Benefits of Having the Designer at the Press Check - Example October 15, 2009, by Chris Pelicano in Design
Also see: The Designer and the Pressman
Here is an example of how the designer can help at a press check. I recently attended the press run of 25,000 4-Color books, which I had designed. After the job was set up on the press, I was called to look at the initial review sheets, and noticed that the registration (the 4 layers of overlapping process colors) was slightly off.
I knew that the pressman was working on a high speed web press that is capable of exact color registration and that correct registration is the first step in evaluating or requesting any color adjustments. This is because registration effects color—so registration has to be corrected first. The registration was corrected, and we resolved subsequent color issues in short order.
An additional benefit of stressing exact registration at the first press sheet review is that it heightens the pressman's awareness to such issues on subsequent reviews; as a result, the back side of the first sheet was registered correctly without asking.
It was also helpful to discuss with the pressman that the printed piece was designed to avoid certain effects that are difficult to achieve on press. This conversation was appreciated by the pressman because he saw that the design was forward-thinking enough to avoid on-press problems.
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