Embedded Files
When working on letterpress cards, keep an eye out for these common mistakes in order to avoid replacements.
Missing Stroke or Text Below Minimum
Missing Stroke or Text Below Minimum
This letterpress invitation is missing a stroke on the Engravers MT font. While the Minted Master Font List does not suggest a stroke, Engravers MT is known to break on letterpress files, due to the thin parts of the font, and best practice is to include a 0.1 stroke.
Missing Overprint Fill
Missing Overprint Fill
Here you can see overlapping design elements in Illustrator, with "Overprint Fill" unselected. Overprint Fill and Overprint Stroke should both be selected using the Attributes panel.
Below is the prepress PDF file of the same proof in Acrobat, with visible trapping/cut out sections where the design elements overlap. When this reaches the printer they will place the order on hold until we provide a corrected file. To check prepress PDFs for trapping in Acrobat, open the Print Production > Output Preview window, and toggle the Spot Plates on and off.
***To be safe, always select Overprint Fill and Overprint Stroke, even if there are no overlapping elements. ***
Incorrect Layer Setup
Incorrect Layer Setup
When working on multiple-item suites, it's easy to confuse letterpress items for standard items and vice versa. To double-check if an item is a letterpress card, simply look at the SKU on the proofing page, if it contains an "L" it's letterpress. In the example below, MIN-XPG-LDR, MIN-BX5-LPI, MIN-YQB-LRV, and MIN-YQB-LRV are all letterpress cards. MIN-ZZQ-DRF is a card with standard CMYK printing.
This letterpress card (part of a suite) was proofed as a standard CMYK card, without the specialized layer setup used for letterpress. When this happens our printers will place the order on hold and request a corrected file. This causes a delay for the customer.
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