Prepress Services: 5 Things We Do (That You Don’t Know About)
When you’re online printing with Smartpress, our complimentary prepress services (and the humans behind them) ensure your design files are perfectly print-ready every time. Our prepress team performs some behind-the-scenes magic you don’t even know about. Take a peek behind the curtain to find out:
- What is prepress?
- FIVE things they do for you
- Tips for a smooth prepress process
Before you create a file, you need a product – explore them all.
What is Prepress?
In printing terms, prepress refers to the process of preparing your design file (aka print-ready file) to be printed. In Smartpress terms, it also means a whole bunch of humans and technology are involved.
With a range of seriously complex talents and super specific specialities, our technical wizards are interpreters, taking your work and translating it into a design file with everything you intended. They ensure your file is technically correct while retaining your design vision. More complicated than you thought, huh?
#1 Pre-Flight Automation on Your File
When you print online with Smartpress, part of the ordering process includes choosing the type of proof you want for your project. Once you do, Team Prepress jumps into action with pre-flight automation. This exceptional file check process occurs on every print job, no matter the complexity. Here’s what our team does:
When You Select “No Proof Needed”
Even if you don’t need a proof, your file still gets the preflight automation treatment. Preflight checks things like:
- Image resolution: It should be high.
- Bleed: Most print projects need it.
- Fonts: Are they the right size? Clear enough?
- Corruption: Can your file be opened and viewed properly?
- Spot colors: They should be specifically named.
If the automation finds no issue with your file, it automatically goes right to press – yay! But if it does flag something, that’s when our experts either fix it for you or reach out to you to fix it with you.
When You Select a “Soft Proof”
Most Smartpress clients choose a soft proof PDF when ordering their custom printing projects. When you select this option, your digital PDF goes through the same preflight automation we just mentioned, and you get more interaction with our experts before you give your approval.
If there are issues with your file, a prepress tech will communicate with you via the Activity Log in your Smartpress account. This is the place to reply to their questions, ask your own and make any specific requests for things like fold lines or Pantone critical colors.
Once the issues are resolved, a prepress tech will review your file one more time, and then send you a proof to approve or decline (this usually happens within eight business hours – and usually less than that).
After You Approve Your Proof
Then comes a little more automation – and more humans! (Who knew prepress services included so many of them?) Once you approve your proof, the automation does things like:
- Imposition: Fitting your project on as few sheets as possible to maximize the yield and produce less waste.
- Color management: Interpreting your file to best represent your colors on the actual printed materials.
Then your project is off to see the wizard presses.
#2 Post Office Liaison for Direct Mail
When you ask, “What is prepress printing?” does your answer include direct mail? At Smartpress, it absolutely does. Our direct mail team gets in on all the file-reviewing fun, with a blend of automation and manual operations. If your order includes a mailing list, here’s some of what they do:
- Ensure your list is in a usable format.
- Ensure your mailing timeline is feasible.
- Verify or change addresses so they meet USPS requirements.
- Run NCOA to update addresses for any recipients who’ve moved.
- Work with the post office to get you the best delivery time and postage rates.
When they’re finished, the direct mail team will send you a finalized mailing list with your soft proof.
#3 Manual Setup for Specialty Options
Our prepress production process includes specialty options, too – and this time, it’s all manual. If your order includes white ink or foil printing, our techs:
- Manually set up your design file so the white ink or foil is visible. To help you understand where the white ink or foil is in your design, they represent it with specific colors. (You can’t see white ink on a white PDF, ya know?)
- Communicate with you via the Activity Log so you know what those colors mean.
- Let you know if there are issues with design elements or if there’s something they don’t recommend (they are experts, after all).
#4 Post-Flight Automation on Your File
Our digital prepress services include post-flight automation that ensures your file reaches production perfectly. It double checks that your file has everything needed to be print-ready (it’s a PDF with high resolution images in the CMYK color space with the appropriate bleed) and a few other things, like:
- If your project includes drill holes, are any missing?
- Does your file include the correct page count? Does it match the order that was placed?
- Is your file the correct size?
It’s one last check that tells our production team, “Yep, this thing’s ready to print!”
#5 Design Help From Layout Services
If you need help creating a design for your project or simply fixing bigger issues on your file, our Layout Services has you covered (for an additional fee). Part of our prepress printing team, these design experts can do things like:
- Create complex dielines.
- Rework font alignment and make copy updates.
- Resize and even rebuild your file.
Sound like something you need? When you add your print product to your cart, just add Layout Services to it, as well. Our experts will reach out to you with time and fee estimates before beginning any work (and you’ll approve it all first).
Prepress isn’t the only part of the Smartpress puzzle – see the whole shebang from start to finish.
Tips for a Smooth Prepress Process
For the best, quickest, problem-free-est prepress experience, our experts have two recommendations that make their (and your) printing lives easier. And they happen to be about the same thing: your design file.
First, upload your files in PDF form (see how easy it is here). When your file is set up properly, the process is more efficient and any mistakes are more likely to get caught. Second, be sure to properly export your PDF, too.
Print Experts from Start to Finish
When you print marketing assets and branded collateral with Smartpress, you get a premium blend of digital operations and a human touch – just the way we like it. And no matter what you’re printing for your business or organization, whether it’s simple or complex, our prepress services ensure it’s perfect every time.
