These tricks for saving money also apply when doing several versions of one job even if it's in the same language. An example could be designing a menu to be used in a chain of restaurants, and while the images stay the same, the prices change.
Understand Basic Prepress and Printing Issues
First of all it is necessary to understand how a press works.
"To reproduce full-color photographic images, typical printing presses use 4 colors of ink. The four inks are placed on the paper in layers of dots that combine to create the illusion of many more colors." Learn more about CMYK or 4-color Process Printing
You also need to understand what trapping means. Make sure you clear this very well because it's a key concept in dealing with this kind of job.
"Presses aren't perfect. They run at incredibly fast speeds. Sometimes the paper or the plates applying the ink may shift. It might be a tiny, tiny little shift -- but it can throw off your design enough to be noticeable. For example, a white gap may appear between a green letter that is supposed to be touching a blue box. When this happens your color is out of register -- things just don't align properly." Learn more about the basics of trapping
With at least a basic understanding of CMYK, trapping, and the commercial printing process you are ready to create design variations that cost less.
| Pick Your Path to Desktop Publishing | |
| Get Started: | Basic Guidelines and Requirements for Desktop Publishing |
| Choose Software: | Desktop Publishing and Design Software |
| Tips & Tutorials: | How to Do Desktop Publishing |
| Training, Education, Jobs: | Careers in Desktop Publishing |
| In the Classroom: | Back to School With Desktop Publishing |
| Make Something: | Things to Make Using Desktop Publishing |
| Use Templates: | Templates for Print and Web Publishing |
