Wato

hey Rantin Al and forum-

just wanted to update you on the status of the CMYK and "gold" spot channel fiasco....

we received proofs from the printer yesterday, and all i can say is i'm not very happy. first of all, they took forever to actually get started on the work. secondly, when i sent them the separated channels per your wonderful instructions, they mentioned that they could not work with them (AGH!!), and thirdly, i could have pulled my hair out when i sent them the font as a zip file and they didn't know what a zip file was! (i had to walk them through the zip conversion!)

it's a scary thought.

i personally think at that point, there was nothing else that could have been done on my part besides sitting with them at the computer and laying out the material myself.

we are now taking the proof back for changes, and i am deeply concerned as to why exactly they had to go into the PS files and re-type all the text as it looks totally different than what i submitted and there are misspellings! granted, there is a lot of text (names of board members, etc) and i should have probably used Pagemaker (next time!), but how can a commercial printer not be able to work with the files and have to re-type everything??! it's not even my work now!

the front of the invitation (the one i had posted with the lovely gold color) is yellow, and i am DEMANDING they change it to gold as they told me they could.

i think i have concluded that printers work on their own time and their own deadlines and are somewhat lazy. it's quite disappointing.

thanks to everyone for their help...atleast i learned a lot.

Rantin Al

Hi Jennifer, Thanks for the update. Not very inspiring is it? :{

This sounds like a bunch of amateur plonkers you have got involved with.

You are right to complain about any changes they make to the font, spelling, design layout etc..

With the separations, it is possible to print ANY colour of ink.
I'm sure pantone do a metallic range of inks.

Surely there must be a professional printer somewhere stateside?

Next time you go to (another) printer, ask to see samples of similar work.
Confirm what packages they use and what their prefered format & resolution is.
Try and find one that actually uses Photoshop/ Illustrator/ Quark/ PageMaker/ InDesign.

Can only say that this caper be put down to (bad) experience and that at least you will be better armed in the future.

Keep in touch and join in the fun forums here for relaxation.

Al.

stickdiesel

Go to a proffesional and world recognised print service, like worldwide online for example.

DO NOT WALK THROUGH THE DOORS OF THESES IDIOTIC DUPES AGAIN!


If they cant print a simple pantone, they are not printers and NOT WORTHY OF UR TIME LET ALONE MONEY.

If you go to a professional all u need do is give them a .PDF with fonts embedded and make sure they know a pantone (ur gold, none of this magenta crap) run is required. If you can, print urself seperations and take in with disk and folder. The seperations will seperate C, M, Y, K and ur pantone. The printer will appreciate and shows them u know whats going on.

As long as u do this (.pdf file is most important and what most printers demand) u will have 99.99999% chance of having no issues.

stickdiesel

I hate printers that think sucking ur thumb and pressing print is qualifying.

Wato

You are exactly right...I agree!

The only downside to this fiasco is the invitations I created are through a non-profit organization and perhaps "this" means that printers don't have to spend as much time working on them since they aren't getting paid that much.

This doesn't mean they shouldn't take the time to do it right, however.

And it also comes down to laziness!

[stuned]

namvet

jennifern I really sympathise with you ... I had a 'colour matching' problem with a 'professional' printer last year on a 8 page program for a non-profit theatre group (I spent 4 months compiling info on 100 cast members and crew, 75 photographs, etc) .... when I rejected his printing he said ... "but they won't know the colour is wrong" .... (they=public) .... what an attitude for anyone charging money for their work, let alone a so-called professional!!! .... I was also told that I was too much of a perfectionist!! .... huh? .. which part of 'getting it right' did I get wrong? [confused] [confused]

Wato

how frustrating!! as though you have to sacrifice your art so that a printer can work as least as possible??! [stuned]


well, i refuse to not do the work i am happy doing just because someone who is getting paid (and perhaps i am doing it for free because i enjoy it!) doesn't want to spend the time or energy doing the best job.

i'll just continue to do my work and learn as much as i can...and maybe i'll just have to show them how to do it!

Bacardi

Is the text separate from your two films/plates?
If so: did you type it in PS and rasterize it?
If not: In what app did you type your text?
Are you both working on the same system (mac/PC)?

Wato

the text is separated but not rasterized.

i made everything in PS which is probably not the program to print directly from, BUT the printer said they could work with it.

They work on a PC as do I.

Bacardi

So how did you save your text and hand it over to the printer? You have, if I understand you well, your two colours set up, and apart from that, you have a text that is not integrated in either of those two channels/films/plates. Meaning that the text has to be printed separately. When you did not rasterize it, and hand it over as a tiff (or psd), you probably made an eps or a pdf. Did you include the font? And how?

BTW: a pro, or professional, is someone whose profession it is to do something, meaning that (s)he makes a living out of it. This has nothing to do with "more talented" etc.
I know from experience that there are indeed many printers who have problems with puters and dtp, but I also know that there are many designers who don't know their job, and who love blaming the printer for their own lack of knowledge.