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How to Check a Proof
Fulfill Your Next Million Print
Order With Confidence
About the Author:
Andrew Osborne
Andrew works as our Preflight
Engineer, Graphic Designer,
Web Designer, and all-around
computer guru. He has won
several academic and design
awards during his college
career. He knows how to
make effective designs that
call out to customers.
Table of Contents:
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
The Importance of Checking a Proof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Step 1: Check the Big Picture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Step 2: Check the Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Step 3: Check the Pictures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Step 4: Miscellaneous Items. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
How to Check a Print Proof
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Introduction
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Pro-Tip: A trick for
seeing things you
Does this sound familiar? It’s the big
would otherwise
day. That big marketing piece you’ve
overlook is to look
been working on for the past several
at a proof held
weeks has finally been approved,
upside-down. That’s
printed and is being delivered today!
right... upside-down.
You open up the box and take a look
It tricks your mind
at the result of all your hard work and
into thinking what
money and... oh no... something is
you’re looking at is
wrong. You call the printer to ask what
something totally
happened, and they remind you that
new and different,
you approved a proof and what they
and you may catch
delivered matched the proof so there
things you would
is nothing they can do. If you’re lucky
otherwise have
they might reprint it at a reduced cost,
overlooked.
but in the end it’s on you.
If that has ever happened to you then you know that it’s one
of the worst things that can go wrong, and can be very costly.
Fortunately, this nightmare scenario is almost always avoidable
if you know what to look for when checking a proof.
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How to Check a Print Proof
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The Importance
of Checking a Proof
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Checking a proof is one of those things that sound so much
easier than it really is. All you have to do is glance it over to
make sure the printer got the right files in, and that’s all…
right? Unfortunately no. It may sound odd to some, but almost
anything imaginable can go wrong between when you send the
file to the printer, and when the printer processes the file and
sends a proof back to you. From computer glitches to software
bugs and incompatibility to old-fashioned miscommunication;
most of the time it’s not clearly anyone’s fault. Things happen,
if something can go wrong then odds are it will go wrong
eventually. That’s why proofs are so vital, and rarely will
any printer be comfortable producing a job without a proof
approved by their customer.
Once you know what to look for and how, checking a proof
thoroughly is easy. Read on and we’ll guide you step by step
through the process.
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How to Check a Print Proof
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Share with your friends!
Step 1:
Check the Big Picture
[
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THE
BIG
PICTURE
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]
When you open the PDF or delivered hard copy proof from your
printer, the first thing you should check is the big picture:
Is this the right file? Sometimes mix-ups happen. Maybe you
sent an older version by mistake, or maybe the printer grabbed
the wrong archived job.
Are the pages in the right order? In preparing files for print,
the printer may have had to rearrange pages in odd ways to
make everything appear in the correct order when everything
is assembled. Sometimes software or human errors can make a
Page 6
How to Check a Print Proof
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Step 1:
Check the Big Picture
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(cont.)
mistake during this process. Be especially diligent checking this
on any piece that doesn’t have page numbers or other obvious
indications of the page order. As common practice, consider
always adding page numbers to any booklets you print to make
this easier for both you and the printer.
Make sure everything is rotated properly. For most jobs
this will be a no-brainer, but some aren’t so simple. Folded
brochures that mail can be particularly complicated because
the address panel may have to be oriented one direction while
the rest of the brochure is orientated a different way. When
checking a PDF of folded jobs, especially mailers, we highly
recommend printing a copy (even just a small one) and folding
it yourself to make sure it works correctly. If you are unsure
how it is folding or what direction the other side of the sheet is
printing in, ask your printer.
Check all the folds Make sure the printer has all the folds in
the right place and going in the right direction.
Page 7
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