Best ways to present a file for print services?

[Danas_Anis]

Hello,

I am not a Graphic design man, however many times I have to be one and I run in some issues with print services. Usually I never used to have those, but lately in my city it seems that people are crazy about the everything you send them. So I wonder what are the most common ways to present the poster or other kind print documents for print services and what are the standards. i t appears that presets in editors isn't good option to choose that makes me be amazed. You send a simple business card that is built on preset and the printing service says it is incorrect format, incorrect file, everything is not good, when it is built on  business card from paper company I am confused.

[Sub7th]

If they are having format issues then it could be a problem with the application you used.
Most printers have Adobe products and some still have Quark Xpress.

If you are trying to send an In-Design or Quark Document you need to pre-flight the document first so that the printer has all of the fonts and image links with the document or they wont be able to print it.

Most printers I've dealt with recently prefer In-Design.

However there is a fast growing trend to take PDF documents which makes things really easy.
Most design applications these days will generate a PDF, but again this is an Adobe native feature so you may not get all of the set up options when using non-adobe applications.

You'll want to make sure your settings are set-up for print quality, fonts are embedded and colors are ready for separation.
Also some Printers Might ask you to include registration marks and color tables (these options are available in your PDF dialog window when preparing to save).

The most important thing to do though is to establish some kind of relationship with your printer.
Find out what they need from you first. Which formats they prefer to work with.
Most printers can take a wide variety of formats, but like you and most other people they have an application that they are comfortable with and prefer to use. Once you know that you may be able to save in a format native to their application or at least one that's compatible.

Also if you're working in CMYK find out what their specs are for true black, different printers have different CMYK settings for true black and you'll want those accurate or you'll get over-bleed or poor saturation leading to dull looking blacks.

But I really can't stress enough how important it is to get to know your printer. Especially if you plan to use them often.
Establishing a relationship opens up easier communications and you'll be able to get updates and suggestions a lot easier.
If you work as part of an office they'll know who to ask for right away and you can get answers and other information much quicker.

If you're using an online service those options may not be available to you though. In that case you'll just need to read their instructions carefully and make sure that your submissions meet their criteria.

Some formats that ALL printers can accept;
Tiff
Pdf
Jpeg
eps

Those formats are universal, though with EPS you'll want to be careful you don't use to new a version. Illustrator CS4 eps files may contain data that your printer can't read so it's safer to save in a slightly older version just in case they are not up to date.

[Danas_Anis]

Thank you for your reply and well made explanation

[therealfog]

I'm with S7 on that

Most printers i've worked with don't mind properly prepared PDFs.
As far as the true black goes - i've been using the 60 40 40 100 and had no questions or complaints.
It seems most printers my company uses have the latest Adobe products and can modify the settings if need be.

The main thing i'd like to mention is upconverting your RGB images to CMYK in photoshop. Using the US SWOP v2 as default usually yields great result. I have noticed however that if you let InDesign or Quark 8 (or any previous version) do the conversion using SWOP v2 as well, gives different results when converted to PDF. I'm not sure why, but ive ran a few print tests and there is a difference. Maybe InDesign manages colors differently or maybe the conversion is done in a different step of the PDF export process. Either way, it's always nice to have your colors cleaned up and ready in InDesign or Quark.

I think S7 Covered the rest

[Sub7th]

I have noticed however that if you let InDesign or Quark 8 (or any previous version) do the conversion using SWOP v2 as well, gives different results when converted to PDF. I'm not sure why, but ive ran a few print tests and there is a difference.

That's good to know.

What kind of difference are we talking?
A hue shift or a contrast shift?

[Sub7th]

I really wonder what is useful here .. I am not able find any useful thing ..

Sorry Karl, what kind of help are you looking for?