Pre-flight and package a catalogue for print

You are a Junior Designer in the Design Studio.

Simulated workplaceEntry missionCAQA Studio Aurora

What is going on

The Ferngully Publishing spring catalogue, job J26-0398, is a 48-page saddle-stitched booklet with a four-page cover. The client has approved the final artwork in writing and the printer needs press-ready files by Friday. The printer's specification on the job record calls for 3 millimetre bleed, crop marks, a specific colour profile, images at 300 pixels per inch and fonts embedded, and notes that the cover spine allowance and bleed have changed since the last issue. The artwork was built by a designer who has since left, and the file contains a mix of linked and embedded images and two fonts that are not on the studio font server.

Josh Weatherall, Graphic Designer
Subject: Ferngully catalogue, print files due Friday

The Ferngully spring catalogue, job J26-0398, has client artwork approval and the printer needs press-ready files by Friday. The spec is on the job record. Can you run the pre-flight from the Design Job Procedure, fix anything you find, package the files with fonts and links and log the typeface licence in the Media Asset Library? I will do the second-designer check on Thursday afternoon. Watch the spine width and the bleed on the cover, the printer changed both since the last issue.

Your brief

Run the pre-flight checklist from the Design Job Procedure on the catalogue, fix every issue you find so that the files meet the printer's specification, package the job with fonts and links, record the typeface licence in the Media Asset Library and prepare the job for the second-designer check.

Work through it

You do not need to do it all. Doing a few of these will show you what the work is like. Your ticks and notes stay on this device.

Read the pre-flight section of the Design Job Procedure and the printer specification on the job record, and write a checklist for this job.
Check document size, bleed, safe area, page count and cover spine allowance against the specification and correct any errors.
Check every image for resolution, colour mode and missing links, replace low resolution images from the Media Asset Library and relink any that are missing.
Identify the two fonts not on the font server, confirm whether the studio holds a licence for them and record the outcome in the Media Asset Library.
Check typography for widows, orphans, overset text and inconsistent styles and correct them without changing the approved content.
Export the press-ready file to the printer's specification and package the job with fonts and links using the studio file naming convention.
Complete a pre-flight report listing every issue found and fixed, and hand the job to the second designer for checking.

My notes: what did I enjoy, and what surprised me?

What someone in this role would produce

Job-specific pre-flight checklist
Corrected and packaged print files
Media Asset Library entry for the typeface licence
Pre-flight report for the second-designer check

Printing this is a record of what you explored. It is not a certificate or a qualification.