Press
As of 10:34 · the period does not apply here
What a printer will measure when the file reaches it, measured here first. Resolution at the size it is laid out, bleed, clearance from the trim, embedded faces, the colour space, the smallest type, and how much ink a build puts on one spot of paper. Checked — not called print-ready, and never will be.
Going onto paper
The gate5
2 of them onto packaging, where the law measures the type as well
Held on a measurement
Printer2
A press rule came back broken
Lowest resolution
Computed300
Dots per inch at the size it is laid out, not at the size it was exported. The press wants 300.
Heaviest ink build
Printer318
Per cent of ink on one spot of paper. The press takes 300.
Faces not embedded
Printer1
Dock Mono Regular, which is also the face that is outside its licence here
File by file
Every number against the floor it has to beatWhat a press will measure
Resolution is pixels over the size the file is actually laid out at, not the size it was exported at. Everything else is millimetres, a colour space, a list of faces and a sum of four ink percentages.
autumn-blend-label-v3.pdf
250 g label · 60 × 90 mm
2 stopping it3 to tick- Resolution at size
- 600 dpiclearpress wants 300
- Bleed, every edge
- 3 mmclearpress wants 3 mm
- Clearance from the trim
- 4 mmclearsafety margin 4 mm
- Colour space
- CMYKclearthe press takes CMYK
- Faces embedded
- 2 of 2clearevery face, in the file
- Heaviest ink build
- 285%underceiling 300%
- Smallest type
- 5.5 ptunder the floorthis surface wants 6 pt
- Mandatory x-height
- 1.05 mmunder the lawthe law sets 1.2 mm
Nothing set under the surface's smallest size
Stops itSmallest type is 5.5 pt; 250 g label takes 6 pt
Each surface has a size below which its own type stops being read: a poster across a room, a label in a hand, a spec line on a phone.
MeasuredBrand Book p. 19 · the type scaleMandatory text at 1.2 mm x-height or more
Stops itx-height 1.05 mm; the law sets 1.2 mm
The law sets the height of the letters the law requires, not the point size — an x-height of 1.2 millimetres. It is the one type rule that is not a matter of house style, and the one that is checked in millimetres on the artwork.
Set the mandatory block larger, or take something else off the back of the bag.
MeasuredFood labelling regulation · legibility
Checklist · 0 of 3 ticked
- Spot colours named, and only the ones we buya reminder
- No light type set to overprintwaiting on a tick
- Die-line on its own layer, and not printedwaiting on a tick
autumn-launch-poster-a2.pdf
A2 poster · 420 × 594 mm
2 stopping it2 to tick- Resolution at size
- 300 dpiclearpress wants 300
- Bleed, every edge
- 3 mmclearpress wants 3 mm
- Clearance from the trim
- 6 mmclearsafety margin 4 mm
- Colour space
- CMYKclearthe press takes CMYK
- Faces embedded
- 1 of 2one is missingevery face, in the file
- Heaviest ink build
- 318%over the ceilingceiling 300%
- Smallest type
- 18 ptclearthis surface wants 8 pt
- Mandatory x-height
- —not a labelthe law sets 1.2 mm
Total ink under the press ceiling
Stops itRich black behind the photograph adds up to 318 per cent; the press takes 300
Over three hundred per cent the sheet stops drying, sets off on the one behind it, and the run is scrapped. It is found at the press, at the worst hour of the job, unless it is found here.
Rebuild the black as the book prints it rather than as four plates at full strength.
MeasuredPrinter's specification · coated sheet-fed, 300%Every face embedded in the file
Stops itDock Mono Regular is not embedded
A face that is not embedded is substituted by the RIP, silently, with whatever it has. The file opens correctly on the designer's machine and on nobody else's.
Re-export with the faces embedded, or outline them if the licence allows it.
MeasuredPrinter's specification · fonts
Checklist · 0 of 2 ticked
- Spot colours named, and only the ones we buya reminder
- No light type set to overprintwaiting on a tick
seasonal-sticker-die1.ai
250 g label · 60 × 90 mm
Clear on every measurement3 to tick- Resolution at size
- 450 dpiclearpress wants 300
- Bleed, every edge
- 3 mmclearpress wants 3 mm
- Clearance from the trim
- 5 mmclearsafety margin 4 mm
- Colour space
- CMYKclearthe press takes CMYK
- Faces embedded
- 2 of 2clearevery face, in the file
- Heaviest ink build
- 182%underceiling 300%
- Smallest type
- 6.5 ptclearthis surface wants 6 pt
- Mandatory x-height
- 1.35 mmclearthe law sets 1.2 mm
Checklist · 0 of 3 ticked
- Spot colours named, and only the ones we buya reminder
- No light type set to overprintwaiting on a tick
- Die-line on its own layer, and not printedwaiting on a tick
shop-window-a2-v2.pdf
A2 poster · 420 × 594 mm
Clear on every measurement2 to tick- Resolution at size
- 300 dpiclearpress wants 300
- Bleed, every edge
- 3 mmclearpress wants 3 mm
- Clearance from the trim
- 8 mmclearsafety margin 4 mm
- Colour space
- CMYKclearthe press takes CMYK
- Faces embedded
- 2 of 2clearevery face, in the file
- Heaviest ink build
- 241%underceiling 300%
- Smallest type
- 14 ptclearthis surface wants 8 pt
- Mandatory x-height
- —not a labelthe law sets 1.2 mm
Checklist · 0 of 2 ticked
- Spot colours named, and only the ones we buya reminder
- No light type set to overprintwaiting on a tick
wholesale-catalogue-spread.pdf
Catalogue · 297 × 210 mm
Clear on every measurement- Resolution at size
- 300 dpiclearpress wants 300
- Bleed, every edge
- 3 mmclearpress wants 3 mm
- Clearance from the trim
- 5 mmclearsafety margin 4 mm
- Colour space
- CMYKclearthe press takes CMYK
- Faces embedded
- 2 of 2clearevery face, in the file
- Heaviest ink build
- 285%underceiling 300%
- Smallest type
- 7.5 ptclearthis surface wants 7 pt
- Mandatory x-height
- —not a labelthe law sets 1.2 mm
Checklist · 2 of 2 ticked
- Spot colours named, and only the ones we buyticked
- No light type set to overprintticked
Ink on the paper
The four numbers of a build added together: how much ink lands on one spot. Over the ceiling the sheet stops drying, sets off on the one behind it, and the run is scrapped.
autumn-blend-label-v3.pdf
Bean
285%autumn-launch-poster-a2.pdf
Rich black behind the photograph
318%overseasonal-sticker-die1.ai
Clay
182%shop-window-a2-v2.pdf
Harbor
241%wholesale-catalogue-spread.pdf
Bean
285%
The hairline is the press’s ceiling at 300 per cent.
| File | Heaviest build | Ink | Ceiling | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| autumn-blend-label-v3.pdf | Bean | 285% | 300% | Under |
| autumn-launch-poster-a2.pdf | Rich black behind the photograph | 318% | 300% | Over the ceiling |
| seasonal-sticker-die1.ai | Clay | 182% | 300% | Under |
| shop-window-a2-v2.pdf | Harbor | 241% | 300% | Under |
| wholesale-catalogue-spread.pdf | Bean | 285% | 300% | Under |
The builds come from the brand book, which prints a CMYK value beside every hex. The one build here that is over the ceiling is not one of the six — it is a rich black an agency made behind a photograph, and it is the kind of thing that looks identical on every screen it will ever be seen on.
Three lines nobody automated
A spot colour invented in a file, light type set to overprint, a die-line left on a printing layer. All three are read by a person opening the file, and none of them is a measurement Omni will pretend to make.
Spot colours named, and only the ones we buy
On the checklistA spot colour invented in the file becomes a fifth plate and an invoice nobody approved.
Printer's specification · separations
No light type set to overprint
On the checklistWhite set to overprint disappears on press. It is invisible on screen and in the proof, and obvious on the pallet.
Printer's specification · overprint
Die-line on its own layer, and not printed
On the checklistA die-line left in the artwork prints as a thin magenta rectangle around the label, on every bag.
Printer's specification · die-lines
Where the book marks one of these as stopping the file, the approve button on the mark-up page is not drawn until somebody has ticked it. A line nobody automated is still a line, and the way to keep it honest is to make it cost a click rather than let it become a habit.
Checked, never print-ready
Everything above is a measurement, and every one of them is a measurement a printer makes again anyway. What this department cannot do is certify the file. There is no open-source tool that will stamp a PDF as conforming to the print standards, and the two that will cost more in a year than this shop puts through a press — so the word used here is checked, and the press keeps the last word it always had. What the page is for is narrower and more useful than a certificate: nothing leaves this building with 211 dots per inch, two millimetres of clearance or a face that is not in the file, and nobody finds that out at the plate stage.
Floors come from the surface the file is going to and from the printer's specification: 4 mm from the trim, 1.2 mm of x-height on anything the law requires, 300 per cent of ink on coated stock. The rest of what each file broke — its words, its mark, its palette — is on the mark-up page; this one only prints what happens on paper.