Most reprints are not caused by printing errors. They are caused by briefs.
A job that goes to proof three times usually started with a brief that left three things open. Each round costs a day, sometimes more, and on a tight campaign those days come out of the part of the schedule you least want to lose.
Getting the brief right first time is less about detail for its own sake and more about removing the questions that would otherwise come back to you.
What a brief needs to settle
A supplier can only quote and produce against what they are told. The gaps get filled with assumptions, and assumptions are where cost appears.
At a minimum, a brief should cover the finished size, flat and folded where relevant, the quantity, the stock and weight, whether it prints one side or both, the number of colours or whether it is full colour, any finishes, and the delivery date and address.
Quantity deserves particular attention. Print pricing is not linear, and the difference between 480 and 500 units is often negligible while the difference between 500 and 5,000 changes the process entirely. If a quantity is provisional, say so, and ask for break points rather than a single figure.
Say what the job is for
This is the part most often left out, and the part that prevents the most problems.
A supplier who knows the piece is going into a direct mail pack will check the weight against postage bands. One who knows it will be handled repeatedly at an exhibition will flag that an unlaminated finish will mark. One who knows it sits in a damp environment will steer you away from an unsuitable stock.
None of that is possible from dimensions and a quantity alone. Describing the end use lets the supplier catch problems that were never going to be visible on screen.
Choose the right kind of proof
Proof is a broad word and asking for one without saying which kind causes its own delays.
A PDF proof confirms content, layout and position. It is quick and free at most suppliers, and it is what most jobs need. What it cannot do is show you colour, because your monitor and the press are not the same thing.
A digital hard copy proof shows the job printed, usually on a different stock than the final run. Useful for checking layout and folding in the hand. Indicative on colour rather than exact.
A wet proof, produced on the actual press and stock, is the only thing that shows true colour. It costs more and adds days, and for a brand colour that has to be right across a large run it is often worth both.
Deciding which of these you need at brief stage, rather than after the first PDF arrives, saves a round on its own. There is more on this in Birch’s guidance on design for print.
Send artwork that is ready
Supplied artwork is the other common source of extra rounds.
Files should be built at the final size with bleed included, images at appropriate resolution for the output size rather than for screen, fonts either outlined or supplied, and colours set up in the right space for the process being used.
Where a job involves a cutter, fold or specific finish, the artwork needs to be built around it from the start. Adapting a design afterwards rarely works cleanly and usually produces the compromise nobody is happy with.
Decide who signs off before you start
A surprising number of extra proof rounds are internal.
The proof goes out, one person approves it, then someone who was not on the original list sees it and raises a change. That change generates a new proof, which goes to a slightly different group, and the cycle repeats.
Agreeing the approval list before the first proof goes out prevents this. So does making one person responsible for consolidating comments, rather than the supplier receiving four sets of amends from four people, some of which contradict each other.
Read the proof for the right things
When a proof arrives, the instinct is to read it as a document. It needs to be checked as a print job.
Check that the content is final, because copy changes at proof stage are the single most common cause of a second round. Check names, dates, prices, phone numbers and web addresses individually, since these are what get missed. Check that folds land where you expect and that nothing important sits in the fold or too near the trim.
Then approve it properly. A qualified approval, agreeing with a change still to come, is not an approval, and it puts the job back in the queue.
Where the time actually goes
On a job that runs smoothly, the print itself is rarely the long part. It is the approvals either side.
A brief that answers the obvious questions, artwork built for the output, a proof type chosen deliberately, and a sign-off list agreed in advance will usually take a job through in one round.
Birch’s quality assurance process is built around catching issues before they reach production, and a well-formed brief is what lets that work.
If you have a job coming up and want it checked before it goes to proof, get in touch through the contact page.
