Tips & Hints
In the course of our work, we encounter many production challenges. Some are straightforward technical problems while others sheer mind boggling. Here are some interesting queries. We hope you'll find them useful.

I can't tell you how many times we receive art from "high priced agencies or designers," and we have to redo the whole thing from scratch....
I get that a lot. I spent a lot of time drawing up a "graphic guidelines" sheet that spells out, in painfully simplistic detail, what formats we can and cannot take for catalogs, trim sizes for different publications, etc. I get calls from large agencies and people with titles that indicate that they should know better (Creative Director, Senior Designer, etc.) asking if they can submit PowerPoint files, or questioning the difference between trim and bleed sizes. Since I am on deadlines 99.9% of the time, I often just take what they give me and work with it, since walking them through it takes time I rarely have. Then there is the other extreme. We have people send the image in many different formats up to 10 times. All of them wrong. Rather than conform to the printer's specs, they want us to use their inferior specs and art. They actually print out fuzzy jpg files and send them as art through snail mail when the same electronic file won't work. We receive ink jet printed logos daily in the mail. The problem started the day that computers allowed laymen to "design" and "typeset" their own jobs. For years we typeset school newspapers and printed them. We made a fortune. Now 12 year olds are "typesetting" and "designing" them on state-of-the-art computers and we had to give up the cash cow that was typesetting. I miss the old days of wax and razor blades, too.

I am in the market for a freelancer. Can you give me some pointers to select a suitable person?
There are no hard and fast rules but I think these are some logical pointers to consider.
Compile a list of freelancers before you need them. You may rush the screening process if you wait until you face a deadline.
Don't pick portfolios, pick people - those who seem comfortable to work with.
Make sure they care - They may produce great work, but if they don't care about your problems, their work will disappoint you.
Look for initiative - You need people to say, "This is what I think you
should do," not those who say, "Just tell me what to do."
Don't look for bargain rates - Be willing to pay for good work and dependability.

My designer presented me with an out of this world design of a logo and business card. The logo has diminishing tones. The business card was done in negative. You know ...White text on black background. There is a nice gray tone-I think it is in 90% black. It looked good from the monitor screen. I was shocked when I got the finished cards from the printer. The tones were washed out. What happened?
Your designer failed to consider the production limitations of the design. Tones are determined by screens. The dots. There must be some compensation to be factored in. The ink will expand slightly - we term this "dot-gain". What happens here is during the printing process the screen dot expands slightly depending on the ink roller pressure. Visually you'll see a darker tone. Therefore it is imperative to lighten the screen tones. It will cost more to get the job done as special attention has to be given to controlling the pressure. At the end of the day it is a question of economics. Unless you are willing to foot that extra cost, my advise is to take a sensible option... redesign a production friendly logo that looks good when enlarged or reduced. Finally please don't use tonal effects. It usually becomes a pain during production.

Can PC read Mac files and vice versa?
Macs can ALWAYS read PC, but most PC owners don't know they can read MAC files, so they say they can't. You will be able to access the disk when a Mac user formats it for PC but the art and documents should also be saved in PC format. Photoshop has this capability when saving in TIFF format. Illustrator will allow this in EPS format.

Hi I was just asked what the difference between a professional graphic designer and a professional desktop publisher... was. At first I thought oh that's an easy answer. Designers design, create and use multiple programs to create their final product ... They have many skills. Wait ... a desktop publisher may have the same kinds of skills ... so what is the answer to this one? I could really use some HELP here.
Now let me see if this makes sense. A graphic designer is schooled in the fine art of design, colour, psychographics, psychology (to some extend). A desktop artist (I do not comprehend why you term "publisher" has the skills of operating a computer. He or she may not have the skills of a designer but show him a layout sample he will be able to replicate it because of that skill. I would compare the person to a musician and an instrument player. You see a musician reads and writes music, he paints... an instrument player will be able to replicate the sound and tone but does not have the ability to create. I guess with time and the right training he'll get there.