Happy New Year…I hope all of your holidays were safe, and filled with family and friends.

It has been awhile since we’ve spoken, and a bit longer since we have looked at print production ideas and processes.

It is time to get back to the basics. How can we become more complete print production professionals? What can we do to enhance our customer’s projects and make them better, more noticeable, and, hopefully, increase their ROI?

It always begins at the beginning.

That is the input meeting to give the creative team their assignment. Print Production must be involved at this stage.

WHY?
Many designers cringe when print production is involved early. The fear of hearing "YOU CAN"T DO THAT" rings in their heads. A good print production person should never utter that sentence. The more appropriate response when confronted with a design that can not be produced, or one that will necessitate your client to spend a year’s budget is "That may not be producible, but what if we look at other options which will maintain the creative feel you desire?"

That said, if print production is involved at the input meeting, they could begin the search for various formats that can be produced within budget.

As a print production person, how do you do this? Simple, call your print-partners and ask them to show you some innovative formats they have produced for other clients. Personally, all of my main print-partners are on alert for anything that will "stop me in my tracks."

This is much more helpful if you have at least one in-line capable vendor on your list. These partners are always being pushed by their clients to do something different.

Creative and print production becoming true partners and meeting daily (and sometimes multiple times each day) will result in project designs that are within budget and also will be more creative in execution. These meetings do not have to be formal. The print production person should always be welcome to "sneak-a-peek" at any stage of creative design.

Once the designs are completed, and before they go to the client, print production and creative need to meet to go over any idiosyncrasies of the designs. It can be helpful to the person presenting the ideas to the client if you list the special steps it may take to finish each design. A rough timetable will also assist in selling a special idea. If the client knows you can produce it without adding a month to your schedule, they may be more inclined.

Most times a client is presented with two or three different creative executions. Personally, I prefer three. In this way I allow the creative to design two within budget and then on the third I let them "break the box." That is, to design one submission that is out of budget. Normally we are talking about $0.30 – $0.50 (CPU) higher than budget. Anything more than that is dangerous.

Once the client makes their decision on the execution, production and creative should meet once more to go over any client directed changes.

Then it is time to get your print-partners more involved. Have them send blank paper dummies to you. Let the creative live with these dummies. You can also begin quoting the project.

The last two meetings between creative and production should be before the client is shown the final mechanicals for approval and upon release of the mechanicals to the print-partner. On complicated design packages, it is suggested that the sales rep come in and sit with the print production person and the creative team. Review all components, discuss the schedule, confirm who will be on press for the approval, and hand over the project.

As print production professionals, it is our responsibility to ensure the project is completed to the highest quality, on time and within budget.

We can do this with a higher degree of success if we are part of the team.

Remember…PRINT PRODUCTION IS WHERE CREATIVE IDEAS BECOME REALITY!

The more we communicate, the better we will be at our careers.