This is the book I wish I had had twenty years ago, when I first started working with computer graphics. Back then, it didn’t take long to realize that as soon as I put anything down on the page, I was acting as a production manager in addition to the designer or layout person. Just defining a color meant I needed to understand what the requirements were for color separations. Working with a photograph required an understanding of that strange concept called resolution. And then there were all those questions about the difference between RGB and CMYK colors.
During my years in advertising, I relied on the book, Pocket Pal, A Graphic Arts Production Handbook, published by the International Paper Corporation. The book was given out for free by International Paper representatives when they visited ad agencies. It covered all parts of the printing and publishing process and even had a page of proofreaders’ marks. I loved leafing through the pages reading about halftone screens, impositions, separations, and other parts of printing documents.
Back in those days, however, Pocket Pal covered almost no digital or computer graphics. Digital cameras, scanners, and computer graphics were missing from its pages. That’s when I thought there needed to be a book that covered the same topics as Pocket Pal, but did it from the point of view of the digital artist or designer. And would be written in a friendlier, more fun, style.
In 1994, Robin Williams, author of The Mac is not a typewriter, came out with The Non-Designer’s Design Book. The concept was brilliant. Since desktop publishing had made it easier for those without formal design training to create business cards, advertising, brochures, and other printed projects, Robin wrote a book that helped these non-designers learn to look at the page in design terms.
I met up with Robin at a computer event and told her that the Non-Designer’s concept was great. But she should now do a Non-Designer’s book on prepress and production. Robin liked the idea and some time later, she and I began work on The Non-Designer’s Scan and Print Book.
The idea behind the book was simple. We would create a book for all those non-designers who didn’t have a clue about production and explain how to best create their digital files.
We also expanded the book slightly out of the Non-Designer’s series to include real designers who also had no idea how to prepare their files for the print shop. They were puzzled why their graphics wound up looking jagged or the text was hard to read in the final printed project.
In 1999, the book was published by Peachpit Press with great reviews and feedback. Designers thanked us for writing a book that helped them talk to print shops and production managers. It answered the questions they had been too embarrassed to ask. Production managers thanked us for a book they could give to their designers. And computer graphics teachers told us how great the book was for their classes—high school, college, and adult ed.
I was thrilled. And for over seven years we didn’t have to do anything in regards to the book. It practically sold itself. But around 2006, it became clear that the book needed updating. It wasn’t that parts of it were wrong, it was that advances in computer graphics had made many concepts out of date.
Looking through the original book in 2006, it was very obvious that it was no longer topical. For instance, software had changed dramatically. All through the book we spoke about QuarkXPress and PageMaker. XPress was the dominant program in the industry while PageMaker was just hanging on. We had to mention both equally. Adobe and Macromedia had competing vector illustration programs called Illustrator and FreeHand which also needed equal treatment.
The book covered scanning in great detail, but the information on digital cameras was sparse. Few people used digital cameras back then and the concept of a camera phone was out of a Dick Tracy cartoon.
And in an effort to save production costs, the book had been printed in two colors. This had made some topics, especially the chapters on color theory, hard to explain.
It was time for an update.
Since Robin was now involved with other projects, I took on the task of rewriting the book myself. First thing Peachpit and I did was agree that it would be printed in full color. Not just a color insert, but four-color throughout the book. This made the book even better than my old Pocket Pal, which only had a twelve-page color insert and two colors for the rest of the pages.
We then decided to change the title. All along I had to explain to people not to let the Non-Designer’s label throw them off. The book was most definitely for professional designers. After a lot of discussion we came up with From Design Into Print. It meant that once you have a design, you now needed instruction on how to get it to print well. That covered both designers and non-designers, which was always my original idea.
I also needed to change the emphasis of some of the chapters. Scanning, which used to be a very important topic, would be covered in far less detail. But working with digital cameras was expanded into its own chapter. After all, it’s hard to find anyone who doesn’t have a digital camera or camera phone.
In the time since the first edition, PDF has become an important part of sending files to be printed. Originally that was covered as a small section in the printing chapter, I spun them out into their own chapter.
And since 1999, the main page layout program, QuarkXPress, has been replaced by Adobe InDesign. And PageMaker, while still sold by Adobe, is no longer being developed for future versions. I deleted all the references to software that no longer was being sold, such as Macromedia FreeHand. (In fact, the entire Macromedia company no longer existed as it had been acquired by Adobe Systems, Inc.) I also had to delete references to outdated hardware such as Zip disks, Jaz disks, and telephone modems. It’s incredible how much has changed!
Unlike most other computer graphics books, you don’t have to be anywhere near your computer when you read this book. There are no step-by-step instructions to follow along with. You don’t have to worry about if the book covers your most current version of the software. You can just sit back under a tree, lie back in the bathtub, or relax in a car and read. (You must not read the book while driving a car, though. That is very dangerous!) The chapters don’t require any real knowledge of any software. They are just the stuff that helps you understand what goes on when your files go to print.
The order of the chapters is somewhat important. There are concepts in the early chapters that are necessary to understand before you read about others in the later chapters. However, if you do want to jump around the chapters, it won’t hurt.
There is no specific software applications that I recommend. I do tell you which types of software are good for different types of projects. But I’m not getting into a XPress versus InDesign debate. Similarly, I’m not commenting on which platform you should use. Mac or PC doesn’t matter to me.
I had a lot of fun with the images and figures in the chapters. Most of the images explain concepts in the text. But off on the side of the text you’ll see little illustrations. Some are silly little cartoons or images that are there just to keep the pages from being too dull. I hope you enjoy them.
At the end of many of the chapters there are simple little quizzes and projects that should help you understand the concepts covered that chapter. Please don’t take them too seriously. I’m not grading you on the answers and neither should anyone using this book as part of teaching a class.
I’m just trying to help you look at printed documents in a new way. And hopefully you’ll be able to create more polished layouts and designs. In fact, you might want to create your own quizzes and projects for you and your friends to master.
I really enjoy explaining these print and prepress techniques to designers and production people. That’s why I’m going to continue explaining these issues in the From Design Into Print podcast. This will be a “somewhat weekly” podcast where I’ll deal with many of the topics in the book as well as new ones that will pop up. The podcasts are already up. Look for them on iTunes or go to FromDesignIntoPrint.com to download and subscribe. There will also be a blog where you and I can discuss issues.
There are quite a few people I need to acknowledge who have helped me on both The Non-Designer’s Scan and Print Book as well as From Design Into Print.
First, and foremost, is Robin Williams. Without Robin’s initial help and guidance, I would never have gotten the first version of the book published. Robin has a remarkable ability to speak directly to the beginning designer and eliminate their fears in working with computers and software. I only hope I have continued her calm and enjoyable tone of voice.
Nancy Davis and Becky Morgan of Peachpit Press, the two editors on the versions of the book. Nancy helped guide the course for the first version while Becky steered me through this second one. It’s hard for an author to read critical comments but it’s a lot easier when every comment is spot on. And it’s much easier to make those corrections. I also need to thank Pam Pfiffner, who helped me start the transition from the first version to the second.
Nancy Ruenzel, and the rest of the Peachpit staff.
Hilal Sala, production manager for the book, who made sure the images would print and the chapters came out in the right order.
Mimi Heft, of Peachpit Press, for the cover design as well as the interior design.
My good friend and copy editor, Dave Awl. Dave has been with me on quite a few books. And during that time he has actually moved from being a proofreader to copy editor to an author of his own book. Not only does he spot all those missing commas and bad line breaks, but his comments about what he is reading are very funny. He makes it fun to go through and fix errors.
My intern, Sunny, a student at School of Visual Arts. Sunny came in and did a lot of work helping me with editing text and fixing bad paragraph breaks. She also chose photographs and artwork to use as illustrations in the book. She even created proposals for book covers. While it was too late in the process for her cover designs to be used, I think they are great.
So I am including them here so she has some published work to her credit. I’m looking forward to seeing her future designs.
My technical editor, Jean-Claude Trembley in Montreal. JC knows the most details about working with Adobe software, especially InDesign and Illustrator. And he has so many years experience in printing documents. I also need to thank James Wamsur, Adobe Certified Instructor and Adobe Certified Expert of Sells Printing. James did a special technical edit of Chapter 18 to make sure all that information was up to date.
Valerie Haynes Perry, for her lightning-quick work indexing the book. This is the first time we have worked together and I have enjoyed it very much.
Mary Gay Marchese, of Markzware (Markzware.com), who gave me permission to reprint their glossary of desktop publishing terms from the FlightCheck Professional user manual.
The people of PhotoSpin.com who so graciously have allowed me to use their photos and illustrations in this book. I had a lot of fun using them. Other photos and illustrations are from iStockPhoto.com as well as my own scans and artwork.
The Neat Company, which provided the photo of the NeatDesk scanner. Viprofix Systems for Publishing, which provided the photo of the Howtek drum scanner.
Brad Neal, one of the “car guys,” who gave me the interview on the benefits of providing photorealistic vector artwork.
I also would like to thank all the following people who provided on-the-fly answers to technical questions: Dov Issacs of Adobe Systems for information on PDF printing. Steve Werner, Chuck Weger, Jim Birkenseer, Peter Truskier, and David Zwang.
Bob Levine, of TheInDesignGuy.com. Not only does Bob know all the minute details of InDesign, he knows it on both Windows and Mac. Thanks Bob for those late-night screen shots of the Windows platform.
Jay Nelson, of Design-ToolsMonthly.com for help and guidance when it came to some of the features in QuarkXPress.
Jeff Gamet, of Design-ToolsMonthly.com, who helped me get the FromDesignIntoPrint Web site and podcast up and running.
My sister, Bonnie Cohen Gallet, who took screen shots of applications on the Windows platform. Bonnie may not understand all that I do with computer graphics, but she knows a lot more about it than I know about the law. I hope this book will help her with her own projects.
And the following friends, students, and colleagues who form a world-wide support group of information, advice, and shoulders to lean on: Terry DuPrât, Marcia Kagan, Diane Burns, Sharon Steuer, Mordy Golding, Scott Citron, David Blatner, Anne-Marie Concepcion, Gabriel Powell, Noha Edell, Russell Brown, Martinho da Gloria, and Barry Anderson.
And a special thanks to Pixel, the cat, who gives me a never-ending supply of unconditional love.
And hey, let’s be careful out there!
Sandee Cohen