How can I make it clear to clients why this is unacceptable, or somehow get better materials from the word "go"? I’m new to this, so bear with me.
Every major publication and advertising medium has a published "spec sheet" which describes the materials they need, in the formats and resolutions they need. I do a lot of print advertising, so I have a file in my office which contains literally hundreds of spec sheets. A spec sheet typically looks something like this:
"This is the publication specification sheet for Acme Jetpack Monthly. Acme Jetpack Monthly is printed using offset lithography using a 150-line halftone screen. The publication trim size is 8 3/8 by 10 7/8 inches. The publication bleed size is 8 5/8 by 11 1/8 inches. PLease maintain a 1/8 in safety for copy inside the trim size.
All materials must be submitted as 4-color separated film with a 133 or 150-line halftone, or as electrinic files. The accepted formats for electronic files are as follows:
All images mmust be four-color separated CMYK TIFF or EPS files with a minimum resolution of 300 pixels per inch at printed size. All images must be no greater than 280 DMAX. RGB images and images in other formats, such as JPEG, BMP, and GIF, are not suitable for reproduction and will not be accepted.
All submitted layouts must be in QuarkXPress, Adobe Indesign, or Adobe Illustrator format. Acme Jetpack Monthly does not accept page layout files in Microsoft Publisher format.
Layout files must include all linked images, artwork, and fonts. Linked artwork should be in vector EPS format; Adobe Illustrator or Macromedia Freehand preferred.
Do not use flood fills of solid black. Acme Jetpack Monthly
Acme Jetpack Monthly is printed in four colors. All Pantone colors in your layout must be set to process separate. If you plan to use a spot color in your ad, please contact your Acme Jetpack Monthly account representative for pricing and other information.
Acme Jetpack Monthly can also accept materials in Acrobat PDF format. Please make sure that your PDFs contain high-resolution images (300 pixel per inch at printed size minimum), are not converted to RGB, and use no compression or high-quality compression. Make sure that supplied PDF files preserve overprint information. A custom Acme Jetpack Monthly PPD is available for download from ourt Web site.
Files submitted which are not in accordance with these specifications may incur additional charges, delay the publication of your materials, or be rejected outright. Acme Jetpack Monthly will not be responsible for the final appearance of low-resolution images and reserves the right to reject materials which are not of sufficient resolution.
Acme Jetpack Monthly requires a contract-quality proof with all materials submitted. We accept MatchPrint, Waterproof, and Kodak Approval digital proofs. Inkjet proofs are not accepted. Acme Jetpack Monthly is not responsible for the printed appearance of any materials submitted without a proof."
You get the general idea. Basically, it lists the publication specification and trim sizes, the acceptable material formats, and spells out limitations on the publication’s responsibility for materials that don’t meet spec. They can be a lot longer–I have spec sheets in my file that run three pages(!)–and they can be adapted easily to situations that don’t involve magazine reproduction.
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