Sometimes, your printer will use a technique when preparing your file that may make your proof appear incorrect if a setting called Overprint Preview in Acrobat is turned off. And, of course, off is the default setting for many of the older versions of Acrobat Reader. The technique I’m referring to employs the use of remapping one or more process colors to Pantone colors in a pdf editing program such as Pitstop or Neo. Or, in other words, telling one color to be something completely different. Through this process either Cyan, Magenta, Yellow or Black is assigned to print as a Pantone color. This can also be used for grayscale images.

Below is a screen capture from a pdf that has a grayscale image of a truck remapped to Pantone 370 C in Pitstop. Both sides are the same pdf but the image on the left is what the pdf looks like with Overprint Preview turned off, the one on the right is when it is turned on.

In your Acrobat preferences you can specify whether Overprint Preview mode is on only for PDF/X files, never on, always on, or set automatically. I recommend having it set to always on. Hopefully this tip will help eliminate a headache or two.

We have branched out into quite a few areas, all because someone asked us if we could – and we weren’t afraid to try. We offer flip books now, because someone asked. We have mastered cds with html launch pages that link to word and pdfs on the same disk. Event signage is a big one – we regularly print dozens of posters for events and then mount on foam core – sometimes with directional arrows that Velcro on. We have created artwork for every type of promotional product under the sun – from pens, to hats, to mugs, to hand-held fans, to stress balls and more.

So, the next time you’re looking for something a little bit unusual – give us a call. We’ll probably say “Yes, we can do that.”

Prepress techs used to cringe when they picked up a Publisher job. It often meant having to work on the dreaded PC in the corner of the room. Times have changed. I have seen some surprisingly high-end pieces come out of Publisher. It picked up support for spot colors several years ago, so that is no longer an issue. Bleeds – no problem. It’s not the Cadillac that Adobe Creative Suite is, but it’s no longer the Yugo it once was. And given the fact that it is often installed free on many computers – it’s really not that bad at all.

Powerpoint is the same. We regularly receive jobs submitted that were initially part of someone’s slide-show presentation and now they want it turned into an accompanying binder as a handout for a seminar. No problem.

And what computer do we use to work on these jobs? A pc. Good ol’ Windows. As the years have gone on – the large graphics companies have migrated all of their applications to Windows, so there is very little difference between the two platforms anymore.

So, the next time you hear a printer complain about any of the three Ps – it’s time to find someone who has changed with the times. Give us a call, we’ll print your job.

This is another way to use variable data printing.  Make the transaction as simple as possible and the results will improve.  A great cause can suffer from lackluster results if they do not execute their campaigns efficiently. Variable data campaigns are very simple to execute and the more personal the campain the better the results.