The Importance of Pre-Press When Choosing Your Printer

Why Does Our Logo Always Print a Different Color?

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The Importance of Pre-Press When Choosing Your Printer
By John Libonati

Pre-press, taking a design project from a computer disk and preparing it for print, is something of an art. And while almost every printer says they can do it, only a few do it right. Trapping problems (overlapping or spaces between colors), bitmapping (when lines become fragmented), color and font changes and a thousand other things can go wrong to botch a project and turn your beautiful brochure design into an awful looking mess. Almost all potential problems can and should be caught during pre-press.

No, not all printers are equal. When choosing your printer, ask for a list of references. Call the references. How long have they been using the printer? Ask how the printer handles pre-press. Do they handle it in-house or do they outsource? Who do they outsource to? Ask for examples of problems they solved. Ideally, you are searching for a printer with long-term clients, problem solution capabilities and excellent value for the print quality.

A good way to get your projects printed properly is to have a competent graphic designer supervise the printing. By choosing the printer, negotiating the price and supervising the pre-press and print run, your designer will save you precious time and money and make sure the job gets done right.

John is Partner at Ascension Design, a full service graphic design firm in Ambler, PA. Contact John at 215-591-1010 or john@ascensiondesign.net

Why Does Our Logo Always Print a Different Color?
By John Libonati


So, you created a logo and it looked great on your first letterhead print run. Then, you had brochures printed at Kinkos and the color changed from deep blue to a kind of purple. Now, you've just received your new letterhead and the colors don't match your old business cards. What is going on?

CMYK (Cyan Magenta Yellow Black) is the system printers normally use to make different colors. CMYK printing is where printers will obtain a certain color by mixing the different colors cyan, magenta, yellow and black. The only problem with this system is when a logo or other mark has to be an exact color and you switch printers. Since each printer uses a slightly different process, the mix of CMYK at one printer can be different from the last printer. Depending on the new printer's skill and experience, you can receive a perfect match or something very different from the original.

A way to insure you always get the same color is to develop your logo using Pantone colors. The Pantone system of colors is a standard color system where every color is assigned a certain number. Every printer (and every competent graphic designer) uses his Pantone matching book to match his colors with the standard colors in the book. By using Pantone colors in your logo, you will be confident your logo will look the same whether you have it printed in New Jersey, California or Taiwan.

John Libonati is a partner at Ascension Design, a full service graphic design firm near Philadelphia. He can be reached at John@ascensiondesign.net or 215-591-1010.