05
Maintaining Quality
Posted by Karl | Posted in General, Printing, Tips | Posted on 05-12-2011
Finding a printer who delivers a quality product can be hard enough but finding one who delivers the same standards repeatedly as you order and re-order should not be a life or death issue that takes over daily life.
There are two issues with printing quality – the objective standards that can easily be measured and the more subjective aspects such as color tone, design layout and ideas that flow between you and the print shop.
When you are checking through the work produced, and particularly when you are making your selection for an initial print run, check out the objective issues first as these are straight forward and errors are simply and quickly found:
· Are the pages in the correct order?
· Is the binding straight?
· Have the pages been printed positive with no mishaps with over-printing and the colors merge properly rather than casting color shadows due to misalignment?
· Have the pages been properly typeset so they are printed with correct margins and footer and header spacing as well as appearing straight and true rather than offset at some angle?
Once you have this out of the way, you have to consider the more subjective issues which for the most part will be dealt with by a combination of your gut feel which will significantly improve over time and the feedback you get from others, especially the readers and users of your material. In particular, consider the following:
· Color scheme and mix; how the subtle use of color is brought to bear on your printed materials’
· The ink coverage on your materials – is it acceptable across the whole spectrum of the publication or medium you are using?
· Editorial and physical layout – make sure you do not allow the graphics to dominate your written message.
· Compromises over colors and how your requirements are interpreted, this really comes down to how well you work with your print partner and the quality of communication between you.
This brings about one of the issues you need to consider; if the print quality is not up to the grade what is your position when it comes to getting the printer to accept responsibility for work that is not up to scratch. You shouldn’t have to be looking over the shoulders of the printer at the shop, nor is it practical – you have every right to expect consistent quality, run after run, no matter where you happen to be situated and if a printer isn’t prepared to step up to your mark when it comes to quality they really have no justification for expecting your repeat business.
