1. Using web graphics on printed material.
With many young designers coming from a pre-dominantly web design background
the transfer over from web design to traditional design for print can
bring with it a multitude of design sins. Images supplied at 72dpi and
crunched down to load fast on a website are going to reproduce very
badly in print you can get away with small thumbnails but blowing things
up to any appreciable size is going to be pushing your luck. There are
a number of online sites offering free or very cheap quality hi resolution
images which are a good source for suitable imagery.
2. Forgetting about or not allowing enough
bleed.
A very common error is to send to print a document or flattened image
that has no bleed at all. Generally speaking you should allow at least
3mm around every cut off edge. Failing to do so will give the printers
no leeway and will either crop off the side of the page or give you
a white border. It is always a good idea when supplying image files
to save layered psd files then if things need extending or cropping
you can do this on the background layer and hopefully cut down your
work
3. Using obscure fonts and not embedding or outlining them for output.
We've all been guilty of this at some point and things are generally
fine if you are going to be the only person accessing your artwork or
documents. However if someone else needs to amend the files or use your
vector logo on one of there publications. Unless you package up the
used fonts, they are not going to be able to open the files correctly
and some software programs may replace any unknown fonts with a default.
This is a particular problem when you need to dig out stuff that was
created several years previously and you no longer have your old fonts
installed.
4. Supplying print ready artwork using
spot colours or rgb
There are valid reasons for using spot colours in artwork, logos that
need to reference particular pantone colours for example. In general
design work however most print is sent through on 4 colour presses CMYK
with occasional 5th colour for luminoius or metallic colour or for spot
UV varnish. It is very common for lazy designers to just place rgb images
into files and expect the vibrant colours seen on screen to reproduce
in print.
5. Allowing design illiterate clients
to lead you round the houses
The customer is always right, goes the old adage. However it is often
said with gritted teeth and a sense of patience that recognizes that
these morons will at some stage be handing over a fat cheque for your
troubles. It is often a good idea when first submitting visuals to throw
in a couple of stinkers to hopefully get them to appreciate the design
you would like them to accept. There is the very real danger of course
of them loving the piece of absolute arsewipe that you knocked up in
five minutes to make them think you've been earning your money. Still
it's a living.
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