The Myth of Graphic Perfection

From time to time in the course of my printshop work day, I find myself conversing with pressmen. They are, in most cases, a rare breed of crusty individual who, much like movie theatre projectionists, IT specialists and auto mechanics, believe themselves to be the keepers of special, arcane, under-appreciated knowledge. The world at large just doesn't understand them, and things in general just aren't as good as they used to be. Just ask 'em, they'll tell ya. Every damn day.

Anyway, yesterday's conversation centered around digital printing and poly-plates versus traditional metal plates, and their relative accuracy. This press guy says to me "Do me a favor... sometime, when you've got time*, I want you to make a square, 8" x 8", and print it out on one of those copiers up front, and then measure it to see how far off it is. I guarantee you the image will be distorted." I reply "yeah, I know... if I output that same image on 4 different printers, and the plate-setter, I'll get 5 different results, because none of them are 100% accurate, and they're never calibrated the same way at the same time."

"Exactly," he says, "people think them damn computers are perfect, but they can't even make a perfect square." I take a breath, count quickly to 10 and say "well, the computer is fine, it can make a perfect square, it's the output devices that can't accurately reproduce that perfect digital information." He takes a quarter of a second to not even attempt to process the fact that I've presented him with a contradictory viewpoint and says "that's what I mean, you never have that problem with negative to metal plate, it comes out the same way every time." He then walks back to his press, confident that he has just imparted an important piece of lithography gospel to the foolish young upstart who runs that pre-press department. Never mind the fact that I'm 46 years old, and I've worked in printing for a quarter of a century, and I've probably shot, developed and stripped more film negatives than he has, and the fact that he's barely 10 years older than me, and... well, just never mind. This guy never wants to have a real discussion, he just wants me to hold still while he explains to me that I don't know things that I actually do know.

Here's where the pressman and I agree:

He's right about the fact that a perfect square (or a circle, or a trapezoid, or any font, or the half-tone dots of any continuous tone photo) will almost never come out of a printer or plate-setter 100% perfectly accurate. The image will stretch, sometimes vertically, sometimes horizontally. These are machines, with hundreds of moving parts, and they do wear down and need to be re-calibrated on a regular basis. The software will always send accurate information to the output device, but due to wear and tear, differences in stock thickness and even room temperature the device will probably not reproduce the same image the same way two days in a row. This is a solid fact, and I will never dispute it.

Here's where the pressman is just plain wrong:

The problem with this guy's bullshit opinion is his insistence that the above listed inaccuracies don't extend to more traditional methods of image reproduction. They do. In traditional offset lithography, an image is transfered onto a piece of negative film (the black parts are clear, and the white parts are black). That film is then taped to a paper or vinyl sheet by a stripper (yes, that's what they're called, stop giggling). Then that stripped negative is placed over a emulsion coated metal plate and exposed to light. Then the plate is developed, and it's time to fire up the press.

Nowadays, that film negative is generated by sending a document from a computer to a film output device, which uses a laser to expose the image onto the film one line at a time (industry standard is somewhere in the 133 to 150 lines per inch range). The problem here is, it's just another instance of a computer sending digital information to an output device, and all the potential problems covered in the last paragraph still apply. On top of that, the exposed film has to be sent through a processor, where it is developed, fixed and washed, like any other piece of photographic film. The developer and fixer chemicals slowly lose potency over time, and can be radically affected by temperature, and human error.

The pre-computer version of this process is even more troublesome. Back in the day, when I and that pesky pressman learned our stuff, film was developed in a darkroom, by hand. You stuck a finger in the developer to see if it was warm enough, and development time was usually determined by watching the film develop and checking your wristwatch. To make matters worse, the camera that was used to photograph the original graphic image was a behemoth of a machine, and image size was controlled by moving the artwork closer to or farther away from the camera lens. This was achieved by turning two cranks with both hands while staring at a small piece of tape with percentages from 1% to maybe 500% printed on it, as it whirled by. The camera operator rested his head against the camera, turned the cranks, and stopped when the tape reached the desired percentage. This means that image size could vary depending on the size of the camera operator's head, as it affected the angle at which the percentage tape was viewed. I'm not making this up. This is how we used to do it. 100% wasn't even exactly the same from minute to minute, on the same machine with the same operator.

And I haven't even mentioned the possibility of plates stretching once you put them on the press. Don't worry, I won't give you the details, just believe me when I say that this can happen.

What the hell does this all mean at the end of the day?

What it means is this: ultimate perfection in the graphic arts is a myth. It's not possible. It can't be achieved. The best you can hope for is to reach a level of attempted perfection that exceeds the human eye's range of perception. At 150 lines per inch, the edges of a curved line do indeed look perfect to the naked eye, but if you magnify that printed image to a point beyond 150 parts per inch, that curve will begin to break up, and you'll see the jagged edges of all the little squares the computer used to make that curve. A billboard along the highway looks perfect to the naked eye as you drive by at 65 mph, but if you were crazy enough to pull over and climb up the ladder to stand right in front of that billboard, you'd see jagged edges in every curve and half-tone dots the size of silver dollars. To put it another way, if you stare too closely at a sausage, sooner or later you're going to see what it's made of. So why does most printing look "perfect" to most people? People see what they want to see. As your eyes scan across the printed page, they process the information as quickly as possible. As long as the imperfections are smaller than your ability to detect them, your brain will satisfy itself that it has seen a perfect image. It's a trick. An optical illusion. And as long as the information is conveyed from the page to your brain, it's good enough.

Would this argument convince the pressman of anything?

Of course not. He doesn't need to actually be right, he just needs to maintain his personal belief that he is right. Much like the myth of perfection in graphics, he only needs to process information from the physical world at a safe distance that allows him to see exactly what he wants to see. In fact, he wouldn't even sit still long enough to listen to this whole diatribe. He's already moved on to telling you that he's in his fifties, was the youngest ever certified auto mechanic in the state, spent some time in the armed forces, and has somehow also spent over 40 years in the printing business. And he bagged a 14 point buck last fall. And his secret biscuit recipe is the best in the world. Just ask him. He'll tell ya. Every damn day.

* This will never happen, and he knows it.

Let It Bleed! Part II

Crops & Bleeds and how to use them...

Let’s say you’re creating artwork for a business card. As I previously explained, business cards are traditionally 3.5” x 2”, and your printer will probably want to run them “8 up” on an 8.5” x 11” sheet. Let’s also say your design includes a background image that bleeds off all four sides of your document, like the following example:

PLEASE NOTE: The above image is only a hypothetical example. I am not actually in the wig game. If you show up at the corner of 4th St. & 5th Ave. and attempt to buy hair or bait from a man in a van, it will not be me, and I cannot guarantee your safety.

Now, let’s design a business card!

Set your document size at 3.5” x 2” with a .125” bleed area. This can all be set in the new document window in InDesign, Illustrator, Quark, or any other design software program. You’ll also want to set a margin of at least .125”. That will keep you from placing any text (like part of your phone #) too close to the edge. When your document opens, it will look like 3 rectangular boxes, one inside of the other. The outer box is the extent of your bleed area (3.75” x 2.25”). The next smallest box is your actual document size (3.5” x 2”). The smallest box (3.25” x 1.75”) is the area in which it is safe to include text, logos, pictures, or anything else that you don’t want to get cut off during trimming.

Create an image frame 3.75” x 2.25”, center it on your document, and import your background image into it, making sure that it fills the entire frame, extending beyond the document edge. Then create a text frame within the 3.25” x 1.75” margin and enter your pertinent info. After you’re satisfied with your layout, sit back, pat yourself on the head, take a few deep breaths and prepare to export your finished artwork. There are a couple of different ways to do this.

If you trust your printer, or don’t trust yourself, or both...

You’ll want to provide your printer with an editable document. You’ll need to include all the fonts you used, and all the original image files you placed in the document (the background image and any logos etc.). InDesign has a ‘Package’ command in the File menu that is excellent for this purpose, and Quark has a 'Collect for Output' command that works just as well. These options will collect all your files into a new folder which can be given to your printer. By providing your original document and all the files it is linked to, you give your printer the ability to edit your files. This is the way to go if you anticipate a future need to update the text in your document, like changing your phone number, or having new cards printed for future employees. In addition, the prepress guy (me) is now responsible for any bleeds or crop mark issues. This is also the way to go if you just can’t get your head around that wacky bleed concept; having access to your original files makes it much easier for the prepress person to fix any design errors you may have missed.

If you trust yourself, or don’t trust your printer, or both...

You’ll want to send an PDF (Portable Document Format) of your artwork to the print shop. There are a lot of advantages to this method. The PDF will not be editable by most print shops (unless they have a program called PitStop which allows for the editing of PDF’s, but is prohibitively expensive for the average user), so the chances of your document being accidentally changed are pretty non-existent. PDF’s generally don’t use up nearly as much memory as your original document, and are often small enough to be sent to your printer as an email attachment. Exporting a PDF is pretty simple. Under the File Menu, choose “Export”, and then choose PDF. In the PDF window, set the preset to either “Print”, “Press”, or “Highest Quality”, depending on what version of the software you have installed on your computer. Then, clink “Marks and Bleeds” in the menu to your left. This is where you tell Acrobat to include crop marks and bleeds. If you set your document up with bleeds, you can just check the box that says “Use document bleed settings”. If not, just set the bleed to .125”. That’s all there is to it, really; just hit ENTER, sit back, and marvel at the miracle of creation (of your Portable Document Format file).

That’s all for now... the next post will most likely contain some more philosophical musings on crops & bleeds (yes, I do muse about just that sort of thing), or answers to your ensuing questions, or both.

Let It Bleed!

In my quest to demystify the arcane world of Graphic Design and Printing, I have asked myself “what is the one thing which you, Bob Ray Starker, professional Prepress person, wish the general print buying public had a more comprehensive grasp of? What single thing about preparing a document for print do most people (professional designers included) screw up simply because they have no understanding of it, and in most cases don’t even recognize its necessity?”

After many long hours of intensive thought, I have arrived at the following answer:

Crops & Bleeds.

If those two words bring to mind sweet corn and excessive hemorrhaging, you are not a graphics person. Never fear. Sit tight, read on, and let me catch you up to speed. First, some back story, and then a few useful definitions...

A printed piece can run one of two ways; either “to size” or “oversize”. If you’re having flyers printed, and you want them to end up standard letter size (8.5” x 11”), and you have no text or images closer than a quarter inch to the edge of the sheet, your job can run to size, requiring no trimming after it comes off the press. Congratulations, you have avoided the need to account for crops & bleeds.

If you’re printing something smaller than that sheet size (like business cards (usually 3.5” x 2”) which are often printed 8 or 10 at a time on a standard letter size sheet of paper) or something with images that extend all the way to the edge of the sheet (like most magazine covers, which are printed on a larger sheet with the image being slightly bigger than the intended final size so that the excess can be trimmed off after printing), then you’ll need to know a little something about crops and bleeds.

Crop marks are small vertical and horizontal lines (also known as hash marks) that are printed at the corners of an image to let the person running the paper cutter know where your final document should be trimmed. If your artwork doesn’t include them it will make someone who operates a machine with an exceptionally large, sharp blade very, very angry. That, as a rule of thumb, is never good. There are a couple of different ways to get these marks to appear on your artwork, and we’ll cover that later.

Bleed is the part of your image that extends beyond the crop marks and is larger than the intended final size of your finished document. The total bleed area is usually a quarter of an inch larger than your final document size. This gives the paper cutter an extra eighth of an inch of excess image to trim off, which is the only way to get your image to “run off” the edge of the sheet. To put it another way, if your final document size is standard letter size (8.5” x 11”) then your image size, including bleeds, should be a quarter of an inch larger in both directions (8.75” x 11.25”). If your letter sized document doesn’t include that extra bleed area, the person running the paper cutter will, again, become very angry, and will have no choice but to trim an eighth of an inch off the edges of your document (making it 8.25” x 10.75”) and that’s not what you wanted. Now you are angry, and the cutter is very angry, and one or both of you will yell at the prepress person (me) and that will make me drink.

Do you need that sort of emotional stress in your life? No. Neither do I.

In the next post I’ll tell you how to avoid this regrettable situation.

Howdy!

Welcome to my blog.

Since there's no telling just who you might be, I'll begin by telling you about about myself, and why I felt compelled to start a' bloggin'...

My name is Bob Ray Starker, and I've worked in the printing business since 1985. Back in the days before desktop publishing I started out doing paste-up with galley type and a waxer, stripping negatives, cutting ruby lith, burning metal plates, and a whole slew of related skills that have since gone the way of the dodo. Since the mid '90s I've worked on Macs and PCs in PageMaker, Quark, InDesign, PhotoShop, Illustrator, Acrobat, Word and even (shudder) Microsoft Publisher, all in a never-ending struggle to render everyday citizens' documents printable.

What most folks don't know about printing would fill a library, and frankly, that's OK. There's no real need for normal, well-adjusted people to know anything about Pantone books, color trapping, font substitutions or image densities. I know this stuff because I get paid to. There are much more pleasant things with which to fill your head, and you should do that.

But...

From time to time, many who've had no training in the graphic arts will be called upon by an employer, a relative or plain old necessity to design a business card, newsletter or brochure. It will be daunting. The software will taunt you. You will, more than likely, freak out. That's why I'm writing this blog. If your project hits a wall, please feel free to contact me. I will answer your questions (hopefully within 24 hours or less), give you all the tips and tricks at my disposal, and help you deliver a finished document to the local print shop that will print as flawlessly as their equipment allows. Best of all, the prepress guy (my job) won't curse you behind your back.

So, let me have it... what do you need to know to finish your project? Send your queries, quips and questions to: bobraystarker@yahoo.com

Let's do this thing!

P.S. While I anticipate this being a forum for newcomers with a lot of how-to questions, graphic designers should feel free to browse these missives and hurl a question my way. Honestly, I spend as much time fixing Adobe files submitted by professional designers as I do tweaking Word docs submitted by amateurs. Remember: THERE ARE NO STUPID QUESTIONS, ONLY STUPID MISTAKES THAT COST TIME AND MONEY. Stupid mistakes also make the prepress guy (me) angry and bitter. If that happens, I might forget to check your crops, bleeds and gripper space. If you don't know what any of that means, we should talk. ;-)