USING COLOR TYPE

Black on white is the most legible combination for type.
If you want to add color, experiment with the following.
• Use color type for headings, not for body text.
• Make sure there is contrast between the shades of the background and foreground colors. If the type and the background are equally dark or light, the type will be difficult to read.
• Try using two or more shades of the same color, one for the type and one for the background. Add white or black to the shade of your background to improve contrast between text and background. Keep in mind that tinted panels can become darker when printed. This happens because the pressure of the press forces ink into the absorbent paper, which causes the inked halftone dots to spread This is referred to as dot gain.
• Don't print large blocks of type in light colors. Light-colored text is hard to read.

LOW-BUDGET PRINTING

Some quick-print shops use only disposable printing plates. On a large quantity, these plates can stretch and spot color registration can shift noticeably. Metal plates can cost extra, but may be the only option with some printers. Some shops shoot a negative of your art, others may prefer to use your computer file in place of a "paper" mechanical. Always ask your printer how he prefers to receive the art.

DON'T SCAN ART THAT HAS ALREADY BEEN PRINTED

Not only is using prepublished images without permission a copyright law violation, but assuming that you have permission - you still should avoid it. When you scan a prepublished image you only capture the halftone dots that the image was reproduced with. The result is less than adequate. Always ask for the original photograph to scan. That way you are capturing continuous tones and eliminate the risk of screen interferences, which happens when dots represent dots.

SCANNING

• Avoid using a layout program to crop or size a scan, because the program only masks the unwanted area, which means all the data included in the cropped out area or resized image still has to be calculated when printed. Always crop and resize the image in your image editing program before importing into your layout program.
• When scanning for output on a laser or inkjet printer, don't "overscan" the image. When an image is scanned at too high a resolution, the files balloon and the laser printer or inkjet has to process all the data, though only some of it is rendered. As you work with the image your computer has to constantly recrunch your scan data and, over the course of a project, you're likely to lose valuable time or worse, crash your output device.

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