Before you start your own design…

Three important questions you must answer before you start doing your own design. If you cannot answer YES to all three these questions, you may be heading for disappointment.

1. Is your display calibrated?
Your display needs to be calibrated to an international standard before you can trust the images you see. The ideal way is to purchase your own calibration device. It is possible to hire a specialist to do this for you, however, if you make any changes, you will need to call the specialist back to recalibrate. It is also recommended that you check and recalibrate your screen on a regular basis (every few weeks or months). This applies to all combinations of computers: laptops, desktops and various combinations of display types. If you are using a Mac, the same applies, the systems are rep-calibrated out of the box. You are welcome to visit Studio22 to discuss alternatives – we even have a manual option to offer beginners who are not yet ready to invest in additional hardware and software.

2. Are you using the profile for the book or ablum you have selected?
Although you may now have a calibrated screen, you need to “tell” your software what printer is going to print your images as not all printers print identically. You will need to load an ICC (International Color Consortium)  profile. The ICC profile is like a filter that allows the operator to see the image on the screen as the selected printer will reproduce it. At Studio22, we offer three profiles, one for each or the three different printing systems we offer. These can be downloaded via our website. These profiles are created at Studio22 for the specific printer. Please be sure to read the instructions on this page.

3. Have you tested or proofed any of your pages before sending the book to print?
If this is your first encounter with printing of this sort, we hightly recommend you print a test page or proof print prior to spending time on layout or design. It will be very time consuming if you need to redo the enrite book – if your images have not be colour corrected, you may need to start from scratch. If you dive right in and print your book, Studio22 include a proof of every book or album prior to printing so you still have a chance to catch it before you invest in a complete book.

A calibrated display is vitally important to workflow. It is pointless putting effort into post production (colour correction) if you are not confident of what your final product will look like. It is all about what you see after-all. We will gladly assist were possible. This applies to all the books and albums we produce, if an image is involved, a calibrated display is the only way.

Visit www.studio22.co.za for more info.

Tags: calibrated screens, doing your own layout or design, ICC profile, own design, photo book DIY