PRINTERS-professional printers help! (not a computer printer)

[k8_doran]

Hello,

I wondered what are the general rules I need to follow when concerning leaving space by the edge of a piece (to be created on the computer) for it to be cut, for example and other general guidlines when creating say an editorial on the somputer and then for it to be going to print? I know I should bleed the images off the page at least 2mm


Thank you

[Narolines]

It depends on lots of things; if you're using one of the industry standard DTP programs most of the work is done for you and your printer will be able to use your files with the default settings. Many (most, probably) pro printers really don't like low-end software such as spawn-of-the-devil (sorry, Microsoft!) Publisher and the like, and you'll need to discuss requirements with your printer. Are you preparing a whole book, a whole magazine, or just a contribution to a publication? If the latter, I wouldn't worry about it because your work will in any case have to be imported into whatever program is being used to prepare the publication and any formatting will be lost anyway. If you can give me a bit more detail about what you need to do I'll try to be a bit more constructive! (I edit a magazine). You're right about full-bleed images (actually my printers prefer 5mm, but 2mm will do ), but margins and gutters need a bit of thought if you're not using something like Quark Xpress or Adobe PageMaker.

[k8_doran]

Hiya, Thanks for your reply, I will be using maybe Indesign or illustrator, would prefer to use illustrator.

[Narolines]

In that case most printers will be able to output your files straight to an imagesetter, and your job is fairly simple. If you're using full-bleed images, allow between 2 & 5mm off the edge of the page (not on the fold line if you're doing a 2-page layout, of course!). If it's a single sheet you can make the margins equal on bioth sides, but if it's part of a bound/stitched publication you need to leave a little more on the bound side. There aren't really any hard and fast rules, but you don't want the print to look uncomfortable on the page. On A4, I allow 2cm margin on the bound side, 1.5cm on the cut side, 1.2cm at the top (though I do have to squeeze a lot of text on to a page and you might want to increase that a bit if you need your page to "breathe" a bit more) and 2.5cm at the bottom. That's about as small a margin as you'd want to go for. The extra space at the bottom makes the page balance better and also allows space for footers & folios (page numbers) if needed. In any case the top margin should be slightly smaller than the bottom. I have no personal experience of Indesign or Illustrator, though I know several people who use them to produce magazines and they have no problems going straight to an imagesetter. You should be able to set up a suitable page default and away you go. Best of luck!

[Narolines]

Forgot to add - in my experience printers like to receive images as uncompressed TIFFs at a minimum resolution of 300dpi - save as CMYK for colour illustrations. And don't forget to include with your files copies of all the fonts you've used; I always include a fonts folder and all my images in a separate folder on the CD I send to my printers. I presume your software will give you the option of incorporating your images in your publication or keeping them separate; I'd recommend the latter. Also, if your software doesn't include a "preflight check" or "save for service provider" option, it might be worth your getting hold of a preflight program- there used to be one or two simple ones available as shareware or even freeware if you browse around a bit. I imagine you'll have a suitable function available in your programs, however, as they're intended for pro use, and you'll find it well worth your while to run a preflight check before you send off your work.