Creative Latitude: Production perspective

Production Perspective is a monthly feature at Creative Latitude focusing on the glorious details of production art for print design. If you're having a production panic attack, this is the place to check first to make sure your files are in perfect press-ready condition!

Do you have a production question for Valarie? Something you can't believe you didn't learn in school? Something you learned but still don't quite understand? Contact Valarie and she'll do her best to address your question in an upcoming column! Read more about the philosophy behind Production Perspective.

Read past Production Perspectives

Design Origami: setting up documents that fold
READER QUESTION: When you're constructing a folding brochure, how do you determine where the folds should lie? I have taken a few approaches to doing this, from trying to determine quarter and eighths of an inch allowance on-screen to printing out a mockup and measuring folds from there. There must be a better way...

Understanding Bleed
When graphic designers or printers mention the word "bleed," it doesn't mean that they just sliced their thumb off with an X-acto knife. Bleed is a term used to refer to ink that runs all the way to the edge of a trimmed page. If your design calls for ink to extend to the edge of the paper (the "trim"), your ink is "bleeding" off the page, and you need to build a bleed into your document before you release it to be printer.

Sending Jobs for Output: A Crash Course
The most well-designed and effective printed piece is a failure if it can’t be properly output for printing. However, preparing your electronic files for printing isn’t difficult. Just follow the steps in this Pre-Press Checklist and you’ll be on your way to sending perfect files to press.

	About the editor



	Valarie Martin Stuart is an art director, designer and production artist based in Dallas, Texas, USA. Her boutique design studio, Wavebrain Creative Communications, specializes in providing businesses with creative and practical solutions for both print and web. Valarie has over fifteen years experience in the design field, including ten years as an independent contractor. She has worked on national and international accounts for many leading ad agencies, design studios and corporations. Valarie has also been an Associate Professor of Graphic Design, where in addition to teaching students the basics of design and software, she lectures on important issues dealing with the business of graphic design. URL: www.wavebrain.com Email: Valarie

	Profile »

	Articles »

	A special thanks for the section icons goes to Von Glitschka

	To see more of his work, visit Glitschka Studios


	All contents © Copyright 2004 \| Sitemap