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Graphics
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P l a n n i n g f o r C o m m e r c i a l P r i n t i n g : P l a n n i n g a n d e v a l u a t i o n
Chapter 1: Planning for
Commercial Printing
Every commercial printing job requires that you con-
sider a complex set of variables ranging from what your
budget and schedule allow to how the paper stock and
printing press affect your final output. The earlier you
think about these variables, the more control you’ll have
over the quality, cost, and schedule of your project.
Planning and evaluation
Preparing a publication for commercial printing takes
careful thought: both imagesetters and commercial
printing presses have inherent limitations, and it’s pos-
sible to create publications that are difficult to print on
either an imagesetter or a printing press. By thinking of
your design and production cycles as steps in a larger
process, you can make choices that will let you work
more efficiently and help you achieve the best printed
results.
Before going to a commercial printer with your
project, you need to evaluate your skills, your schedule,
and your equipment to determine what tasks you will do
and what services you will contract.
In addition to choosing a commercial printer, you may
need to select a prepress service provider to image
color separations, scan continuous-tone art, and trap
You can draw or import graphics to add
graphic interest to a page design or to
illustrate your document. You can also
specify graphic properties such as fill
pattern, pen pattern, line width, and
color, and you can resize, reshape, rotate,
and rearrange graphics.
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