Graphic Designer's Digital Printing and Prepress Handbook [Paperback]

Constance J. Sidles (Author), Peter King & Company (Designer)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 2001

It's every graphic designer's nightmare: you finish a huge job, slip in the disc, hit print-and discover a glaring problem that will cost you your deadline, and possibly your client. Such all-too-frequent glitches can be avoided with the guidance this book offers. This step-by-step guide, covering every aspect of digital prepress printing, is written in practical, accessible language and is filled with helpful explanatory images that give designers a framework for logically thinking through projects in a way that ensures a spectacular finished product-the first time. Issues covered: Preplanning (choosing the right process and equipment for your job), Setup (getting the exact printer specifications so jobs will print correctly), Color, Resolution, Proofs (utilizing digital technologies to ensure the highest quality), Paper (choosing the material best suited for a particular job).

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Constance Sidles is a print production consultant and print buyer with more than 25 years of experience producing books, magazines, catalogs, brochures and all the other examples of the printed word that so gloriously fill our mail slots every day. She is the "Tech Tips" of HOW Magazine, a columnist for Adobe magazine, and a regular contributor to several other publications. She is author of Graphic Idea Resource: Printing, Graphic Idea Resource: Prepress (both published by Rockport) and her most recent book is Great Production by Design, Published by North Light Books.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Rockport Publishers (December 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1564967743
• ISBN-13: 978-1564967749
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,256,920 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Teaching Pearl, October 21, 2003

By 

eb "Multimedia Graphic Design Faculty" (Denver, CO United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Graphic Designer's Digital Printing and Prepress Handbook (Paperback)

I have used this book as a text for college students in Print Production classes during the past two academic years. I don't know what I'd use if this gem didn't exist! Its tone is intelligent, witty and practical, its content is right-on!
Further, the book itself is designed well. A prime example of "do what you say"--- form and function blend to delight the eye, hand and mind.

26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Well-written, attractive, but it's missing a lot, July 7, 2002

By 

occasional_reviewer (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Graphic Designer's Digital Printing and Prepress Handbook (Paperback)

Well-written, physically beautiful, and without a lot of the information this DP tyro had hoped to find in a prepress handbook. I suspect that the writer has been in the biz so long that it's tough to put herself in the shoes of the beginner. So: nothing on PDF settings, little on trapping, nothing on bleeds, etc.

I'm new at all this. I had hoped to find that information in this book. I realize that all writers of technical manuals must decide what to include and what to omit -- Do you tell the reader how to install software? -- but I do think a handbook on prepress should have included much more than is included here. I learned nearly as much from the prepress section of about.com.

I recommend this book to people who don't need to read it: graphics professionals who will enjoy Sidles' smooth writing and amusing anecdotes. But if you want hard info, you'd better look elsewhere.

5.0 out of 5 stars A must have for every graphic designer!!!, May 12, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Graphic Designer's Digital Printing and Prepress Handbook (Paperback)

This is the most comprehensive work I've found on digital prepress yet! It clearly outlines every aspect of getting jobs printed from choosing the right papers that will be appropriate for your job, to running type over images, to knowing exactly how different types of digital press' work. It is the perfect book for all graphic design students as well as a bible for professionals wanting to know how the industry is changing, and how to avoid the hidden pitfalls that can ruin a job. Buy this book to aviod disasters on press.