Printing Industry Exchange (printindustry.com) is pleased to have Steven Waxman writing and managing the Printing Industry Blog. As a printing consultant, Steven teaches corporations how to save money buying printing, brokers printing services, and teaches prepress techniques. Steven has been in the printing industry for thirty-three years working as a writer, editor, print buyer, photographer, graphic designer, art director, and production manager.
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Archive for the ‘Offset Printing’ Category
Wednesday, December 21st, 2011
You have found the custom printing vendor‘s FTP site and you’re about to send your files to press. With bated breath, you hope that you caught all the errors, formatted all the files correctly, and didn’t make any mistakes that will be expensive to fix. Before you push the send button, here are some things to check. (more…)
Posted in InDesign Software, Offset Printing, Prepress, Printing | Comments Off on Custom Printing: Preparing Your Printing Job for Commercial Printers
Monday, December 12th, 2011
I have been doing more freelance design work recently, working in Photoshop and InDesign, preparing layouts for commercial printers. I have learned, or relearned, a number of tips and tricks that you might find helpful in your design work. Here they are, listed in no particular order but separated into two categories: Photoshop and InDesign. (more…)
Posted in InDesign Software, Offset Printing, Prepress | Comments Off on Custom Printing: InDesign and Photoshop Tips
Wednesday, December 7th, 2011
In a few recent postings, I have been describing an ongoing book printing job. My client wants to reduce the cost, and she has therefore been considering various formats, bindings, and color schemes. (more…)
Posted in Book Binding Options, Book Printing, Offset Printing, Printing, Soft Cover Book Printing | Comments Off on Book Printing: More Ways to Cut Costs
Monday, December 5th, 2011
A client of mine is a professional photographer. Among other items, she sells gorgeous, full-color photo notecards of a myriad of multicolored flower species. (more…)
Posted in Offset Printing, Postcard Printing, Prepress, Printing, Proofing | Comments Off on Custom Printing of Photo Notecards: A Case Study
Wednesday, November 30th, 2011
A print brokering client of mine recently provided specifications for a small-format book printing run. One option for this 64-page directory included 16 pages of color and the balance in black ink only. The other option assumed process color throughout. I found a custom printing supplier in Texas with a large-format press that could handle 32-page signatures, yielding a price much lower that those provided by local printing companies. However, the total cost still didn’t meet the budget. The job exceeded budget targets whether printed with only 16 pages of color or process color throughout, whether saddle stitched or perfect bound. (more…)
Posted in Book Printing, Offset Printing, Printing, Soft Cover Book Printing | Comments Off on Book Printing: Reduce the Cost by Changing Trim Size, Paper Weight, Color Placement, and Binding
Tuesday, November 29th, 2011
I’ve been reading a lot recently about the future of print.
In a Book, It’s All About the Story
In an article by The Sun Daily, the author quotes The Ottawa Citizen: “All the arguments against e-books are about external incidentals—the feel of a book, the crinkle of the pages and so on. None of these things has anything to do with what makes a book worth reading—that it’s a well-written, thoughtful and compelling story.” (more…)
Posted in Book Printing, Magazine Printing, Offset Printing, Printing, Soft Cover Book Printing | Comments Off on Commercial Printing: Books and Magazines in the Future
Monday, November 28th, 2011
I may have mentioned this before. In addition to brokering printing, I install signage in movie theaters. This includes “standees,” the large, cardboard advertising environments and statues promoting upcoming movies. (more…)
Posted in Digital Printing, Large-Format Printing, Offset Printing, Poster Printing, Standees | Comments Off on Large-Format Printing: Standees Encompass Most Printing Technologies
Wednesday, November 16th, 2011
If you buy a number of different kinds of printing from a number of different printing companies, you may be surprised that a vendor providing a low estimate on one job may actually submit a high bid on another. I was quite surprised recently with the large pricing spread in three book printing estimates. (more…)
Posted in Book Printing, Offset Printing, Printing, Soft Cover Book Printing | Comments Off on Book Printing: Fit the Job Specs to the Printer’s Equipment
Monday, November 14th, 2011
About seven years ago, when I was a custom printing consultant, I received a crisis call on deadline night. I learned that a tornado had ripped off the roof of the business printing vendor that had already started producing a 64-page weekly issue of the Monday magazine. The printer couldn’t complete the job. It was Friday night at about 8:00 p.m. (more…)
Posted in Magazine Printing, Offset Printing, Printing | Comments Off on Magazine Printing: It’s Always Wise to Have a Back-up Plan
Wednesday, November 9th, 2011
I have two custom printing clients who are bucking the trends. They are self publishing books, but they want me to hook them up with offset printing companies. They have chosen not to self-publish with online, on-demand printing companies. They do not want to send their custom printing jobs to vendors in China. They want actual ink on paper, printed locally. (more…)
Posted in Book Printing, Hardcover Book Printing, Offset Printing, Printing, Soft Cover Book Printing | Comments Off on Book Printing: Offset vs. On-Demand Digital; Local vs. China
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