Helpful Tools

Disk formatting | Color Management | Color Space

Best Practices Checklist

Practical advice, for creating your own layouts and bringing them to a service bureau or full service print shop on disk.

Get a quote for your job.
Ask questions about layout size margins, bleeds.
Ask how it will be printed, on press, or printer.
Ask which types of files your bureau can accept.
Bring in a sample from your printer, preferably at 100% scale.
Bring in all the associated files with your master file. (Make sure to back this up in case of problems.)
Bring all of the appropriate files, and put them in a clearly marked directory. Preferably the only files on the media that you bring in.
Let us know which application you did your work in.

Downloadable Checklist

Macintosh Users

It is important to understand some of the differences between Mac OS based computers and Windows based computers. If you are using a Macintosh computer there are special considerations that need to be addressed before you submit a file. If possible, put your files on Mac HFS or HFS+ formatted media. Doing so will help insure that we can open your files without losing links or other information. One of the main differences between the files created on the Windows platform and the Macintosh platform is the way that they are stored. Though there are tools available to allow Windows machines to open files on Mac formatted media, but with all the steps it takes to convert fonts from one platform to the other, we try to work on the platform that the file was originally created on. Today’s applications usually convert documents automatically from one platform to the other when you open them, but there can still be issues that keep it from being a simple, ideal process.

Sub-selection: discussion of disk formatting.

Macintosh computers use a file system known as HFS or the Hierarchical File System. Files are stored in two parts, a data fork, and an information fork. The actual file contents are stored within the data fork, and the information fork contains information such as type and creator, date created, date modified, and the last accessed date.

On a windows machine the files are USUALLY stored as a single “Stream”. In 1993 Microsoft developed a file system for their new OS referred to as NTFS, or the New Technology File System. NTFS was developed for use with Windows NT. Windows NT eventually morphed into Windows 2000 Pro, and then into Windows XP. While NTFS is capable of understanding and using a multiple streams for a single file, it is a feature that has not been widely adopted. Instead we still rely heavily on the 3 digit extensions and attributes applied to files, a system that has been in use even before Windows was commonly used. The three-digit extension is usually applied by the application that creates the file, (Example .doc = MS word Document) and the OS applies file attributes such as creation, modification, and last accessed time to the file. Note: on a lot of Windows systems the 3 digit extensions are hidden from the users, if you want to see them you can turn them on by going into any Explorer window, clicking on Tools, then Folder options, then the under the view tab de-select hide extensions for known file types. (Menu labels may differ if you are not currently running XP, but they should be similar) The main reason for doing this is so that if you rename the file, and the extensions are hidden, you don’t run the risk of disassociating the file from the program that can open or use it. For example if you take a Word document and erase the .doc from the end and replace it with .mp3 and try to open it by double clicking on the file you will get an error message say that it is not a valid file type from the media player that you have assigned to play Mp3 files. If you leave it blank and try to open it by double clicking on the file, Windows will ask you to choose which program (from a list of programs installed on your computer) you want to try to open the file with. This sounds more complicated than it really is, but it is easier to troubleshoot file problems this way.

On a Macintosh, if you loose the information fork,(it happens) you used to have to purchase or find a utility that would allow you to edit the type and creator information in order for the programs to understand the files. This was before the release of Mac OSX. (This is substantially better than any of its predecessors.) Mac OSX also has the ability to utilize the three-digit extensions. Sometimes I get files for Quark Express from older systems, and I have to add .qxd to the end of the file for my Mac to recognize the file.

Windows based computers still use a much simpler file system referred to as FAT, (FAT16 and FAT32 are variations that simply allow for larger space to be allocated.) which is now only used on portable media. Fat is an acronym that is short for File Allocation Table. It is slower and relatively fragile file system that was never originally designed for disks of very large size. The NTFS file system is very robust, very quick, and it is secure. The security is where the bad portability issue comes into play. If you were to format a Zip disk using NTFS (don’t please) you would only be able to eject the disk when the computer is first booting. This is because the OS locks the disk from ejecting for security reasons.

Color Management:

The goal of color management is to match the perceived color across multiple devices and/or mediums. We do use color management software, and we re-calibrate as often as possible. However, due to the nature of different devices and mediums they never match exactly, but they are close. A printing press is not capable of rendering as many colors as a 6 or 7 color inkjet. A calibrated monitor is capable of displaying 16.7+ billion colors. This is far more colors than are perceivable by the average human eye, and far more colors that can be represented on paper with conventional inks and papers.

The range of colors that can be produced by any device is referred to as the devices color gamut. When we use color management, limit the larger gamut of one device to the smaller gamut of another device. If there are colors in your art that fall out of the smaller range of a device, they are mathematically mapped to the closet color that can be produced by the device.

Color Space:

The color space is referring to how a color is produced. The two color spaces that will be discussed in the following paragraphs are: RGB, the additive light color space, and CMY+K the subtractive light color space. Light is a form of energy, which travels in the form of a wave. Because light is wave, it follows the rules of refraction and reflection as any wave would. Light also has weight and is affected by gravity. When we look at the two different color spaces it sometimes helps to keep in mind that he color are opposites of each other. RGB (Red, Green, Blue) is the exact opposite of CMY (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow). When all of the RGB colors are present in equal quantities, the color of light you perceive is white. When all of the colors of CMY are present in equal quantities, the color you perceive is black.

When we print process inks on a printing press we are using the CMYK color space. C = Cyan, M = Magenta, Y = Yellow, K = Black. Theoretically, and in a perfect world we would be able to reproduce all of the colors with just CMY, this is what is know as a subtractive color space. Colors are produced when light is absorbed/reflected by pigments on the surface of an object. When we print Cyan ink, it absorbs all of the red light and reflects everything else giving us the perception the ink we see before us is the bright, light blue color of Cyan. As Cyan acts as a filter that absorbs Red light, Magenta absorbs Green, and Yellow absorbs Blue light. However, we do not live in a perfect world. Because the inks on a printing press are translucent, and they do not actually mix when being printed on a printing press other means of compensation must be used. Where does the K-Black come into play? Good question. When you print large solids of process inks atop one another you would expect to get black. What you get in reality is a muddy gray color due to the fact that the inks are not actually being mixed. Worse than that even when you are not printing solids, a perfect gray is difficult to produce using CMY, it is nearly impossible to keep the colors balanced perfectly to keep the gray taking on a color cast due to the imbalance. Other problems that crop up is that you have 3 layers of ink in one spot that are not easily absorbed by the paper. Ideally you should avoid going beyond 260% ink coverage in any one place on a printing press. We use black to reproduce colors that would otherwise take too much ink, and to replace areas near gray to keep shadows from being difficult to control.

When we see images projected on a screen such as a TV, LCD, OLCD, Computer Monitor, etc. we are using the RGB additive light color space. The images are produced by adding, removing, or changing the balance of Red, green, and blue light. Because the light can be completely mixed on screen the colors that can be represented in the RGB gamut exceeds what the human eye can perceive. The colors on a computer monitor are typically more vivid and brighter than color that is printed because the light is first generation. It has not been reflected, or diffused in any way like pigment on a surface would be.