Five Ways to Slash Your Printing Costs
- By Tony Smith
- Published 07/18/2007
- Business
- Unrated
Tony Smith
My other favorite pet projects other than PrintNPost are: My Webcomic , My Blog and Working Man Design
View all articles by Tony Smith
You don't have to be a professional graphic designer to deal with printers effectively. In fact, most people that buy printing today have little or no professional design training at all. Since the advent of desktop publishing, people like marketing professionals, secretaries, teachers, administrators and management companies end up designing their company’s documents instead of hiring a freelancer or facing the exorbitant costs of going to an ad agency. Entrepreneurs and small business owners also fall into this category, because they rarely have the means to have their promotional products professionally designed.
People new to buying printing often start out going to a copy shop, and end up storming out after a few botched orders. Their next choice is usually to find a local small printer who will do a better job walking them through the process and educating them on how to properly set up their files, what paper stocks to use, etc.
For the past seven years, I've been the guy unwary print buyers fear most. I manage the pre-press department and make the judgment on whether or not the file you spent endless hours creating is printable within the realm of your budget. If I say it can't be printed they way you intended, then you're facing a major obstacle. I won't pronounce your file cancerous, but I'm likely to say what could be the most expensive words you'll ever hear: we have to print this digitally or re-create it to make it press-ready.
I'm going to give you some tips that will lower your printing costs dramatically. Actually, they're not really tips, they're more like rules. But remember, they're rules that make your life easier and keep your boss happy by saving their business money.
Rule #1
Press is king. Unless you’re doing a small print run, you're almost always better having your job printed on a press than instead of a color copier or similar digital output device. The first question asked when you're handed a printing quote should be: is this the least expensive way for me to print this? Your second question is: is there any way I can change my design in order to print this at a lower cost?
Rule #2
Invest in professional level Adobe software. Microsoft Publisher is cheap and easy to use, but it gives most printers' a headache. Believe me, they charge you for their headaches. Also, don’t even think about designing with Microsoft Office if you want to save on pre-press costs. In most cases, files from those programs are unsuitable for anything other than digital printing because there’s always complications with the file. Most printers will accept files in these programs, but they charge you extra for it. While the price of the Adobe Creative Suite may seem intimidating, compare quotes for printing 500 double-sided two color flyers digitally versus printing it on press. Then, multiply that cost difference by the number of pieces you'll have printed during the course of a year. Suddenly, the software doesn’t seem that expensive anymore.
If you have kids that are college age or younger - or are a teacher - you can get an educational discount on the software that cuts the price to almost a third of the normal cost.
Rule #3
Don't pull images off the Internet and use them in your documents. They only work out well for offset printing in the rarest of cases and determining those cases is best left to people that understand graphics programs on a professional level. If you're going to try and use images downloaded from the web, keep in mind that the only printable resolution on press is if you size it to approximately 25% of its original size. In most cases, that makes for a very small image. Of course, they do print better on digital equipment, but then your printing costs go up.
Rule #4
Make sure you supply all the fonts and graphics used in your document. Sales people seem to always tell their customers this, but they don't always grasp the importance of it. Even if you supply a PDF file, there's very little the pre-press operator can do to make changes if they don't have all the fonts and graphics you used when designing your document. It comes down to a very simple law: every time a pre-press operator has to open your file it costs you money. If they open the file and have to go back to sales or customer service to request fonts or graphics from you, then that means they have to preflight the file at least twice…possibly more if you're not able to send them everything in one try. This is where using professional layout programs like Quark XPress or Adobe InDesign is a Godsend. Both programs have built in features that collect the required files to submit to a vendor. Collecting fonts manually is tedious at best and a complete nightmare if you're unsure how to do it.
Rule #5
Learn how to design and properly set up your files to print with two spot colors. Unless you're using photographs in your design, most pieces can be printed more cost effectively using black and a Pantone color, or a combination of two Pantone colors. One color printing is always the least expensive, but if you want more aesthetic appeal without breaking the budget, two-color printing is the way to go. Once you get to three colors, you might as well print in four. The cost difference between three-color spot printing and four-color (CMYK) printing is minimal at best. If you do a search for spot colors at Adobe.com or About.com, you'll find many tutorials to help you set up your documents for cost effective printing.
Those are five of the things I see customers struggle with most. There are dozens of other little different tips and tricks that can save you money like picking the right paper for the job and setting up your booklets in printer spreads. But, those are things best discussed with your sales person on a job by job basis. The last good bit of advice I can give you is to not be afraid to ask your sales person questions about how you can save money on your job and still get good results. Believe it or not, most sales people are more concerned with satisfying the customer and generating repeat business rather than milking you for every last dollar. They're more than happy to offer advice if you're willing to listen and it helps even more if you know how to ask the right questions.
People new to buying printing often start out going to a copy shop, and end up storming out after a few botched orders. Their next choice is usually to find a local small printer who will do a better job walking them through the process and educating them on how to properly set up their files, what paper stocks to use, etc.
For the past seven years, I've been the guy unwary print buyers fear most. I manage the pre-press department and make the judgment on whether or not the file you spent endless hours creating is printable within the realm of your budget. If I say it can't be printed they way you intended, then you're facing a major obstacle. I won't pronounce your file cancerous, but I'm likely to say what could be the most expensive words you'll ever hear: we have to print this digitally or re-create it to make it press-ready.
I'm going to give you some tips that will lower your printing costs dramatically. Actually, they're not really tips, they're more like rules. But remember, they're rules that make your life easier and keep your boss happy by saving their business money.
Rule #1
Press is king. Unless you’re doing a small print run, you're almost always better having your job printed on a press than instead of a color copier or similar digital output device. The first question asked when you're handed a printing quote should be: is this the least expensive way for me to print this? Your second question is: is there any way I can change my design in order to print this at a lower cost?
Rule #2
Invest in professional level Adobe software. Microsoft Publisher is cheap and easy to use, but it gives most printers' a headache. Believe me, they charge you for their headaches. Also, don’t even think about designing with Microsoft Office if you want to save on pre-press costs. In most cases, files from those programs are unsuitable for anything other than digital printing because there’s always complications with the file. Most printers will accept files in these programs, but they charge you extra for it. While the price of the Adobe Creative Suite may seem intimidating, compare quotes for printing 500 double-sided two color flyers digitally versus printing it on press. Then, multiply that cost difference by the number of pieces you'll have printed during the course of a year. Suddenly, the software doesn’t seem that expensive anymore.
Rule #3
Don't pull images off the Internet and use them in your documents. They only work out well for offset printing in the rarest of cases and determining those cases is best left to people that understand graphics programs on a professional level. If you're going to try and use images downloaded from the web, keep in mind that the only printable resolution on press is if you size it to approximately 25% of its original size. In most cases, that makes for a very small image. Of course, they do print better on digital equipment, but then your printing costs go up.
Rule #4
Make sure you supply all the fonts and graphics used in your document. Sales people seem to always tell their customers this, but they don't always grasp the importance of it. Even if you supply a PDF file, there's very little the pre-press operator can do to make changes if they don't have all the fonts and graphics you used when designing your document. It comes down to a very simple law: every time a pre-press operator has to open your file it costs you money. If they open the file and have to go back to sales or customer service to request fonts or graphics from you, then that means they have to preflight the file at least twice…possibly more if you're not able to send them everything in one try. This is where using professional layout programs like Quark XPress or Adobe InDesign is a Godsend. Both programs have built in features that collect the required files to submit to a vendor. Collecting fonts manually is tedious at best and a complete nightmare if you're unsure how to do it.
Rule #5
Learn how to design and properly set up your files to print with two spot colors. Unless you're using photographs in your design, most pieces can be printed more cost effectively using black and a Pantone color, or a combination of two Pantone colors. One color printing is always the least expensive, but if you want more aesthetic appeal without breaking the budget, two-color printing is the way to go. Once you get to three colors, you might as well print in four. The cost difference between three-color spot printing and four-color (CMYK) printing is minimal at best. If you do a search for spot colors at Adobe.com or About.com, you'll find many tutorials to help you set up your documents for cost effective printing.
Those are five of the things I see customers struggle with most. There are dozens of other little different tips and tricks that can save you money like picking the right paper for the job and setting up your booklets in printer spreads. But, those are things best discussed with your sales person on a job by job basis. The last good bit of advice I can give you is to not be afraid to ask your sales person questions about how you can save money on your job and still get good results. Believe it or not, most sales people are more concerned with satisfying the customer and generating repeat business rather than milking you for every last dollar. They're more than happy to offer advice if you're willing to listen and it helps even more if you know how to ask the right questions.