Ready to Print: Handbook for Media Designers

These days, designers must be proficient in creating final artwork and be familiar with pre-print and production processes. Ready to Print helps designers prepare their data and materials so that the best-possible result can be achieved with an optimal print run. Detailed descriptions of each step also ensure that designers can accurately plan their workflow and budget in these areas.

Ready to Print imparts the fundamentals of how printing functions and points out options and hurdles along the way to creating an outstanding print product. The chapters "Paper," "Printing Techniques," "Typography," "Trapping," "Color," "Image Editing," and "PDF" make the comprehensive book a clearly-structured companion for navigating through pre-print and production. All of the content-from the traits of various types of paper to the recommended settings when exporting data into a print-ready PDF-are explained thoroughly in plain language and with the help of numerous illustrations and graphics.

Ready to Print was compiled by Kristina Nickel, a production manager well versed in pre-print and production processes. In her years of professional experience, she was continually surprised at how many times she needed to correct the same mistakes in the documents with which she worked. When Nickel could not find a handbook that offered practical advice on these subjects, she decided to write Ready to Print.