Proper use of computers, software, and tools made available in today’s desktop publishing industry are on par with professional design and printing services – provided the designer using them is properly educated. The conceptual, design, production, and even the prototype printing phases of a design project can all be handled ‘in-studio’ (i.e. ‘in-home’, ‘in-class’).

The following tips are suggestions and practices when using Adobe InDesign to achieve better, professional standards, and professionally printable projects.

Bleeds

A bleed is a term in printing and design used to describe the process of handling artwork when it is intended to be printed to the edge of the page.

Whether printing on a personal printer, school printer, or professional printing press, the strategy is the same: You create your artwork to be printed past the edges of the paper. After the art is printed, the extra paper and ink is then trimmed off. This way, the artwork is guaranteed to be visible to the edge of the finished piece. -This is a bleed.

Without a bleed, when the paper is trimmed, there is a reasonable chance that the cutter (a human or a machine) may trim the edge without enough precision, and a slim, uneven edge of white may remain on the page edge.

Document Setup for Bleeds

Document Layout with Bleeds

Document Printing with Bleeds

Tips:
• It is best to print your projects in the Center of the page. This allows adequate space on all four sides to see and trim your bleeds. This is set in the Setup options in the Print Dialogue box.

• The Offset option controls how far away from the document edge the crop marks will be printed. Regardless of their offset distance, they will be trimmed away from the final piece. An offset of 0 will butt the marks up to the edges of the document.

Clipping Paths

Clipping paths are used to create picture boxes in InDesign that are the same shape (or mimic the shape) of the object in an image. Clipping paths are often used in images that are Dropped Out.

To properly make a Clipping Path, some cooperation between Photoshop and Indesign is required.

In Photoshop:
• A selected area made via the lasso tool or magic wand tool needs to be Converted To a Path.

• The Work Path needs to be named, then Made into a Clipping Path.

• The image file needs to be saved as a Photoshop File

In Indesign:
• The image with a Clipping Path needs to be placed in the document.

• Once placed, select the image and activate the Clipping Path: Object>Clipping Path>Options…

With the Clipping Path respected in InDesign, it can be adjusted with the Direct Selection Tool. Text Wrap can also be applied to this Clipping Path.

Printing

Translating your on-screen designs to paper is a crucial step in any design project. Every work environment has unique situations: Different hardware and software, uniquely calibrated monitors, printers, paper types and even the lighting of different workspaces effect printing.

Resolution

Indesign handles both Raster and Vector artwork. Both of these file classifications have different technical aspects that effect printing.

In short:
Rastered files are composed pixels and are also referred to as bit-mapped art (also: bitmaps, bitmap files). They are generated in Photoshop are bound to the metrics between pixel resolution and pixel dimension.

When a bit-mapped image changes size, the relationship between it’s pixel resolution (measured in pixels per inch) and it’s pixel dimensions change. When an image is scaled bigger (the pixel dimensions become greater), the image will loose quality (the pixel resolution becomes lower).

When bitmap files are scaled above 100% the resolution lessens, resulting in what is referred to as ‘pixelation’ – a loss in visual detail.

Vector artwork is composed of visually presented mathematical equations. They are primarily generated in Adobe Illustrator and are resolution independent; they can be scaled up or down infinitely with no loss in detail.

RGB vs. CMYK

Color is reproduced differently on computer screens than it is on paper. The fundamental discrepancy means that ‘what you see is not what you get” in term of color reproduction on paper from your computer monitor. (See Color Management below for more.)

RGB
Red, Green and Blue are the three colors of light used to produce the visible spectrum of color on a computer screen.

CMYK
Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black( K) are the four primary colors of ink used to produce color on paper.

All computer monitors display color in RGB. All printers use CMYK ink-sets to remake the colors on screen to images on paper. While many desktop printers now accept and print files with RGB color values, these values are still converted to CMKY during the printing process.

To understand the differences between RGB and CMYK the difference between additive and subtractive color theory needs to be examined.

Color Management

Digital print design has one fundamental flaw: The medium that designers create in is not the same as the rest of the world views it in (on).

We design on a computer screen, but our work is presented on paper. No device in a publishing system is capable of reproducing the full range of colors we see with our eyes. Each device operates within a specific color space called a gamut.

Device Profiles
To mitigate this fundamental problem, digital work flows have developed Device Profiles. Every device (a printer, scanner, monitor, or printing press) renders colors in a slightly different ways. So, device profiles have been developed aimed at properly communicating colors between devices in a consistent – if not accurate – way.

Imagine a Device Profile as separate invisible file attached to the side of an .indd layout file that explains to the next device in the work flow (a paper printer or PDF printer) how the color should be interpreted to remain accurate to how it was viewed in InDesign.

Color Management within Adobe software
Adobe Indesign is part of a large suite of software – The Adobe Creative Suite(CS). Nearly all of the artwork you place in Indesign will come from another Adobe program (Photoshop, Illustrator, even Acrobat). This is a big advantage in color management.

With the proper Color Settings, all work shared between Adobe Applications will have the same color profile. In other words, when working within Adobe CS software, you are always in the same device.

Note: In our classroom settings, the Color settings have been configured. In the Color Settings window, notice the Color Polices for introducing graphic files into your projects that have different or missing profiles.

Also Note: While the Adobe CS applications make color management easier while working amongst the various software, your work will have to leave this digital environment and be handled by a printer in order to achieve a finished print piece. (See Printer Setting below for more on this.)

Read: Adobe Help Menu- Why Colors Sometimes Don’t Match

Read: Adobe Tutorial- Color Management in InDesign

Print Settings

Finishing: Cutting, Folding, and Trimming

All of your work is for not if you are unable to create a professional looking mock up of your work. All the excuses and talk you can manage still fall short of a real functional prototype.

Trimming

Be sure to print your files with Trim Marks (controlled on Print Settings). When trimming, use the sharpest knife (box cutter, X-Acto preferred). Cut on a cutting mat, and apply enough pressure so to only make one cut per edge. Place the straight edge over your work and cut to the outside of the sheet. This helps minimize the change of accidentally cutting into your piece.

When trimming, do no cut across the entire edge of the paper. By doing so, you loose the trim mark for the perpendicular edge of the design!

Scoring and Folding

For professional finishing, be sure to carefully consider – and then properly execute – any folds your design may require. Nearly all commercial design jobs which require folds will be done by a machine, but for a professional prototype to show for design review, you’ll need to make the folds yourself.

Paper weight, finish, and grain direction all play importantly into how able your designs will be able to be folded. For example, heavier paper is harder to fold, and has more “memory”.

Different finishes (Gloss, Matte, Coated, Uncoated…) all behave differently when folded. In the classroom environment, the most popular paper used is Epson Matte, in Heavyweight. This is a ‘softer’ paper and despite it’s weight (thickness) folds well when properly scored.

Scoring refers to notching or partially cutting or crushing the inside edge of a fold. It is best performed with the dull edge of a butter knife or preferably a Bone Scorer

Read: Machine & Knife Folds