Making sure you are ready for Pre-press

A key factor in every successful undertaking is a sound plan. Making an outline of the steps to be taken as well as preparing for contingencies if things go awry is very important. You can’t possibly play basketball without a ball, right? Without having planned the game, you must have ASSUMED that someone have brought that ball. No plan has been made and no coordination took place and that is why we simply assumed and we know that assumptions are one big killer of success. Instead of hearing, “I thought…” it would have been very good to hear “I’m sure.” And just what on earth has this got to do with printing?

Like everything else, a successful print venture benefits from good planning. Basic to your printing success is a good understanding of what it is that you want, what you need to get that goal and making a follow-through. An efficient starter would be making a preparation of all the materials, know-how and the manpower needed for the task. All of these of course will have to take into consideration the available budget allotted. Gathering the materials in advance is a surefire way to cut costs because this will prevent you from making rush orders which are usually astronomically priced. Also, learn in advance the processes and techniques that will be used in your printing endeavor. Making a trial-and-error approach here is not only unwise but costly. The needed manpower pool should be ready by now and have been informed what to do. You must have communicated with them what is your goal and how to reach it. Make sure, do not ASSUME, that you have been understood for this will make the work flow smoother and will save time and money plus this will spare you from headaches. Typical errors committed are because of these unnecessary assumptions.

The keywords to remember here are PLANNING and COMMUNICATION and that presumptions should not be made or else there will be trouble. Think long-term and make sound plans and you can be sure to reap the benefits of what you have sown. And that my friend, will keep your pants on.