Customer Reviews

Real World Print Production with Adobe Creative Suite Applications

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When I picked up Claudia McCue's book on print production, it was with the intent of becoming a bit more knowledgeable about pre-flight requirements on my print designs. I had no idea that her book would be so in-depth and that I would be entertained along the way. McCue's writing style is completely readable. Believe me, I was prepared to prop my eyelids open in order to get through a book on print production requirements. So I was pleasantly surprised to find Claudia McCue's Print Production with Adobe Creative Suite Applications such an enjoyable read.

The book begins with a history of printing, to help us understand current terminology and techniques (and to appreciate advances in modern printing technology!) then leads us into a tour of a contemporary print shop. McCue makes certain that we are well prepared for our journey into the printing world by starting us off with all the necessary printing jargon. She next explains what is needed in color versus black and white printing, complications that might arise with various print papers and how to deal with them, and design preparation for binding. She discusses the use of fonts, using pcs or macs and their communication limitations. A much appreciated chapter (for both printers and designers alike) is on planning for printing, or submitting the job to a printer. In this chapter she points out the necessity of planning ahead to increase productivity and limit avoidable aggravations.

A major key point to this book are the chapters specific to the Adobe Creative Suite 4 Applications-Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign. McCue refers to these chapters as "Production Tips" which really, truly are worth their weight in gold. In fact, this book could easily have been alternately named "How to be Smarter, Make Your Boss Smile More & Save Yourself Many Hours of Brain-Wrenching Headaches".

I can't remember the last time I crawled into bed with a warm cup of tea and a print production book to do a little late-night reading, and well, that's because it might have been never, until I opened this one. Just a few of her topic headings that have had me grinning include "Forensic Tools", found toward the end of the book, which discusses how to scope out mistakes in InDesign pre-print, "Watch Your Language", on naming files appropriately, and "Let it Bleed", explaining InDesign's bleed options.

Claudia McCue has more than twenty years of experience in pre-press, and it really does feel like she has packed all of it into "Real World's Print Production with Adobe Creative Suite Applications". Twenty years flies by fast when you're having fun. Thanks to Claudia I won't be spending that much more time learning these lessons the hard way.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! This book is great for the designer who's not had time or the resources to benefit from design school. The author has made this manual so easy to understand, without insulting the intelligence of designers who have actually learned through trial and error, questioning, personal research, etc. - some of the intricacies of the art. It is filled with vital information that will help you avoid the pitfalls of color catastrophes - of which I've had a few! I didn't realize this is a relatively new release (2009) which means it's speaking in my language (Adobe CS4)... I highly recommend this book to any desktop designer who needs answers about printing, color management and file production.

Print Production with Adobe Creative Suite Applications
Claudia McCue, 330 pages

This book packs a wallop of great production techniques and common mistakes to avoid when using Creative Suite 4's Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and Acrobat. Although the book is geared towards the current version of CS, most of the content is applicable to previous versions. Claudia's organized the book into an easy to reference 12 chapters, starting off with a history of traditional production methods.

You'll learn how to handle fonts, PDF creation, layers, working with and exporting native file formats, etc. It's all in here and the author's sense of humour makes it an enjoyable read. Recommended for Creative Suite users of all levels, especially those who didn't grow up learning things the old fashioned way (pre-computer, that is).

A handy resource appendix offers up further reading sources, user group info, and online forums to spend time honing your skills.

Having just jumped into self publishing, and opting for offset as opposed to print on demand, I found this book to be absolutely invaluable. I've used Adobe's Creative Suite across the board (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and Acrobat); this book was a fastball right down the middle. With definitions for all of the terms I would run across and tips and tricks for each application, I was thoroughly versed for my interactions with the press people.

Claudia has a very enjoyable writing style, mixing humor and personality into what could have been a pretty dry subject. She clearly has a passion for the subject that becomes infectious as you read.

So I learned a lot, I enjoyed myself, and I can highly recommend the experience.

Five stars.

After finding myself needing more knowledge on the specifics of the prepress process, I purchased this book. It is filled to the brim with helpful prepress tips and presented in a way that does not leave you bored. Great buy and great resource for those that need a little help on understanding the "insider info" on prepress production for maximizing the quality of a print job.