After designing a document comes prepress. It is the process of preparing digital files for the printing press — making them ready for printing. Prepress or make-ready tasks will vary depending on file complexity and printing method but some may include:
- double-checking fonts
- making sure graphics are in the right format
- preparing camera ready artwork
- creating color separations,
- adding crop marks
- trapping (done to prevent color gaps when colors touch in a layout)
- imposition (putting pages in the right order for printing)
- producing prepress proofs
- obtaining film for creating printing plates
Some prepress tasks, such as trapping and proofs, are best handled by a service bureau or commercial printer. Hand-in-hand with prepress is preflight. A preflight checklist (yes, like airplane pilots use) is simply a final check to insure that you've done your prepress tasks.
Although, as the name implies, prepress is primarily for preparing files for a printing press or other commercial printing process, even with desktop printing you need to do some prepress (or, preprint or file prep).
