Front matter is the term used for the information and pages that proceed the body text of a book. This material begins as the first printed page and ends before chapter one. There is far more detailed information about front matter available and should be searched out when creating your book layout. Below are listed the more common elements that we see in the books that we produce. They are listed in the order in which they should appear in the layout and unless noted otherwise, all elements begin on a right side page.

Half Title Page - This is a page with the title of the book and nothing else.

Frontispiece - A left page illustration that precedes (faces) the title page. Not very common but is still used from time to time.

Title Page - Includes the full book title, subtitle and author and can include the editor, illustrator, publisher and so on.

Edition Notice - A left page, sometimes called the copyright page. This page contains technical and legal information about the book including; copyright notice, legal notices, publication info, printing history, catalog information and ISBN number.

Dedication Page

Table of Contents

Foreword - Written by someone besides the author of the book. Generally about a relationship between the author of the book and the author of the foreword.

Preface or Introduction - An introduction of the book written by the book’s author.

Acknowledgements - A list of those that helped the author in the creation of the book through editorial, financial, moral or technical support.

Prologue - Similar to a preface but written by the author in the voice of a character in the book.

When laying out a multi-page document such as a book or business cards its best to use a page layout program such as Adobe InDesign or QuarkXPress. Try to avoid using art programs like Adobe Illustrator (a vector based program) or Adobe Photoshop (a pixel based program). Here is why:

Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop, although excellent programs, do not have the option to make a multi-page document.

My suggestion is to use Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop to design the background of the business card or cover art and then place the art into your InDesign layout on a master page. Once you place the art into InDesign set the text.

You will find that using master pages ensures that each spread or card has an identical and uniform look. With each new book page or card name pull a master page and add body copy or card contact information.

This is also helpful if you decide to make a last minute layout change. All you have to do is make the change on the master page and it will show up automatically on all spreads or business cards. If you have set 50 different Illustrator documents you have to open up all 50 and make the change one by one. Or if you chose to create the background art in Illustrator just open up the one file, alter it and then update it in InDesign and all pages or cards will update in a few seconds. Not only does it make your life easier but it makes your printers life a lot easier as well!!

For most new to the world of commercial printing, there is quite a bit of terminology to absorb. As with any industry, the printing world has its own acronyms and glossary. I won’t delve into that right now, but one thing that might need some clarification for the first-timer is the subject of electronic prepress.

To answer the title question, no, prepress and preflight are not the same thing. Preflight is the process that is used to check over electronic layout and art files before they are allowed to enter the production workflow. It is a series of checks that are preformed in various ways to make sure that the job will print without error. This typically involves the use of several different applications and may require that we send the files through a RIP (Raster Image Processor, the computer that translates electronic files into printable data) in order to discover any problems early on.

Electronic Prepress is the department that is responsible for all production procedures that lead to final print production. Prepress activities have traditionally included typesetting, preflighting, production planning, file management, archiving, file corrections, proofing, workflow management, scanning, color correcting, color management, imposition, separation, RIPping and plate production.

With the advent of digital printing, the line between prepress and press production has blurred. Traditional offset printing presses require very skilled and experienced operators to produce a great looking, sellable product. It is both an art and a science. By comparison, digital presses have a more straight forward, albeit a less flexible way of getting an image on paper. Digital devices require a greater technical and less mechanical aptitude to operate effectively. For this reason, It is not uncommon for prepress operators to be tasked with digital print production.

Technology has decreased the production cycle in almost all phases of printing over the last several decades. What use to take weeks to produce is now delivered in days. I think it’s safe to say that in the future, what takes us days to do right now will be done in hours. One thing is for certain, your prepress operator will be there helping to make your project a reality.

Chris, one of our resident prepress experts has shared with us some of the more common problems she finds when pre-flighting customer supplied files intended for offset printing. Although some of these items don’t apply to book printing, we’ve included them all just the same.

As always, if you have any questions about how to prepare your files for output, please feel free to contact us. These issues are very easy to correct from the start, but can become more expensive and time consuming to correct at the end of the process.

When preparing to send a job to an offset printer please keep the following things in mind:

Collect all used fonts, images and layout file and zip up together before sending.

In a perfect world all images will be:

1. 300 dpi @ 100%
2. CMYK
3. Have all ICC profiles removed.
4. All logos that should be line art will come as line art not as index color GIF files.
5. Watch the densities of all your photos. Try not to let your photo densities be above 275.

Remember to do a spell check on your entire piece.

Remember to check that you have pulled .125″ bleeds on every side of your piece that you intend to bleed off the page.

Do not set up your booklet in printer spreads.

Use your coordinates. They are very helpful for accuracy. Do not eyeball!

Use your master pages. They are very helpful for consistency.

Always send an up to date, low resolution pdf along with your files so we can check for text re-wraps or photos that have dropped out for whatever reason.

If you want to print in Pantone spot colors it may be wise to invest in a Pantone swatch booklet. Remember that Pantone colors printed on uncoated stock looks different than Pantone colors printed on coated stock. Pantone swatch books will show you both scenarios so your not surprised at your end product.

Swatch books are not cheap so if you don’t use Pantone colors frequently enough to invest $100.00 or more dollars on one than take a trip down to your printers facility and ask to see the one they have. You’ll be happy you did!

When looking at pdf proofs from your printer know that all computer screens are calibrated differently. Your screen may look way off from reality. If you think this may be the case ask for a color contract proof. This way you can see a very close representation of what your piece will really look like once when printed.

Color contract proofs are only accurate on pieces printing in CMYK process color. If you are using Pantone colors remember to refer to your Pantone swatch book.

Folded pieces - be familiar with the different fold styles and the different ways you need to set your files up to fold correctly. There are many different styles of folds to choose from:

1. double gate fold
2. tri-fold
3. single or bi-fold
4. roll fold
5. double parallel fold
6. gate fold
7. letter fold
8. accordian fold
9. z fold

One of the most popular of these is the tri-fold. Almost everyone sets a tri-fold up with 3 equal panels. This is incorrect. The fold in panel must be shorter in order to fold flat. Always call your printer if you have any doubts about the exact panel sizes. If your piece gets drilled remember to leave a generous margin (.75″) to ensure that nothing throughout your piece gets drilled into by accident.Try to keep a clear live area margin of at least .125″ on all sides. Guillotine cutters are not perfect - you don’t want anything accidentally getting shaved into or cut off because it was too close to the edge of the page.