Becoming a "Business Communications Service Provider"

Print service providers have historically been defined by output technology such as commercial color, sheet-fed, web offset and large-format. These print technologies by themselves can be easily commoditized. As the market begins to migrate to a digital infrastructure, Print on Demand – or POD – represents something far more interesting and important than technology for technology’s sake. POD hardware and software offer the potential for new ways to communicate business information. The primary focus of successful users of POD technology is building a services portfolio and positioning their companies to provide 'business communications solutions and services.' These users are looking at digital printing and the associated services as a way to decommoditize printing and increase both profitability and customer loyalty.

Pellow, Barbara A. Digital Output (2004). Design>Document Design>Prepress>Printing

The Bleach Wars  

Blank paper...could anything be more basic and uncontroversial? Who'd have thought those innocuous white sheets could cause such a ruckus? Learn what the fuss is about and why paper mills and environmentalists are lining up on either side of the presses.

Sidles, Constance J. Adobe Magazine (1998). Design>Document Design>Prepress>Paper

Booklet Publishing

Write a book this afternoon. Sound preposterous? To the contrary--you can create an information-packed, 16-page booklet using a single sheet of paper in little more time than it takes to type the text. Use it to market your product or service, to tell the story of your organization or to offer tips and how-to information to prospects and clients. Print five or ten copies directly from your laser printer or take your master artwork to a commercial printer and have it reproduced by the thousands. No matter how you cut, fold and staple it, this book is proof-positive that big things do come in small packages.

Chuck Green. Ideabook.com (1999). Design>Document Design>Prepress>Printing

Buying Laser Paper That Won't Jam  

How to choose paper for laser printing.

Sidles, Constance J. Adobe Magazine (1996). Design>Document Design>Prepress>Paper

Choice Paper  

Even the pros forget the basics sometimes. Constance Sidles gives a quick refresher course on asking yourself, and your client, all the right questions when you're choosing paper.

Sidles, Constance J. Adobe Magazine (1998). Design>Document Design>Prepress>Paper

Color in Technical Documents for Paper, Web, and PDF  

Traditionally, technical documents have been produced in black and white because the cost of color reproduction on paper is high. With new delivery options of the Web and PDF, color is suddenly available at no cost online. And new digital printers make color on paper increasingly affordable. When opportunity knocks, issues tend to follow. Writers will find that using color is a learning experience. There is a new alphabet soup: RGB, CMYK, GIF, JPEG, CSS. There are new buzzwords: spot colors, process colors, digital printing. There are new techniques for representing color in Web pages and in PDF documents intended for paper or screen. Our presentation focuses on practical techniques, not graphic design.

Jackson, Ken and Sonya E. Keene. STC Proceedings (1999). Design>Document Design>Prepress>Color

Color Under Control  

Several years after the hype began, color management is maturing into a useful tool that can solve real problems. Here's a comprehensive overview.

Fraser, Bruce. Adobe Magazine (1995). Design>Document Design>Prepress>Color

Coming to Terms  

Picking paper involves deciphering a lot of arcane terminology. Here's a quick reference guide.

Sidles, Constance J. Adobe Magazine (1996). Articles>Document Design>Prepress>Paper

Everybody Makes Mistakes  

Special 'blooper reel' edition: the author's biggest paper mistakes.

Sidles, Constance J. Adobe Magazine (1996). Design>Document Design>Prepress>Paper

The Form and Function of Folds

Folds are as important to your brochure design as illustrations, typefaces, and color. A smart layout heightens the drama with which your message is revealed to the reader.

Chuck Green. Ideabook.com (2003). Design>Document Design>Prepress

The Future Meets the Press  

Digital technology has transformed design, layout, and prepress; now it's beginning to change printing presses too.

Shuster, Robert. Adobe Magazine (1996). Design>Document Design>Prepress

How Does Commerical Offset Printing Differ from Desktop Printing?

The three primary differences in offset printing and desktop printing (such as inkjet and laser) are the colors of ink and the way the ink is placed on the paper as well as the type of machinery used to accomplish the task.

Howard Bear, Jacci. About.com (2007). Articles>Document Design>Prepress>Printing

Including Bleeds in a PDF  

How do you ensure the PDF file you distill includes bleeds that are acceptable to a printer?

Scott, Clifford. PDFzone (2004). Design>Document Design>Prepress>Adobe Acrobat

InDesign How-To: Adding Custom Sizes to the Page Menu

Of course making custom page sizes if nothing new. But here's a handy InDesign CS trick for adding those custom page sizes to your Page menu so you can call it up at anytime.

Cole, Tim. Creative Pro (2004). Design>Document Design>Prepress>Adobe InDesign

It's a Colorful, Wired World  

Adobe® PostScript 3 printing systems offer a variety of new features for better, faster, Web-savvy printing. Here's an overview of what they are and how they're likely to affect you.

Nordling, Tamis and Wendy Katz. Adobe Magazine (1997). Articles>Document Design>Prepress>Color

The Many Faces of Cheapness  

In the spirit of Adobe Magazine's Cheap Tricks Contest, a grab-bag of ways to save money, save time, and cheat fate.

Kvern, Olav Martin. Adobe Magazine (1996). Design>Document Design>Prepress

Only the Strong Survive  

Picking the right strength characteristics when you're buying paper can determine whether your job holds up on press, in the mail, or in your customers' hands.

Sidles, Constance J. Adobe Magazine (1997). Articles>Document Design>Prepress>Paper

Page Layout Resources

A collection of dozens of links to online resources in page layout and desktop publishing.

IPA. Design>Document Design>Prepress

The Pantone Matching System: Always Show Your True Colours

It can be very frustrating to see the logo you worked hard to create look deep blue on the client's letterhead, blue-greenish on his business card, and light blue on his very expensive envelopes. A way to prevent this is by using a standardized color matching system, such as the Pantone Matching System.

Bruno, Elisabetta. Designorati (2005). Design>Document Design>Prepress>Color

Paper Fits (and What to Do About Them)  

Save money by designing to fit standard printing-paper sizes.

Sidles, Constance J. Adobe Magazine (1996). Design>Document Design>Prepress>Paper

Paper Tips: Printing on Uncoated Stock

Uncoated paper has a soft finish and tactile quality not possible with most coated papers. But uncoated stock also interacts differently with ink than it coated cousins. Follow these tips to ensure the best results.

Creative Pro (2004). Design>Document Design>Prepress>Paper

PDF Printing, Preflighting, and Prepress

PDF is becoming the de facto standard for not only viewing documents onscreen but also for printing them on paper. Acrobat 6 Professional includes better printing and prepress tools than ever before. PDF pundit Ted Padova shows you how they work.

Padova, Ted. Creative Pro (2004). Design>Document Design>Prepress>Adobe Acrobat

Pearls of Output-File Wisdom

Some pearls of file output wisdom collected over the years from friends who ride imagesetters everyday.

Johal, Jasper. Design, Typography and Graphics (2004). Design>Document Design>Prepress

Photoshop Tutorial: How to Preserve Spot Colours in Photoshop

How many times have you wondered why, no matter how much you save spot colours in other applications, you cannot preserve a spot color in Photoshop? There is a way of course, and this is what this article will cover. This tutorial has been made using Photoshop CS for Mac, but it should be OK also for previous versions of Photoshop up to version 6, and of course also for whoever has the Windows version of Photoshop. This is not the only method to use spot colors in Photoshop, but it is a simple one which you could find useful.

Bruno, Elisabetta. About.com (2005). Resources>Document Design>Prepress