to be “print-ready” and therefore no further adjustments are required in-house, reducing costs.

1. Files
   We require PDF files created to print ready specifications. Colour images should be down-sampled to 300DPI. The PDF colour space should be four-colour CMYK, unless Spot colours are required. Bleed and trim marks included.

Fonts -
Please ensure that all fonts are embedded in the PDF document or make sure you convert fonts to outlines, to prevent any issues with fonts.

Images -
If there are any images within the document, they must be saved as CMYK , and no less than 300dpi, preferably in PSD, TIF or EPS to ensure quality.

Colours -
Please specify if the job is to be printed in CMYK with/or spot colour etc
All spot colours need to be clearly specified.
Pantone (PMS) colours preferred.

Bleed, Trim Marks & Fold Lines -

If your document has colour or images placed off the edge of the page, a minimum 3 mm bleed is required. Trim marks (use solid lines) are to be included, so the document can be trimmed to the desired size. If you require folding, please indicate by inserting fold lines (using dotted lines).
Trim marks and fold lines are to be set outside the print area.

To avoid additional costs to your printing please ensure that if you are providing us with print-ready artwork and that you have checked through the requirements as above.
If you’re unsure about whether or not your supplied art is print-ready, or you require further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us at sales@lionheartoffset.com.au or call us on 02 9695 1070.