Basic Stages of Print Production

Created by Mark Angeli, Modified on Sun, 23 Mar at 4:59 AM by Mark Angeli

Print Industry Overview - Basic Stages of Print Production

In general, any print production workflow will have

1. Prepress
2. Press
3. Post-press (finishing)

Prepress

All the steps required to transform an original supplied document into a state that is ready for reproduction by printing.
There are a lot of different operations involved, some are common regardless of the printing method, some are not.
Basic operations performed by the prepress department at an average printing company are:

- Download customer’s file(s) and do a “preflight”: validate the file data to make sure it meets the proper production requirements (file format, image resolution, fonts, page construction and geometry, bleeds and trims, PMS color settings). A lot of “preflight” operations are done automatically by pre-press software. If something is outside of pre-set preflight parameters, operator will get the warnings.

- Create impositions (arrange pages on the press sheet to be printed and finished)

- Create proofs.
Content proofs (also called bluelines) are created to check for content and image positioning only. These can be printed on large press sheet-size sheets, or on smaller sheets, usually on single-color inkjet printers
Color proofs are a “preview” of how the actual printed page will look.
In a digital print workflow, color proofs are usually printed on an actual press.
In an offset workflow, press setup and makeready costs are quote high, so the color proofs are usually printed on properly calibrated high-quality inkjet printers.
In some cases, a “digital soft proof” (a high-resolution PDF file) gets made instead.
Proofs need to be approved – usually by the customer.
“Hard” proofs are also usually signed and dated.

Printing companies use different “proofing tags” for this purpose, such as this one:

With complex work, corrections and multiple proof revision cycles may be required to get the things right.

- Make plates
After the proofs are approved, this is the next step in a traditional offset print workflow.
Computer-to-plate machines (platesetters) are using lasers to transfer the printed image on to the printing plates.

In a digital print workflow, files are sent straight to press, no plates are needed.