The Power of Preflighting
Put time, money and quality back into your in-house publications

By Kenneth Spears

Sometimes you have to scream to get people's attention. This is especially true of preparing documents for print and direct mail. The most reliable format for reaching potential audiences is still the printed word, and the ability to create eye-catching and immediate response fliers and newsletters has been greatly enhanced by digital technologies. It also involves checking the integrity of the digital file before final print or manufacture--a practice otherwise known as "preflighting."

Designing the mailer

Most organizations rely on direct mail to deliver their message to potential and current constituents. This thought is critical in the design process. Bright colors, large type and flashy graphics all catch the eye. The goal is get recipients to stop and read the piece before they toss it into the recycling bin.

Red, orange and green all tend to stop the eye and direct recipients to the message on the mailer. Paper stock also plays a role; textures and unusual sizes help distinguish your mailer from the next. However, organizations that rely on in-house printing need to make sure their laser printers can handle the stock and using the paper does not increase the cost of mailing.

When designing your next mailer or newsletter, remember that a picture is worth a thousand words. Use images that help tell your "story." Even if they completely give it away, do not be afraid of these images; just run them large with captions or descriptions. For people with limited time to read your piece, the few seconds between recognition and trash are critical, so this can make or break your attempt.

Maximizing digital technologies

A few years ago, printed pieces were created using strips of text that were pasted on art boards. These strips of paper were bound to the board with wax or rubber cement. Known as "cold type," it wasn't until the early '90s that most organizations began to rely on page layout programs. Today, the freedom computer programs allow is as varied as your imagination.

Even so, certain rules must be followed when designing direct mail pieces. First, four-color printing typically needs to be CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black), and the screen and printer fonts must be included on the disk when sent to a print vendor. Systematically checking your files before they are sent out or are printed at your own facility is the best way to ensure error-free output. To follow the basic rules of print production, use software utility programs such as FlightCheck^® by Markzware Inc. Once you have created your layout using QuarkXpress^®, PageMaker^®, Indesign^®, Microsoft^® Word™^, or just about any other programs, you can simply drag the file icon over the FlightCheck icon. The program then checks for a number of "trouble spots" in your file. After files are checked, FlightCheck generates a report that alerts you (or your vendor) to any problems, then allows for corrections.

Since the majority of problems encountered by content creators revolve around fonts, FlightCheck lets you determine the types of fonts used. It also answers the most critical question: Do I have the screen and printer fonts? Both are necessary to ensure that the text will image properly and flow correctly when printed. This holds true whether you print on your own devices or send the project to a print vendor.

Color is another major concern during content creation. FlightCheck, for example, determines if all of the images are Red-Green-Blue (RGB) or separated for four-color process printing. It also examines "color traps," the areas where colors overlap or butt up against each other. Often, black is set in the page layout program to overlap, hiding any potential color gaps. Sometimes these gaps also appear in the frames around images.

Digital files and collect options

The biggest complaint from print vendors is "missing pieces," such as missing fonts or images not linked to a file. After ensuring a file has the greatest integrity (meaning it will print with no graphics errors), FlightCheck assembles all elements used to combine the document into one folder. Not only are all images collected, so are the screen and printer fonts, ensuring that all digital pieces link together to recreate the digital file at the print facility. If you print your own mailers or fliers, this is helpful in organizing content. If you outsource to a printing vendor, this function also ensures that no time is wasted searching for missing elements.

Before digital files and collect options, a printer would routinely check to see if all four pieces of film were present and that each imaged correctly. Every time a file had to be re-imaged, the cost of a standard four-color page increased by about $60. The cliché is true: time is money.

Creating PDF files

Clean files are critical when creating a Portable Document Format, or PDF, which is fast becoming the standard for digital content delivery. PDF was created by Adobe as an efficient, visual PostScript file. PDFs are sent via e-mail to printers or to intended audiences. They are easily readable on Macintosh and PC computers. If placed on a Web site, PDFs can be downloaded. The Adobe Acrobat reader is free and is included with many software programs. The program for creating PDFs is called Adobe Acrobat 5. The act of writing or distilling a PDF includes setting many controls within the program. It is a relatively simple process once the parameters are decided upon, typically in conjunction with the intended recipient or output device.

There is a definite digital workflow involved in creating good PDFs. First, create a clean file with your preferred layout program, then preflight that file to ensure its resolution is correct for your print or distribution needs. Then, preflight again to ensure it was created with the proper settings for your needs and that no errors occurred during its creation.

It may seem like a lot of work, but preflighting a document only takes moments--seconds that can save you hours of misery fixing problems that show up after film or plates are created. The financial savings in time and materials can be tremendous.

Pick your medium

One major consideration when creating your mailer is that many people now receive their most important information via e-mail or the Internet. (Currently, 75 percent of all actual mail is considered "junk.") Using digital tools, such as PDFs, helps drive the message home.

The next logical question is how to obtain the e-mail addresses you need. Try this: Every time your organization sends a piece of mail, ask receivers to visit your Web site, where they can answer a questionnaire and enter a contest with a giveaway by signing up with their e-mail address. Often, mailers do not include a Web address or e-mail response mechanism, but adding this information helps brand the name and gives the targeted group somewhere they can go to go to learn more.

With so much fragmentation occurring in media, a multi-platform or cross-media approach is the best way to expand your reach. If you design the digital files for print using QuarkXpress or Indesign, translating that information to the Internet has become a lot easier.

But that's another story altogether.

Kenneth Spears is the publisher of CrossMedia Magazine, providing "Print-to-Web-to-Wireless" solutions for content creators, graphics professionals and print buyers. Read it online at www.crossmediamag.com.

Take our July Click 'n Survey at www.churchbusiness.com and you could win your own copy of FlightCheck^® and FlightCheck COLLECT! preflighting software, courtesy of Markzware Inc. USA!