by Milt Vine
All of us have a handful of recurring production mistakes and oversights that never seem to go away. For printers there are the common missing fonts, incorrect trapping, improperly embedded files, non-allowance for bleeds, etc. Finishing houses, too, have their share of blunders that always need correcting.
Aside from being annoying, such mistakes have the potential to trip up not only production, but deadlines as well. In an effort to avoid these pitfalls, here are a few recurring finishing flubs you and your clients can prevent.
Book projects. Remember to provide a healthy trim allowance, at least a 1/8 inch, on perfect-bound covers to catch any extra glue that's applied down the spine on the inside. Without this extra paper, glue often will run over to the front of the spine, jeopardizing the aesthetic of the book and often damaging bindery equipment.
The shingling phenomenon is another common oversight which can cause serious trouble in bindery. Shingling is a natural effect that occurs when signatures are folded one upon the other: The outside signatures will grow progressively shorter the fatter the book. Designers must take this into account when preparing their digital files.
A folded dummy using the actual stock specified for the job will help your client determine the correct allowances. Mock-ups are the surest way to avoid mistakes on all jobs. Without this physical reference, we're forced to rely on either purchase orders, which too often are incomplete, or specifications, which frequently are inaccurate because the job changed during production.
In the case of books, samples should include pagination and they should be bound together in the proper order. You can staple the pages together or, if there are too many pages to hold the staple, you can drill a hole through the pages and tie them together with string.
Presentation folders. One of the simplest, but most common omissions when dealing with these jobs are those business card diecuts on flaps. This happens so frequently, in fact, that it's our policy to always ask about business cards whenever a presentation folder job comes in.
Another common oversight is the failure to include proper allowance for glue tabs on the flaps. Very often, designers place crop marks in live image areas. Also, when folders are to be UV coated, clients often omit rule-outs of the positive areas to be coated.
Another recommendation is to design the tabs onto the body of the folder, not on the flap. This ensures that any glue overrun will show up on the inside of the cover, not on the outside.
Recycled stocks. Many clients specify recycled papers these days. Some are mandated to do so by company policy, others may simply like the look of recycled stocks or are committed for environmental reasons.
Grain direction is a large issue when working with recycled papers, since folding will require a score if it runs against the grain. Even relatively lightweight 70# recycled stocks need a score, if the fold is against the grain. Unfortunately, this mistake often is not caught until the job is already in bindery, at which time we call our customer who calls the client informing him or her of the additional charge, a situation that certainly makes nobody happy.
Shipping and delivery. To meet those critical deadlines, materials don't only need to arrive on time, they need to arrive in good condition. We've all had unfortunate experiences when deadlines have been missed because product was damaged in shipping, resulting in inadequate counts for finishing operations. Shrink-wrapping or putting material in cartons lessens the likelihood it will be damaged during transit and handling.
Make sure you notify your bindery-preferably in writing-as early as possible that a job is coming. Be as specific as you can: Describe the job and all its specifications, so we can begin production planning. When you send the job to the bindery include completed purchase orders, rule-ups, pagination sheets and/or bluelines.
Also, tell your bindery if material will be delivered piecemeal and where it is coming from, if from multiple sources. Provide an accurate count of materials and make sure it gets on your shipping document. Provide telephone numbers of people who can make decisions at any hour of the day or evening, including weekends. This is especially critical for rush jobs.
And don't forget those samples!
Milt Vine is president of Seattle Bindery, a postpress house specializing in custom tabs and presentation folders; folding and stitching; foil stamping, embossing and die-cutting; plastic spiral, Wire-Oš and perfect binding. You can reach Milt at 425.656.8210. For more information about Seattle Bindery, check out their web site at www.seattlebindery.com. ©1999, Seattle Bindery.