You will often the word pre-flight used in printing
and what that really means is finding problems early.
Long before the job ever goes to press.
In fact, the earlier the better.
So, what is pre-flight?
Well, the term itself originated in aeronautics.
Check everything before you take off. That makes sense.
And it consists of analyzing files for problems.
Mechanical problems, content problems,
and potential printing issues. So how is preflight performed?
Well, very highly skilled operators examine the file for errors.
In essence they're playing, what's wrong with this picture?
And often they'll use Markzware's FlightCheck software.
And you might even consider getting FlightCheck for yourself.
So that ou can check your own files before you send it in.
It's sort of like having a second pair of eyes.
If you're interested, this is the url for Markzware and
the product is called Flightcheck and you can get it either
as a perpetually licensed product or you can buy it by subscription.
What sort of mechanical problems might an operator be looking for?
Well, if the job is built to the
wrong dimensions, obviously that isn't going to work.
If there's inadequate bleed that needs to be fixed.
If the content, for example text or artwork, is too close to trims
or to folds, then that's not going to be attractive when the job
is finished.
What sort of content problems might be an issue?
Well, missing graphics, certainly.
Any low resolution images, especially on large format output.
And of course, missing fonts, and any
simple things like typographical errors or misspelled words.
They're small, but they look pretty big when you see them happen on a press.
And of course, if the wrong colors are used.
For example, if it's a four color job, a process job, but all the
colors are spot, that needs to be fixed.
And extraneous swatches ought to be deleted
just to avoid confusion later in the job.
There are also potential printing issues.
Now, that's not something you as a designer
are expected to anticipate but these might lead to
changes that a pre-flight or pre-press operation makes
your file in order to ensure a successful print.
For example, large black areas on a job that's
going to print on an offset press might need to
be replaced with what is called a rich black build, instead of just being
black only, although you'll find that on a digital press, they don't do this.
Very light, pale, pastel gradients can be prone to banding, and that's
almost unavoidable on any device, no matter how well it's set up.
So, often what they'll do is go into Photoshop, replicate that gradient,
put a little bit of noise into it, to break up the banding.
So that's not something you'd be expected
to do.
It's something that they do to ensure that you get a satisfactory printed job.
If there are any kind of special inks, such as
fluorescent inks or metallic inks being used, they may have to
change their trappings set up in order to make sure, again,
that this job prints successfully, the way you expect it to.
So what are the most common
problems that pre-press and pre-flight operators encounter?
Still, after all these years, missing fonts and
missing artwork, low resolution images, and files built to the wrong size.
Extraneous or incorrect colors are still frequently a problem.
And all of these things have to be fixed before the job can go to press.
So who's going to fix the file?
Is it going to be you or is it going to be somebody at the printing company?
Well, if they require extensive repairs, you may be charged by the
printer and this may have some effect on your schedule as well.
There's always the option of returning the files to you for repairs.
But, that could change the schedule.
Sometimes you may opt to have the printer perform those repairs
to the file and then give you that corrected file back.
The nice thing about that is if you ever
reprint the job, you have a good fixed file.
And it's also a great way for you to learn the kinds of the things
that they had to fix so that you can avoid those problems in the future.