PDF Research
Why Graphic Designers MUST
Learn
How to Create PDF Files
by C. Scott Miller, Performance Graphics
With all of the attention on the relative merits of PDF vs. HTML for web development, most graphic designers are missing the big picture--the fundamental importance of the "create once, use many" flexibility of the Portable Document Format. The benefits of PDF to all forms of publishing is, perhaps, best exemplified by the revolutionary changes it is causing within the prepress industry.
For trained graphic designers, printing a document is where the "rubber hits the road"--if you can't print it in predictable, high quality... what good is it? Prepress workflows have been the scene of both significant carnage (the death of traditional typehouses, optical systems, and stripping departments) and incredible advances (laser scanners, digital imagesetters, imposition, platemaking, and presses) in the past 10 years, accounting for billions of dollars in industry-wide retooling.
|
|
A 256K interactive PDF presentation module. |
This change has given us a stunning number of new output options, exceeded only by the dizzying number of platforms, file types, fonts, and twists of postscript programming designed to confound the most experienced prepress technicians and their most advanced raster image processors (RIPs). If only there was a "holy grail", a single file format that would simultaneously reduce the complexity of what goes into the prepress workflow while providing the graphic richness necessary to accomplish any combination of output demands. The PDF format is being justifiably touted as that "holy grail"-- the one-file-format-fits-all alternative to both traditional camera-ready and postscript workflows.
Adobe's Postscript page description language revolutionized the publishing era of the '80's by tying the creative use of vector graphics with laser imaging technology. In the '90's, it has developed the Portable Document Format which corrects the ills of Postscript while providing us with a universal, viewable format for this new era of digital publishing.
A correctly designed and distilled PDF document releases the prepress craftsman from the frustrating hassle of looking for source graphics and fonts. And it allows a single, compressed document to be automatically segmented into different printing workflows. For example, a graphic designer could supply one multipage PDF document to the prepress operator who could then draft and attach a digital job ticket to the file. That file could be spooled on a PDF workflow system that simultaneously segments and processes 4/color pages to a proofing printer or 4/color platemaker, sends black & white pages to the networked Xerox Docutech, ports cover art to a digital color press, and dispatches file segments to other facilities or publications through the internet.
Why MUST graphic designers learn how to correctly design and distill PDF documents? Because neither the designer's clients nor output vendors will be able to resist the time and money savings attraction of PDF workflows. Case studies show that this is already happening:
- The Associated Press has incorporated Acrobat into AdSEND, AP's digital delivery service that lets advertisers use the AP's communications network to send ads to 1,400 newspapers nationwide, in hours, or if necessary, in minutes.
- Macy's West is pushing its catalog publishers and publications to standardize on PDF. With 20,000 black-and-white and over 2,000 color ads being shipped annually, that's a striking vote of confidence in the predictability of the format.
- Remember the nationwide UPS strike and the ripple effect on FedEx? Emailing files reduces dependence on ground and air delivery systems.
- Imagesetter giants like AGFA (Apogee and PDFPilot) and Scitext (Brisque DFE) are putting the finishing touches on the next generation of prepress production tools featuring high-end PDF workflows.
|
|
C. Scott Miller, a Guest Contributor to Planet PDF, is President of Performance Graphics, an award-winning Los Angeles area corporate graphic design and consulting company. His website at http://www.pdfresearch.com contains additional PDF research information and links specific to the needs of graphic designers. |
|
|
|
||
