Help Please, Ganging 4 up two sided inDesign CS2

Question

I'm looking for help with a clients request. They would like a two sided card I've designed to be sent to a printer with 4 up on a larger sheet, in the form of a pdf. I found a suggestion elsewhere to import pdfs made of the original single document file and just place them onto the larger sheet. This doesn't seem to take into account that the job is two sided printing, as only the front side of the pdf import is showing up. (I'm 'Placing' the file as I don't see another import option other than xml. Does anyone have any suggestions, short of dropping a bunch of money on 'Imposer' programs?
Cheers and Thanks!
darryl

Answer 1

Visual designing is a good term ...why?...because many feel they what you see on screen is what you get...kind of like pint to a colour, click and hey presto that look nice, lets use that colour...but sadly it's not how it should be done. Structured thinking in design is whats required. You need always to start somewhere and the RGB and CMYK palettes are NOT the right place! Think about this as developing a consistent image of and for  your client/customer. Do they have corporate colours already or are they just starting out in a new enterprise...prehaps even refurbishing all their marketing peices so they stand out and look consistent with all colour matching stationery, brouchures etc. You'rd be surprised at how many clients will come back t you time and time again just because you've always kept a consistent image going for them. Your client doesn't know anything about printing apart from what they print on their office printers. They don't know anythng about CMYK, RGB, PMS, resolution, DPI, LPI, colour separation, bleed etc.....they see what they have composed in Publisher or Word and think you can print exactly what they have...this couldn't be further from the reality of the printer's world!
You mentioned colour in AI and colour in IND ..add to that colour in PSD...none can give a true reflection on the final printed output. And without a starting point as a close referrence you reaaly won't have any idea of what the final ouput will look like.....digital verses offset? ...depends on how much was spent on the digital or offset output machinery..a good office or printery machine could cost from around $5,000 - 20,000...offset printer 100,000+....it's obious what sort of quality ouput one can expect to achieve based on that alone.
So what is the staring point we should all adhere to when choosing colours?...the virtual swatch library in AI, IND, PS? ...or the real physical swatch books like PANTONE MATCHING? ...YES!...that is it! Get yourself 2 PMS books, one for coated and the other for uncoated. Now you have a good staring point for determining what colours can be printed ..and within reason, don't assume that what you choose from in those swatch books is exactly what you will get in the final output with offset print or digital! Think about it, the stock used to print the swatches is not what you are using to print your client's job! That must be the first and foremost discussion you would have with your client when choosing the colours...make them understand this your they maybe unhappy about the final print! They should choose a paper stock ...you should be able to provide that as well, get alog to your paper suppliers and grab all their paper swatch books...then learn to read your customer cos some paper stocks are damn expensive..if they don't appear to have the funds to print their media peices on the most expensive stocks then only show then what you think they can affrd ...try commodity papers first!
Ok ..the basics....colour libraries are available in all Adobe designing programs...you should have no problems selecting colour palettes in either AI, INDD and PS. Just remember a few things, if you are printing PMS Spot on coated stocks choose SOLID COATED ...uncoated CHOOSE SOLID UNCOATED....never convert a spot colour to CMYK by changing to SPOT TO PROCESS ...this does not work and many people make that mistake! Always convert a spot colour directly to CMYK. Never convert an RGB colour to a PMS colour and then to a CMYK colour and exect to get a cosistent result. Always refer to PMS matching system book before anything else.
RGB images...never place an RGB image in IND and expect it to look the same even when you've exported to PDF and converted the CMYK in Acrobat Pro's Ink settings ...ALWAYS OPEN THE RGB IMAGE IN PHOTOSHOP AND CONVERT THERE....SAVE AS .PSD THEN USE 'PLACE' to insert into IND ...while you're in photoshop you can check you image's resolution and make any final adjustments.
I'm sure I haven't covered everything here ..it's impossible ...there is too much to write in one session...but I do hope that I have covered the basics to get any budding GD (Graphic Designer) upto speed with some good print ethics. Please ask ...if I can help I will do my best at least!