Print Design & Pre-Press

This workbook turns the course into a working production system you apply to one real piece. Pick a job you actually need this week, a double-sided business card, an A5 flyer, a tri-fold brochure, or a poster, and carry it through every exercise so you finish with a genuinely press-ready file and a vendor brief you could send today. Each section maps to one course module, moving from how print works through document setup, colour and assets, and a pre-flight to proofing pipeline.

Choose your piece, pick the right print method and stock, and learn how the press will treat your file.

Select one real piece you need printed and define its production parameters now. You will apply every later exercise to this same job, so choose something with a genuine deadline and quantity, not a hypothetical.

Decide the method and substrate deliberately rather than by default. Request the vendor's paper sample book before finalising, and judge colour on the actual stock, not on screen.

Build the artwork on correct geometry: trim size, 3 mm bleed, safe margins, and accurate fold panels.

Define the three boundary zones before you open the New Document dialog. The page must be the trim size, with bleed added outside it, never baked into the page dimensions.

Create the document with the correct settings and read the on-screen guides as you place content. The red line is the bleed edge (extend art to here), the margin line is the safe zone (keep content inside), and the black line is the trim.

For any folded piece, map each panel to its position and width before designing content. Remember the inward-folding panel must be 1 to 2 mm narrower so it folds cleanly. Fold a paper dummy to confirm.

Control the three things that shift between screen and paper: colour mode, image resolution, and fonts.

Set up colour deliberately using the printer's profile rather than letting conversion happen by accident. Ask the vendor which ICC profile they target and build to it.

If the job uses a brand colour that must be exact, or a special finish, define it as a spot. Then open Separations Preview (Window then Output then Separations Preview) and inspect the file one plate at a time, the way the press sees it.

Audit every placed image for effective resolution after scaling, and remove all font risk before export. Check the Links panel for the real ppi at placed size, not the file's native number.

Pre-flight and package, export a compliant PDF/X, proof against a standard, and brief the vendor clearly.

Export a compliant PDF/X with the right standard, bleed, marks, and colour. Then open and inspect the actual exported PDF, not the InDesign document, before sending.

Soft-proof on a calibrated screen with the printer's profile, and for colour-critical work order a physical contract proof. View hard proofs under neutral D50 (5000K) light before signing off.

Write a one-page spec stating everything the printer needs to quote and produce the job accurately. Send it up front and request their guidelines and ICC profile in return.