Deane Nettles | Advertising & Graphic Design

Basic Print Production Checklist

Have you calibrated your monitor to be sure it's color-accurate? (Optional, but useful.)

Have you created an overall project folder and kept all project files in it?
Are your files separated into separate files for each piece of the project and clearly labeled?
Are your final files set up to include crops and bleed? (If InDesign or Illustrator, File > Document Setup; if Photoshop, need to add this action to Photoshop: exchange.adobe.com/apps/cc/1839 (last checked 2024)

Is the image resolution high enough at 100% usage? (300dpi+ for greyscale/color, 1200dpi+ for line art).
(Go to Image>Image Size, turn off Resample Image, and change the resolution to 300. It'll tell you how big your image is at print resolution.)
If you are going to edit the images, have you saved them from .jpg to .tif or .psd files first? (Every time you save a jpg file it loses quality.)
Have you corrected the brightness and color balance of the images?
Do the images look good together?
If there is type in your photos, have you spell-checked it?
Once you've color corrected them, have you converted all the images to CMYK and SWOP (Standard Web Offset Profile)? (Image>Mode>CMYK Color)
If images print black & white, convert them (Image>Mode>Grayscale)
Have you saved your Photoshop file with its .icc profile?
Have you paid for or have proper right to use all of your photos?

When you first open the file, did you set the New Document Profile to "Print"?
Have you deleted any unnecessary fonts (Type>Find Font), styles and colors?
Have you deleted any unnecessary layers?
If there is type in your files, have you spell-checked it? (Edit>Check Spelling)
Can you convert all type to outlines — not tons of type, not still editing? If so, do it. (Type>Create Outlines)
Have you saved your Illustrator file with its .icc profile? (if saving as .ai)
Have you paid for or have proper right to use all of your illustrations?

Have you saved your copy as a .txt file before importing, to strip out the Word styles? Or used Place⟩Import Options⟩Remove Styles and Formatting from Text and Tables to strip them out?
Once you've stripped them out, have you gone back in and re-entered the italics, bold etc. from the original document? (Or check Place>Import Options>Remove Styles>Preserve Local Overrides)
Using Edit⟩Find/Change, have you searched and replaced:
- Double spaces? (No matter what anyone has told you, designers don't use double spaces between words, and rarely use spaces to place elements.)
- Tabs at the beginning of paragraphs? (^p^t)
- Spaces at the beginning or end of paragraphs? (^p ) and ( ^p).
- Checked that your dashes are dashes, your range dashes are range dashes (opt-dash), and your long dash separators are long dashes (opt-shift-dash)?
Have you checked your type for widows and orphans? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Widows_and_orphans
Have you spell-checked your work? (Auto spell-check in InDesign can be turned on at InDesign⟩Preference⟩Spelling. Turn on Enable Dynamic Spelling. It will be visible in Normal view only.)

Is there enough contrast between all text and its background that it reads easily?
Are you including all the fonts you used? (Easiest to get if you use File>Package.)
Have you paid for or have proper right to use all of your fonts?
NOTE: You can give your fonts to your printer to print from, but giving them to clients or others who haven't purchased them is illegal.

Have you checked everything on the Print Design Checklist?
Do you have all the images and all the fonts in any embedded files, such as Illustrator? (InDesign File>Package can't be trusted to check inside placed graphics.)
Are colors set correctly in the Color Swatch Pallet to be CMYK or spot? If they are set to spot, are you prepared to pay extra printing fees? (Otherwise click on color, convert to CMYK and Process, but keep spot color name.) Are there colors you can delete?
Are the original images you've imported close to 100% of the size you are using them? (Images look best if same size they are being used.)
Are the images 300ppi or higher at the size you are using them? When printing, less than 300ppi and you risk having your images look blurry or pixillated. (See Links Pallet)
Using InDesign's Find/Replace Font (Type > Find/Replace Font), are there any fonts in the document that you aren't intending to use? If so, change them to fonts you are using to get rid of them.
HAVE YOU SPELL-CHECKED YOUR FILE ONE LAST TIME?

You are now ready to package your file for the printer or create your pdf with crops and bleed.

Does your printer want a pdf instead of live files? If so, do they want press-quality pdf or pdfX-1a?