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When you design a print product and/or buy commercial printing services, sometimes problems arise. Printing is a complex process not only in terms of logistics but also in terms of design issues and art file preparation issues.

The very best way to avoid errors is twofold:

1. Put everything in writing. Craft an ongoing specification sheet, which you can then alter for each job, or kind of job, as needed. You can start by closely reading a number of printer’s bids. These will give you ideas, which you can expand upon over time. I’ve been changing and updating my base spec sheet for over 40 years. The more I learn about commercial printing, the more I tweak this document. And each time a totally new kind of work comes up (like a sample case for pieces of flooring, for which I brokered custom printing services a few years ago), I add even more specifications and/or massage the ones already there. This document is the main communications device between you and your printer, addressing everything from design specifications to file preparation to printing, binding, and delivery.
2. Proof early and often (to misquote the mid-19th century political saying). Back in the day (the ‘80s and ‘90s), our proofs weren’t as comprehensive as now. Make sure you see as many proofs as you need to at the highest level of detail you can, showing all color, all images (pretty much all of this is commonplace now). But review them closely during the printing process. Don’t edit copy at this stage, but do have relevant decision-makers in your office review them, too. Proofing is an investment, not an expense.

Client Errors: My Own Biggest Error and and a Colleague’s Error

Either you created the problem or the printer did. Those are the two options. That said, some flaws are just embarrassing, while others make a project unusable. It’s important to make an honest assessment. Here’s a mistake I made early in my career as the art director/production manager for a nonprofit government education organization.

I had designed a poster (approximately 3-feet wide by 4-feet tall) with an image of the Capitol as the background. I had positioned around the Capitol dome a number of illustrations of students drawn by a famous cartoonist that worked with my organization. I left it to the printer to do all of the photo compositing work. But the problem was that I had started with a 35mm slide of the Capitol. Back then, since we didn’t scan our own images, we didn’t see the enlarged film grain (silver halide, the old process prior to digital). We only saw this patterning of the film grain (and somewhat soft focus) at the proof stage. I had enlarged the image, which already had a lot of grain (since it was an especially fast, or light sensitive, film). At the very least I should have used an 8” x 10” press-camera image or (if that had not been an option) a 2 ¼” square-format image. (We didn’t have digital images back then.) The larger-sized negative would have been more detailed at that size with more gradations of color and less film grain. Therefore it would have yielded a better print.

What We Can Learn

I made the mistake. Because we saw the problem at the proof stage, we didn’t have to make the decision whether to reprint or live with this. We decided to embrace the patterning and call it a mezzotint. But I learned something.

So in the case of your own design and print buying, if you need a huge photo, buy the reprint rights to one and make sure it’s huge. Never enlarge a photo. You’ll see grain patterning (if it’s a silver halide print) or pixelation (if it’s a digital image). You can get these images online (we didn’t have that option back in the ‘80s and ‘90s).

Fortunately, now all images will have been incorporated into your design file before you send it to the printer, so check the color, resolution, placement, cropping, etc., of all images and then request a “contract-quality” proof from the printer.

All of these steps should ensure your success. But remember, never enlarge. Only reduce.

One other thing to remember is that if you do need to reprint a job due to an error (one of my print brokering clients had to do this a few years ago due to problems with her color choices and positioning of solid inks), your printer may only charge you his cost (without his added profit percentage). This may be negotiable. It doesn’t hurt to ask, and that can make a difference.

Printer’s Errors

When I was an art director, a commercial printing vendor “flopped” a photo. That means that when he stripped the photo negative into the composite negative from which the plates were made, it was “wrong reading” rather than “right reading.” I asked for a reprint for the following reason. The image included the organization’s logo prominently displayed (on a podium sign, so it was very visible). And it was backwards. Since it had been correct on the blueline proof and then had been changed (in error) between this proof stage and the final printed piece, it was the printer’s fault. He had to pay for the reprint.

I also made the printer reprint the CEO’s letterhead after it arrived with the two colors of the logo out of register. Unfortunately, even though these two jobs were worthy of reprinting at the printer’s cost, our organization did get a bit of a reputation in the local pool of custom printing suppliers as being a problem client. That’s why I’d encourage you to use discernment and honesty when you decide whether a printing flaw is annoying or whether it renders the job unusable.

Another job doesn’t really highlight an error but rather a potential risk of an error. A local magazine wanted to print an invitation for a special event. I suggested seed paper (they could actually plant the printed invitations, and flowers would grow from the seeds in the paper). I contracted with a printer on the East Coast, and then I bought the seed paper from a vendor in the Midwest and had it shipped to the printer. Unfortunately, many of the sheets of seed paper jammed the East Coast printer’s digital press. (They were not of equal thickness across the entire sheet.) Due to the excessive spoilage, the printer almost didn’t have enough paper for the job.

If I had this to do over, I would have had the printer buy the paper rather than buying it for him. He would have known exactly what to buy and how much. Fortunately, this was a problem that didn’t quite happen, but it almost did, and it would have been bad. Best to learn from it.

The third example had to do with a small-format perfect-bound book of flower photos. Each page spread had a flower on the left and a pithy quote about life on the right. It was intended to make you think about the simple joys and beauty of life.

The background of the front cover, back cover, and spine was a black solid with heavy ink coverage. Over this black ink, the printer added a dull film laminate. Unfortunately, the black solid ink was not completely dry when the printer added the laminate. Therefore the ink produced a gas as the liquid ink vehicle evaporated, and the gas made the cover coating bubble. None of the books were usable.

The vendor stepped up. He took off the covers and reprinted them, and re-applied them to all the text blocks once the ink had dried and the covers had been laminated. Then he trimmed the books a second time. Fortunately, I had left a little wiggle room around all art elements close to the exterior cover trim. So what might have gone from “close to the trim” to “painfully close to the trim” didn’t occur.

So in your own design and print buying work, always, always, always remember that replacing print book covers renders the overall book smaller than you had planned. Therefore, keep all live-matter type and imagery away from folds and the trim.

What We Can Learn

The first scenario (with the flopped photo) should never happen again, given the fact that you, as a designer, will always either buy or scan the images yourself. That said, if anything ever goes wrong between the printer’s contract proof and the final job, you have proof that it was the printer’s responsibility.

The second scenario pertains to color register. If colors are out of register, that is a printing flaw. Your printer should look for this during the press run. That said, some problem press sheets may slip through, so be aware. Colors out of register can also create color shifts within photos, especially in neutral colors.

The third scenario with the book covers provides several life lessons.

As noted above, keep wide margins–even if you never have to replace print book covers in the course of your career. This includes—especially–where you position the page numbers (folios). They can also become “too close for comfort” in saddle-stitched print books with longer page counts. Pages close to the center of the book will be pushed out slightly from the bind edge, and folios close to the center spread can get too close to the trim or be trimmed off entirely.

Work with vendors who will take responsibility for their actions. If the error is truly theirs, they will acknowledge this and give you some options. (For instance, the printer only reprinted and reattached the covers because there was nothing wrong with the text blocks. There was no reason to reprint the entire job. I continued to work with this printer for many years thereafter.)

Assume there might be problems with drying and coating operations when you’re printing heavy-coverage inks. You may want to ask the printer about this.

The Takeaway

I have made my share of errors. I lived through them. I also learned from them and never made them again. Fortunately graphic art file preparation in 2023 gives you more control than I had in the 1980s and 1990s because you can see the complete pages on your computer, your inkjet printer, and your printer’s “contract proof.” You can usually see the errors before they happen. That’s a blessing.

Always seek to develop mutually beneficial, long-term relationships with printers. Price should only be one component of your decision to go with a specific vendor.

If problems do occur, try to work with the printer dispassionately to find a solution. It’s human nature to want to lay blame, but it doesn’t solve your problem. Maybe you need a reprint. Maybe you only need a discount.