Mini-rant on the surreal world of "prepress"
Mini-rant on the surreal world of "prepress"
- Subject: Mini-rant on the surreal world of "prepress"
- From: Marco Ugolini <email@hidden>
- Date: Wed, 21 Apr 2010 12:33:52 -0700
- Thread-topic: Mini-rant on the surreal world of "prepress"
Hi all.
I just got off the phone with a print vendor (which will remain unnamed),
and, boy, I need to vent -- so please indulge me.
I am separating and preparing for print output a one-page ad for a client.
The ad will appear on a printed magazine.
I was given a submissions guideline in which, among other instructions, I
read pearls of wisdom such as the following:
> "PDF files must be supplied as composite CMYK. Color management,
> ICC color or RGB color must not be included."
Notice the careful wording: "ICC color" must "not be included". As if it
were a THING, not a PROCESS.
And what is "ICC color" anyway? Is it red? Is it blue? Is it a bird? Is it a
plane?
Elsewhere in the guidelines I read:
> "Files should not contain any form of color management, inclusion of
> ICC profiles, SWOP or RGB color.
Never mind the horrible grammar ("files should not contain...inclusion of
ICC profiles"?). OK, my brain hurts and my sense of proper grammar lies
wounded on the ground, but I still understand that they do not want RGB
images. I can also accept that they want no ICC profile tagging -- but what
the heck is the meaning of "SWOP" in that context? Do THEY know?
Elsewhere in the guidelines:
> "If creating PDFs from page layout applications such as QuarkXpress, any
> bitmapped or rasterized images used should be saved as TIFF format rather
> than EPS, reducing the risk of ICC color errors occurring."
Hold on just a second! They asked NOT to tag anything...but now they are
saying that they want TIFFs so as to "reduc[e] the risk of ICC color errors
occurring"? Why? Are they using ICC CM workflows or not?
Also, no information is given on WHAT kind of CMYK is required. (Is it SWOP?
If so, as defined in the legacy Photoshop CMYK engine? Or in US Web Coated
(SWOP) v2? Or is it sheetfed? Or one of the GRACoL print conditions? etc.)
So, since I definitely had questions, I sent them a small number of queries,
specifically asking that they reply to ALL of them. Of course, when I
received the reply, NONE of the questions had been answered, and they just
repeated that all I need to know is in the guidelines. Clearly, that silly
dance could go on forever.
So I decided that emails would no longer be enough. I called them, and asked
to speak directly with their production specialist, since I had been
contacting the sales rep so far, who kept giving me information second-hand
without a clear comprehension of its meaning.
When I asked what CMYK print specification was being used for this print
assignment, the "specialist" told me (IN THE MOST STUNNED TONE OF VOICE, as
if wondering how I could possibly ask such an OBVIOUSLY UNNECESSARY
question) that "THERE IS ONLY ONE CMYK IN NORTH AMERICA"!
So, hear ye, hear ye, directly from the mouth of an "expert": there is ONLY
ONE CMYK PRINT SPACE IN NORTH AMERICA! It must be true, because these people
told me so.
We learn something every day, don't we. In case any of us thought otherwise,
we now stand corrected by the true "authorities" in the field.
I will ask them no more questions: I was able to wrest out of the
"specialist" that they are using a web offset press -- so I will separate
the images to US Web Coated (SWOP) v2, provide inkjet proofs, then cross my
fingers and hope that these wunderkinds will not screw up too badly.
What nonsense...
Thank you all for indulging my mini-rant.
Marco Ugolini
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