Putting the Pieces Together - Client File (Part 2)

Now that you have the structure file layer ready, you can begin to add the artwork. If you are designing it yourself, then starting painting your masterpiece on the structural canvas. If you are applying client artwork to your structure you may run into some problems depending how good the design file is built for actual production. One of the many problems you will run into with client art is that you do not have the font used in the artwork. Ideal its best to wait for the client to give you the font, but if for some reason thats not an option, there is a way to get around it. If they sent you an ai file, most likely by default its saved as pdf compatible. Change the extension from .ai to .pdf. This is also a good trick for account managers to know who dont have illustrator (so now they can have a pdf they can view client supplied artwork rather than having you resave it all the time). Once you have changed the ai file to pdf (or customer supplied a pdf file), open an new illustrator document. Place the pdf file in the document as you would a placed image. Now go to object > flatten transparency and change your vector balance to 100% and check the box to convert all text to outlines. Now you have the outlined text. This obviously doesnt work if you need to edit the text copy or if they didnt save it out as pdf compatible.

Another client problem is that they dont include any linked images. They are all embedded so you have no way of knowing (in illustrator) if these images are at 300dpi (250dpi is good enough printing in most cases). A quick way to figure it out and create new images so they are linked instead of embedded is by taking the illustrator file with the embedded images and opening it in photoshop. When the dialogue box opens on how to treat the file, click on the button for opening up as images and not as a page. This will open the images in photoshop at the embedded dimensions and dpi that the client used. Note they may have scaled the image in size in illustrator (double clicking the image in illustrator link tab will tell you how much) so you may need to use the image size dialogue box in photoshop to see what the dpi will be at the actual image size used. (make sure resample image is unchecked and then enter the new scaled dimension found out in the illustrator linked tab to get the new dpi resolution). If its not at least 250dpi you will need to ask the client for a new image.

Now that you have the client file's text and images placed correctly and added to the structure and that it all bleeds correctly and safely within their copy safe margin standards, you are ready to look at the colors used in the files. Colors is the biggest thing designers trip up when they are setting up files for production. I rarely find client files colors match watch colors are being used for production. They may specifiy a 4 c/p (colored process - cyan, magent, yellow, and black) but then use nothing but spot colors. Or they will call out a spot color and use a process. Or worse yet rename a process color to a PMS spot color (which really is impossible to find unless you process out all the spot colors in the supplied file and compare it to the process break down of the spot colors in illustrator). One other thing to watch out for is files built in RGB and then converted to CMYK. All your blacks that should be 100% are now weird percentage mixes of all 4 colors. You want to make sure that the colors listed for the job are the only ones used. Changing them to their appropriate color mix or spot color and labeling it correctly in both your slug and in the swatch tab. That files are set up correctly in knocking out the colors below it or overprint (multiplying - almost the same thing). You will also want to make sure you are using overprint preview to see PMS color displayed accurately (without overprint on, it shows the process mix). Its a good way to double check your spot colors havent been processed and that you are not actually having white text overprint (it disappears) when it should be knocking out.

One last think to look for in client files (and your own) is dealing with overprint, multiplying, screen and transparency. Illustrator will let you multiply a pms color over itself and give you a darker blue. Thats not how it works in production. It will never be more than that 100% PMS spot color. Dont make a screen of a spot color, then make its opacity a different number and the group it with other objects at a certain transparency. Now you have a white logo on a spot bkgd that is 70% screen at 50% opacity in a group of other white text thats all set at 50% transparency. Which means that you are dealing with a 17.5% opacity white. Its best to just make that logo a 17.5& screen of the spot bkgd. Its too easy to copy and paste that logo out of its group transparency and place it somewhere else and now have different colored logos in a final job. Also, if you are dealing with a rich black bkgd (same a 40,30,30,100 mix) and have a screened white logo or text on top, you are better off making a screened graphic of black (otherwise it becomes shifted to a bluish gray in this case, which may not be desirable).

Before I end this section I just wanted to remind people of the brands of the world link I wrote in my first blog. Too often you will get a client that wants you to use their logo from their website. At 72dpi thats not option. Brands of the World has a nice searchable collection of vectored logos. I stop there first before I start rebuilding their logo from scratch.