Customer Reviews

The All New Print Production Handbook

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is an excellent practical introduction to printing for a beginner. It's especially useful if you'll be dealing with books, magazines and other text-intensive items.

The survey of origination, pre-press, proofing/platemaking and printing processes is broad and adequate, though not especially deep. Most topics are covered in 1-2 pages of text plus an equal number of pages of illustrations -- way too short to qualify as a "handbook" for a professional, but enough to get you oriented when you're starting out. The discussions of color printing and of finishing aren't going to satisfy you if you're interested in producing high-end brochures and other specialty goods with fancy graphics. For these topics, Ambrose & Harris's "Print & Finish" in AVA's Basics Design series would be a good supplement to the present book. But the last section, called "Working with a Printer", is very helpful and, judging by my own brief experience anyway, seems to be hard to find elsewhere. It includes detailed discussion of how to make enquiries and prepare specifications for working with printers, and some of the common pitfalls of each. A lengthy glossary of terms, plus several conversion tables and other reference charts are also above-average for this type of book.

I read the book while preparing to write a business plan for a new publication. It alerted me to lots of practical issues and expenses that I'd never have thought of from reading most other books on this topic, which tend to stress graphic design rather than practicality. Finally, the book itself is handsomely and durably produced, especially considering its reasonable price. Very solid, in both form and content.

Smaller than Johansson & al. book - thus, shorter. And even shorter since all even pages are filled with pictures (of machines etc),only odd pages holding the texts. Very nice though, thanks to clear explanations. Sentences are elliptical but not confusing. The writer gives you advises and stretches important points. He seems to have a lot of working experience. Photographies are great and show the most up-to-date machines. An excellent beginner's book that I recommend...but you will need the big Johansson & al. book to understand thoroughly all technical aspects.

Pros: Clear. A good insight to up-to-date technics.Nice pictures of all kind of devices
Cons: lack of details. This book wont make you an expert.

Extremely informative and great to have on-hand for class or professionally. I wouldn't say it's "easy" to read or by any means a "fast" read, but it isn't difficult either and I would imagine it could be a lot worse!

Different sections are color coded for quick access and reference, which was also extremely helpful. The cover of the book is also interesting and made of some sort of soft, durable plastic material (very appropriate!)

I found this book very useful and will recommend it to anyone interested in the business of commercial printing.

I was looking for a book which offered an insight into modern day commercial print production, its processes, key terminology, and commercial advice, this compact book offers all of that.

For someone who works regularly in commercial printing companies I found The Print Production Handbook to offer all of the facts one would need to establish a good knowledge of print production right from Pre-Press to Finishing.

I would advise people working in print to read this book, and I especially enjoyed the introduction and David Bann's arguments for print vs new electronic media.

I really found the book useful when talking with printers. But it would have been great to have samples of the papers that were referenced in the book

I'm going to be using this book for my college print and design class. Looked through it and hopefully it will be great!

I am web designer and trainer. I bought this book to beef up my print production knowledge, but it was a tough read. There were a lot of equipment and processes covered. It seemed like the reader should already have a basic knowledge of some these topics. At times I was confused and the content didn't stick.

I did like the description of what makes up a font. The explanation about typefaces and fonts was confusing.