In the last few weeks, I’ve had several requests for advice or tutorials on how to create print covers for this or that printer. It must be that time of year or something because I’m suddenly so popular, and everyone who wants to create print covers is coming out of the woodwork. Well, I’m here to state now and for always:

Print graphic design done right will always be more complicated than you first think.

It’s not something I can teach anyone online very easily, and considering all the college courses taught on the very subject, it’s not something I’d want to take the time to do for free either. I’d want a teacher’s salary at the very least.

Still, if anyone out there is interested, here are just a very few basic things you must know when embarking on your print project:

• Who your printer is
• What your printer requires
• When to use a program like QuarXPress and InDesign or one like Photoshop and Illustrator
• Where to place your bleed, trim, and margin guidelines for each project based on the page count
• Why you need to use fonts and images in certain formats and embed them
• How to do all of the above and create a press-ready PDF file

Beyond that, I really can’t help you.

It took me years to learn proper graphic design, and I learned it on the job under the tutelage and guidance of many experienced professionals—senior graphic designers, art directors, and creative directors from many different art and marketing departments in many different companies. I learned something from them all and from trips to print bureaus and seminars, and I am still learning. The industry evolves.

It is far more technical and precise than regular graphic art and illustration, and in fact it has very little to do with graphic art and illustration. It’s not like handing in an image file for an ad in a print magazine because it’s more like you’re designing the magazine itself. This is where you have to be sort of an anal techno-geek and know exactly what settings to use in very expensive and difficult-to-master design programs. If your files don’t pass what is called a preflight—which happens if you use the wrong kind of font, if you have a stray spot color or RGB color where there shouldn’t be, or if embedded images don’t quite have the minimum required resolution—then your printer will ask you to fix them … and they’ll charge you an extra fee for the privilege.

My advice?

Hire a pro … either to do the work for you, or to teach you how to do it yourself.

Trust me. It will be worth the investment.

For more information, try this link. If you understand even half the subjects on the left menu, you’re in pretty good shape.

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