Problems with Photoshop files

Good Morning,

I know it has been awhile since I have blogged. I have been extremely busy at work these day. We have a new sales lady and tons of work. So today I have a few minutes to finally write.

I want to talk about a file I received a couple of weeks ago. It was a very unique and different pocket folder design that came in. I have never seen one like it. The designer was trying to achieve a 1 color pocket folder design. But the files were in photoshop in cmyk. I had to explain to the designer when doing 1 color it would be best to do a monotone or to draw the design in illustrator to be able to control the shading and gradients and the color better.

The pocket folder had to match in 3 places so it had to be broken down and the designer had to go back and get her to design it in illustrator. That way we could use the one color pms design in 3 spots on the pocket folder so that when it folds up and together, all images overlap and meet and match up in the same place.

So if you want to use a pms color with a line drawn design do it in illustrator it will save you time and frustrations when you send it to your printer. Vector art is always better if it is a drawing and not a photo.

Thanks and have a great day!

HOW TO REMOVE AN IMAGE FROM A PDF

Happy Monday,

Every now and then I get a pdf file that may need something taken off of it. For example, crop marks, color bars or page information. Sometimes we may need to remove some text or an image from the pdf.

If I am lucky I receive a pdf that I can do that to. Here are step by step instructions of how to do this. Some pdfs will work this way and some do not. Just try it out to see if it works for you. It is actually a wonderful tool to have if you need to manipulate a pdf file.

First open your file in Adobe Acrobat Pro I use 9 most will work as long as it is pro versions. Next go to the Tools Tab at the top, scroll down to Advanced Editing and over to Touch up Object Tool. Next hold down the command, option, shift buttons and select the item you wish to remove from the pdf.

You will see a box around that item, now press the delete button, it should disappear from your pdf. This is a great option to use on pdfs for minor changes! Have a great week!

Nikki :-)

Indicias

Good Morning my friends,

Okay we have been completely swamped lately so therefore I am a week or two behind on my blogging. But I am back and want to talk about Indicias today. There are a few regulations when it comes to putting one on your mailing piece or envelopes.

First of all you need to talk to your printer to decide if you will be using their mailing services. If so they will probably put their own Indicia on the mail piece before printing it. But if you already have your own number and Indicia made up just let your printer know.

There are a few different ones depending on how you will mail the printed item.

First Class Mail - Presorted looks like this but of course you would use your own number or the printing company would use theirs: It is 200% of actual size so you can see it better.

The real size is .875 x .875.

Next is the Presorted Standard -Class Mail (This used to be Bulk Rate Mail, but the term bulk could not be used after 2001)

Next and last one we usually use is the Non-Profit Organization Indicia, you must have your own Indicia mailing number for the non-profit company you are with.

So if you have any questions contact your printer or local post office. Thanks and have a great week.

Variable Data

Happy Friday!

Happy Labor Day Weekend also, I hope everyone has a safe one, wherever you may go! I learned something new this morning while working with my variable data program. As you know we have the capabilities to personalize your printed mail and other printed items at Clinton Press.

It really and truly is a wonderful thing to do and a lot of companies are going this route. Only one catch, you have to have a pretty accurate database from Excel to go with it and that is what makes the variable data work.

We ran into a problem trying to figure out how to triplicate names in an Excel Database. Well after one whole day of trying it wasn't working the way it should. (If any of you out there know how to make a name appear 3 times vertically please let me know it would be very helpful in the future). So Clint had the idea of making multiple pages in a document and so after thinking and trying I did just that.

Basically I copied the page into my pdf variable file 3 times. Then I copied and pasted the variable data blocks to each page. Wow, after composing the file it actually made 3 of the same names in a row over and over until it reached the end of the database. Thanks Clint for the idea, it worked! Sometimes 2 or 3 brains are better than 1! Yay!

You are probably wondering why we needed the file triplicated anyway, well we were running variable data on carbon copy collated sheets (pink, white, yellow). The sheets come collated in the color order and we needed to print the same information on pink, white, and yellow sheets.

That way it would stay collated and in the exact order that the customer sent in the database by department and alphabetically.

Contact us if you would be interested in doing some variable data printing, it really is an awesome thing! Have a great weekend!

Nikki McDonald

A Day in the Life of a Prepress Department

I apologize to my people and fans and followers for not posting in a couple of weeks. It has been hectic and crazy busy here in Greensboro at Clinton Press. And that is exactly how we like for it to be, busy.

So I will share a little about what we have been up to. Lots of designing going on these days in prepress. We have a new saleslady and she is doing well, she has brought in a few design jobs. The design jobs take a little longer than our normal jobs sent in by ad agencies or graphic designers or our clients.

We have tons of work all over the plant so therefore some days our prepress department, Kathy and I have to go to other areas of the printing company, mostly bindery. We are very well rounded and experience in most all places of the plant. Kathy is the girl that does everything. She is my partner in prepress, she handles the proof making, plate-making, etc.

On top of all that she answers the phones, writes job jackets does billing, shipping in the shipping department, she is the go to girl for Clint Jackson our boss and owner of Clinton Press. Thank God for Kathy Shelton I don't know where we would be without her.

We have also been trying to find a prepress person to take my place for 6 weeks maternity leave somewhere around December. I am due during that time. We plan to have everything running smoothly, so not to worry. You will still get your jobs on time in the same professional manner and beautiful print quality, as always. Yes we have been busy at Clinton Press! YAY! I will make sure to get back to my regular posting schedule.

Have a great weekend!

Introducing Our New Saleswoman at Clinton Press

Good Morning Everyone!

I would like to introduce you to the newest member of our team at Clinton Press.

Her name is Kerri Lindley. She will be a wonderful addition to Clinton Press, we are very excited to have her. Here is a little bit of her background:

Current

• Owner at KCL Creative
• Star Alliance at Broach and Company

Past

• Contract Graphic Designer at SLAM, Inc.
• Graphic Designer at Crago and Company
• Contract Graphic Designer at Genre

Education

• Appalachian State University

Public Profile

http://www.linkedin.com/in/kclcreative

Kerri is a graphic designer and now will be a graphic print specialist with us at Clinton Press. Stop by and meet Kerri today!

Overprint Settings in Indesign

Good Morning Everyone!

I know it has been a couple of weeks since I have posted on my blog. I have been extremely busy here at work. (A great thing!) When I wasn't busy I was trying to get as much information about intelligent barcoding for mailing pieces. There is so much information on it, I have to check everything out.

Enough excuses hu? Today I am going to tell you about overprint settings in Indesign. I recently received a job from a client this week with some overprinting going on in the file. They left me a long list of things they checked out and couldn't figure why the logos were still overprinting.

First thing I did was open the Indesign file and open up the separations palette, after clicking on each color to turn it off, sure enough the logos were overprinting.

So I went to the window tab at the top and scrolled down to attributes. This will pull up your attributes palette. Next I ungrouped the logo which had 20 different pieces in it. Next I selected each color one at a time. Just precautionary measures, and deselected the overprint button in the attributes palette. All colors were selected to overprint. If you run into a problem with overprinting, just check out the attributes palette it is a wonderful tool. This tool is in Indesign and Illustrator, I use it a lot.

Woohoo! Another prepress problem has been once again solved. I called the client just to let them know what the problem was and also to share with them the tools and knowledge for the future. The client was very appreciative for that knowledge.

Have a great week, we are half way to the weekend!

Our new E-Press and Variable Data Mail Merge

Happy July 4th early my friends!

I know I have told you about our new E-press before and also our variable data mail merge. But since you may not know the wonderful capabilities I will give you a little insight today. The E-press can print 4 color envelopes with a mail merge at the same time.

For example if you have a 4 color envelope and would like to print individual company names or personal names on the envelope along with the mail barcode and save a ton of money, you would definitely like to talk to us about the opportunities on the new E-press.

We can take your mailing list and print each name on the letter and/or envelopes to match, we do it all right here in house. Both sides of the envelope can be printed. Below are a few samples of envelopes we have printed:

There are many more cost effective ways to print these mail merge envelopes and letters for you. Please come by or give up a call to set up your next mailing project!

Have a safe 4th of july and remember to keep all of our men and women fighting for our country in your prayers!

Make A PDF from a Word Mac File

Sometimes I find myself needing to make a pdf from a Word File on the Macintosh. I do not recommend making a pdf from word because when you use word files it automatically reduces the resolution of any graphics, etc. to 72 DPI, low resolution. But sometimes that may be all you have.

So today I will explain how to make a pdf out of a word file: Open your word file and hopefully all of your fonts will be loaded to match.

• Next click the File tab at the top left

• Then scroll down to select the Print tab

• At the top you will see a Printer tab Select the tab and

choose Adobe PDF 7.0 or 9.0 whichever is available to choose

• Next at the bottom left choose the PDF buttom and select

Save as a PDF tab

• Next it will ask you where you want to save it

• Now Press the Save button at the bottom right

• Now you have a high resolution PDF of a low resolution word file

Hope this helps you with word files, Have a wonderful week!

Variable Data

One of the coolest new technologies out today is Variable Data...of course we have that at Clinton Press. If you are not aware of what Variable Data is, I will give you some examples of what we can do for you and your company.

We can print your 1, 2, 3, or 4 colors and even more envelopes along with a database of mailing list. All this can be done at the exact same time. So each envelope would have a different name, address, and zip for every one. It saves time and money on printing specialized envelopes with a mailing list.

We can print different serial numbers to identify each printed piece individually. For example if you print CD covers and sell them. To prevent fraud and reselling of your licensed or copywrited item, we put variable data in special places on the piece. As it prints out the number changes on each and every one of the printed CD covers. That way you can tell if someone out there is copying your printed pieces.

The same can apply to artwork, if you are printing art and would like to identify each print by a special number, that can be done also. What if you want to send your clients a special letterhead personalized with their first names on it. That is also variable data. You can even design a notpad and have every 100 of them print a different photo and or name, logo, etc. This is a great idea for promotional items or christmas gifts for your clients.

Call Clinton Press today and talk to us about how Variable Data can help you and your company . Have a great week! Nikki

Clinton Press FTP Site Instructions for Mac and PC

FTP Site Instructions for Macintosh

You cannot log on the FTP site with Internet Explorer!

To place files on Clinton Press FTP site from a Macintosh platform:

Use a program called FETCH or you can

get a free FTP client program at: http://filezilla-project.org/

type these items in the fields as shown below:

Host: ftp.clintonpress.com

User ID: ftpuser

Password: FTPftp1028

You will be connected and can upload your files.

FTP Site Instructions for PC Users

You cannot log on the FTP site with Internet Explorer!

From a PC platform, use Mozilla or you can

get a free FTP client program at: http://filezilla-project.org/

Have a great week! Nikki

Cool Website for Identifying Fonts

Happy Tuesday and early Memorial Day!

I came across this wonderful website a while back. It has come in handy so many times it is unreal. I have recommended it to several graphic designers, customers, etc. How many times have you gotten stuck on trying to match a clients fonts....

The client wants you to match their fonts, but they do not know the name of it and you are not sure what it it either. Well thanks to the wonderful grand website call Identifont, I am able to almost, always trace down a font or even a very similar look a like.

Wow, thanks Identifont! You guys rock, the makers of the Identifont website are wonderful people and their website is a very helpful tool in my field. Check this website out, I am sure you will love it. You might want to put it in your bookmarks, because I promise you will go back to it over and over again.

The website goes through a series of questions about the font you are trying to match and in the end it will give you a list of fonts that could match, then you can scroll through to find the one that is the closest by the sample of the fonts the website displays.

www.identifont.com

I hope you enjoy this website as much as I do. It will be a very helpful tool for those of you stuck on trying to figure out what a font's identity is. Have a great week!

Mailing Indicias

Happy Thursday Everyone!

Since we have gone into the mailing business full force, I have learned there are so many details on the regulations and standards, etc for the US Postal service. The Indicia located in the top right corner of the mail pieces are a very important part of the whole system to make the items mail otherwise they could be rejected.

Today I am going to show you a few samples of Indicias that we use on a regular basis, check with you local postal service to determine what indicia you need to use when you design your next mail piece.

First up is the Presorted First Class Mail Indicia sample: This is for pre-sorted mail going first class postal rate.

Next is the Presorted Standard Indicia Sample: this is for bulk mail going standard class.

Now our last sample is Non-profit organizations the permit # is different for each nonprofit organizations. The return address is required and must match the address of the permit holder:

Remember to check with your post office or printer before placing your own indicia on your designed mailer. There are different rules and regulations for each mail piece. Have a great day!

Problems with PSD files in Indesign

Good Afternoon,

Today I'd like to talk about PSD files (photoshop files save as a PSD Photoshop Document). Lately I have been running into some problems with pdfs created from Indesign that have PSD files or links inside the Indesign file.

Just the other day I received a file from a customer (PDF file) that had a line curved across the bottom. The line appeared jagged almost low resolution. But when I ripped the file in Rampage, it did not give me an error of a low resolution file.... very weird. So we decided to contact the customer. She said maybe it was because she had a link in the Indesign file that was a PSD file type.

So she went back to her PSD file, resaved it as a tif and relinked it in Indesign. Then she made a new high resolution pdf to send to me, and wow what a difference! It looked great, the line was not jagged, it was very smooth.

I think what happens when you have a PSD file it takes up more than double or even quadruple the amount of memory than a flattened, non-layered tif or eps photoshop file does. So when you put it in the Indesign, the memory ends up being outrageous. I think the files trys to process all that and you can end up with small weird things happening to little tiny parts of the files.

The best most sure fire way to get the file to look correct it to flatten all arwork you may have in photoshop and save it as a tif or an eps file. Then use that inside your Indesign file. This will prevent anything strange going on once it gets to the printers.

Hope this helps with PSD problems. Have a great week!

Nikki

How to Use the Advanced Editing Tools in Acrobat Pro

Good Morning,

Today I want to tell you about a really cool tool you can use to edit pdfs sent in by customers that may have cropmarks on them. The tool is the advanced editing tools (TOUCH UP OBJECT TOOL) in Adobe Acrobat Pro. I love this tool.

I use the Advance Editing Tools all the time. I received tons of PDFs from clients with the cropmarks. I cannot use files with cropmarks, it just gets in the way of the finished product. So

next best thing would be to open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat.

Next go to TOOLS tab at the top, scroll down to Advanced Editing, then scroll over to Touch up Object Tool.

Next drag around the cropmarks or select the cropmarks individually.

Now press the DELETE button on your keyboard. TADAAAA now you have just deleted the cropmarks with no problems.

Next make sure to save the pdf again with a new name, that way you will have the original version of the file and the new version of the file that you edited without those annoying cropmarks.

Hope you enjoyed learning about the Touch up object tool in Acrobat Pro. Have a wonderful week!

WE ARE EXCITED TO OFFER THE NEW E-PRESS!

Good morning my friends!

I would like to tell you about the new E-Press!

This has to be one of the coolest presses

we have at Clinton Press!

Here are a few samples to show you!

Fast, Easy, High Quality envelopes printed in full color at VERY AFFORDABLE PRICES!

We can show you how our E-Press!

can get your next direct mail project noticed!

Call us today! 336-275-8491

Make a Perfect Hi-res PDF from Quark

Good Morning my friends!

As promised, I will explain how to make the perfect high resolution pdf from quark.

Open your document in quark, next click the "FILE" tab at top, scroll down to "EXPORT", then to the right select "LAYOUT AS PDF". Ok, now decide where you want to save it, after that here are the settings:

Uncheck the Square box beside Spreads, make sure pages are set to ALL, next click the options tab: the first tab will be Layout info, skip this one, nothing you need to worry about here. Skip the Hyperlinks tab, go to the Job Options tab, check the Font Options boxes "Embed all fonts" and "Subset fonts below 35%".

Under the Compression Options: Make sure to set all tabs to NONE on the Compression tabs. Make sure to select keep resolution under all Resolution tabs. Make sure at the bottom to UNCHECK the compress text and Line Art box and UNCHECK the ASCII format box.

Next go to the "OUTPUT" tab under the color output section Type: Composite, under Print Colors: make sure to select As Is or CMYK, uncheck the produce blank pages unless you have blanks in the document. The use opi should be grayed out, under "REGISTRATION: select OFF tab, you do not want to include registrations in your file for the printers. Under BLEED select Symmetric and for the amount put "0.125" that is 1/8th of an inch bleed all the way around.

Next go to the "OPI" tab, and make sure to uncheck the OPI Active box, it will be grayed out. If this box is check and not grayed out, it will cause major problems when ripped and it will say images are missing. Then it will ask to go find them. A real pain.

So now you have a perfect PDF if your actual quark file it perfect! Have a great week! We have a new and exciting GREEN MACHINE, I will tell you about next week! ;-)

Crazy, wrong pdfs made from Quark!

Good Afternoon!

I received the craziest, just plain wrong pdf the other day. I know if you are a pre-press person you have to know what I am talking about. The weird thing is a PDF is supposed to be the perfect type of file to send to a printer.... not in this case. It really all depends on how the operator or designers save the pdf out of quark in order to get the perfect PDF to rip in our program (Rampage).

The file looked great on the screen, then all hell broke loose when I tried to rip the thing. It was a two color job but when I ripped it, it was 8, crazy. So I spent 3 hours trying to break the pdf file apart to make it work. It was honestly no fault of the designer, it was just the way the file was exported into a PDF.

I had to open the pdf in Acrobat and select the Advanced Edit photo tool then I selected each picture with the command and option keys, this opens the photo in photoshop so I could change it to a duotone instead of 4 color grayscale photos. Then I saved them and they automatically update in the PDF. There were about 12 or 14 photos I had to do that to. What a hot mess, I tend to think that I have no patience sometimes, but I actually have some when it comes to technical stuff. That is only if I can figure it out and make it work.

So to make a long story short it took 3 hours to break the pdf apart and make it work. Then we finally got the proof out... then along came changes, finally I got the parent quark files from the client and saved the pdf correctly and WOOHOO it worked.

Next week I am going to tell you the settings for a high res pdf in quark so you will save your company money. When it makes it to prepress department at your printers you will have an almost perfect or perfect pdf as long as the images and fonts are perfect too.

Have a great week and Enjoy the beautiful weather!

Types of Envelopes and Sizes

Good Morning!

Wow its going to be almost 90 degrees today in Greensboro. Kinda early for spring to be getting that hot already. Today I wanted to talk about Envelopes and different types and sizes.

There are usually 2 different types that are pretty common for invitations, reply cards, etc.

Type A is a square flap, Type Bar is a regular pointed flap. The type you choose is your preference. I personally like the A types for invitations. They just seem more formal. Even if your invite is not formal, it still looks great, especially if you print the return address on the flap.

Here is an example of an A-7 envelope:

Remember to place address or logos and or artwork 3/8th of an inch away from the edge. This is because when it is printed the press has to have room to grab the envelope, otherwise it may not print all of the image that you have placed on the envelope.

Here is an example of type Bar Envelopes:

See the difference in the flaps: Bar Envelopes and A envelopes come in many sizes, so I am going to list the sizes here. Just remember also when you design the card, invite, etc., be sure to make it at least 1/8th to 1/4 size smaller than the envelope. If you don't it will not fit the envelope.

Envelopes and Sizes:

A-2 (4 3/8 x 5 3/4) 4.375 x 5.75

A-6 (4 3/4 x 6 1/2) 4.75 x 6.5

A-7 (5 1/4 x 7 1/4) 5.25 x 7.25 (may require more postage)

A-8 (5 1/5 x 8 1/8) 5.5 x 8.125 (requires more postage)

A-9 (5 3/4 x 8 3/4) 5.75 x 8.75 (requires more postage)

A-10 (6 x 9 1/2) 6 x 9.5 (requires more postage)

4 Bar (3 5/8 x 5 1/8) 3.625 x 5.125

5 Bar (4 1/8 x 5 1/2) 4.125 x 5.5

5 1/2 Bar (4 3/8 x 5 3/4) 4.375 x 5.75

6 Bar (4 3/4 x 6 1/2) 4.75 x 6.5

Lee (5 1/4 x 7 1/4) 5.25 x 7.25 (may require more postage)

I am not sure why the Bar 7 envelope is called Lee, I will check on it and get back to you on that one. But if you already know the answer, please contact me and let me know, then I will post it on my blog!

Have a great Day and Week!

Nikki