A member of GCSF’s Board of Trustees shared her mastery of Adobe prepress in an in-depth presentation to the Los Angeles InDesign Users Group (LAIDUG) on January 16.
In the webinar “Ink on Paper: Essentials for Print Perfection,” Amybeth Menendez detailed how InDesign and other software tools within Adobe Creative Cloud can be used to keep print production workflows problem-free. She also reviewed prepress concepts that are essential for those designing in print to master for themselves.
Menendez, a prepress veteran who holds multiple certifications in Adobe technologies as well as G7 Expert certification in color management from Idealliance, is Assistant Manager of Print Workflow at Macmillan Publishers. Her presentation to LAIDUG was the latest in a series of training programs she has created and delivered in her role as an educational ambassador for GCSF.
Like GCSF, the LAIDUG community is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization operated by local volunteers. Its mission is to improve the skills of InDesign users at all levels of experience.
Menendez’s LAIDUG audience on January 16 included fellow GCSF Trustees and student recipients of GCSF scholarships. She led off by emphasizing the need for precision at all stages of the production workflow if costly errors are to be avoided.
“A good preflight goes a long way,” Menendez said. “It’s only a mistake when it prints.” She defined desktop prepress operators as “file wizards” who know how use Adobe resources to keep mistakes from materializing on press.
“Smart print planning is all about the downstream workflow,” Menendez declared. She advised the group that the ingredients of a “print friendly workflow” include calibrated hardware; consistent application management; Adobe PDF presets; preflight and proofing; quality control and printing; as well as an up-to-date set of Pantone® swatch books.
Her tip-filled, how-to presentation covered many of the key applications of Adobe InDesign, the print industry’s most widely used tool for layout design. She also addressed Photoshop, Illustrator, and Acrobat as well as prepress software from other developers, such as Markzware’s FlightCheck, Enfocus PitStop Pro, and Make Book Jacket, a plug-in for InDesign.
Menendez also covered basic prepress best practices: for example, the need to generate a new proof every time the file is changed. If this rule isn’t observed, she said, the printer isn’t responsible for errors that subsequently appear on press.
Among the many other topics she addressed were using GRACoL instead of SWOP as the preferred specification for proofing; working with the correct printing conditions and rendering intents; managing RGB to CMYK conversion; expanding the color gamut by adding OGV to CMYK; understanding metamerism; creating, saving, and accessing color settings; preparing press impositions; rendering with Adobe PDF Print Engine; and keeping up with the evolution of PDF/X, the ISO standard for print-related graphics exchange.
Calling “Ink on Paper: Essentials for Print Perfection” one of its most successful programs ever, LAIDUG has invited Menendez to make a follow-up presentation to its members in May. All are invited to attend, and registration details will be posted in the Events calendar.