Urban Land Magazine Advertising Guide - Urban Land Institute

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The color profile will mostly likely be RGB and ... Select the following from the “ Convert Colors” menu: ... The magazine page and trim size is 8 7/8'' x 10 7/8''.
Urban Land Magazine Advertising Guide Tips for creating print-ready PDFs

Getting Started: We recommend using design software, such as InDesign, QuarkXPress or PageMaker, to prepare ad artwork. If you are creating an advertisement inhouse without the use of design software, we recommend using Microsoft Word, PowerPoint or Publisher. Final ads must be submitted as a highresolution and print-ready PDF file. To create artwork with Microsoft Word and PowerPoint:  



Set the page or slide size to the dimension of the ad. (see Page Sizing column). After completing the layout of the artwork, save as a PDF. Choose “Standard” and click on “Options.” Choose “Bitmap text when fonts may not be embedded.” The color profile will mostly likely be RGB and you can convert to CMYK in Adobe once the file opens. To convert to CMYK, click on “Advanced” in the toolbar, “Print Production” from the drop-down menu and then “Convert Colors.”

Page Sizing: Two-page spread with Bleed: 18.25’’w x 11.125’’h with 1/8’’ bleed Full Page with Bleed: 9.125’’w x 11.125’’h – place crop marks at 8.88’’w x 10.88’’h (trim size), this allows 1/8’’ of extra bleed around the trim size Full Page without Bleed: 8’’w x 10’’h – includes 2/5’’ white border around the ad image when printed Half Horizontal: 7.63’’w x 4.875’’h Two-Thirds Vertical: 5’’w x 9.875’’h

Select the following from the “Convert Colors” menu:      

Object Type: Any Object Color Type: “Any Colorspace” or “Any RGB” or “Spot Color” (depending on what needs to be converted) Minimum Text Size: No Minimum Maximum Text Size: No Maximum Convert Command: Convert to Profile Conversion Profile: U.S. Web Coated (SWOP) v2

To create artwork with Microsoft Publisher: 

When saving as a PDF, click “More Options Available,” select “Design Checker” and then mark the box “Warn about transparency and color use.” This will flag items and allow you to fix them before it is converted to a PDF. It catches and fixes errors such as converting from RGB to CMYK, image resolution and bitmapping text.

Key Terms: Formatting Ads must be delivered as a PDF file created with “Press Quality or PDF/ x-1a” settings in Acrobat 6 (2003) or later with all fonts and images embedded. Exporting a file with this file format indicates that it complies with a number of restrictions, such as CMYK, embedded fonts, no OPI, no annotations, no Javascript code and encryption is not used. It is a file format which helps to standardize the file sharing process and ensures that it is ready for print. PDF/X indicates that the document is intended to be used for printing purposes, as opposed to PDF/A which is used for archive-able PDFs.

Mechanical Specifications: Trim size: 8 7/8’’ x 10 7/8’’ Printing: SWOP Web Resolution: 300 dpi Binding: Perfect Line Screen: 150 lpi Color Profile: CMYK

Ads can be originated in any program that will support the creation of a PDF file, such as Microsoft Word, PowerPoint or Publisher. The following programs can be used to create ad artwork, but files cannot be delivered in the original format: Native QuarkXPress, InDesign, PageMaker, CorelDRAW, EPS file, MultiAd Creator file. Sizing: The magazine page and trim size is 8 7/8’’ x 10 7/8’’. Before submitting artwork, check the size of the artwork in Adobe by rolling the cursor to the bottom left-hand side of the screen or by measuring with the ruler tool. Include crop marks, .5 point or thinner, on all ads. Sizing and properly placed crop marks will ensure that the artwork is placed correctly. Color space A term that describes how the color information of an image is saved in a file. Our printer uses four colors - cyan, magenta, yellow and black inks (CMYK) to produce color pages. RGB - images are not acceptable for print. Scanners, digital cameras, stock photo discs and most web images are saved in the RGB color space (red, green, blue) which are the native color space for electronic presentation. Any image editing programs (such as Adobe Photoshop) should be able to convert images from native RGB images to CMYK format. CMYK - printed images are comprised of four colors, (cyan, magenta, yellow and black). The printer will only accept files which use these four colors to create the ad artwork when it is printed. Color Management During the color conversion process you will be asked to embed a color profile. The recommended choice is: “U.S. Web Coated (SWOP) v2,” although you can also choose to uncheck the option. It is also acceptable to save images in grayscale if they have no color information. Bitmapped images are also acceptable, but their resolution should be at least 600 dpi. Resolution The resolution of an image is described in pixels-per-inch (ppi). The resolution of an image is established by choices made when an image is scanned into digital format or photographed with a digital camera. The proper resolution of an image for print magazine purposes is at least 240ppi. If an image is too low resolution, the image will appear fuzzy when printed.

Common Preflight Errors: Artificial Fonts When designing artwork, be sure to avoid local formatting. Instead of choosing “bold” or “italic” font, select the actual font variation (such as Times Bold). When printed the fonts may appear artificially slated or bolded instead of using the actual version of the font. Fonts Not Embedded If your fonts are embedded, it means that all of the font information used to make your document looks the way it does because it is stored in the PDF file. No matter what fonts someone else has on their computer, they’ll be able to see the file as you intended it to be seen. If you don’t embed fonts, Adobe Acrobat will make its best guess at font substitution using whatever fonts are available on the reader’s computer. This substitution can results in significant differences between your intended output and what the reader observes (particularly with symbol fonts), so it is best to have the fonts embedded. If you are creating the document in a Microsoft application, just be sure to use relatively universal fonts to ensure the printer’s computers have the fonts loaded in their software. To embed fonts    

Start Acrobat Distiller Go to the Settings menu and select Job Options Select the Fonts tab and select Embed All Fonts Click OK

Ink Coverage If the ink coverage is above 310%, it is too “thick” for our printer and would not dry within the necessary time period. Think of a wet sponge, the paper absorbs the ink but will have trouble drying and maintaining print quality with excess ink being applied. Spot Colors Most spot colors are found in business logos. It means the color is generated using colors outside of the CMYK color profile; in other words, the color is created with a PMS ink color, instead of building it with the four process colors. To fix, simply convert all colors to CMYK. If the spot color is not converted to CMYK, the color output may be slightly altered when printed. OPI Data Information OPI stands for Open Press Interface and is flagged in an image during preflight. OPI is software which splits an image into both a high and low resolution version of the image. The low res version is visible in the document and contains a link to the high res version in order to make it easier to manipulate the file. If the link is removed or altered when the file is converted to a PDF, the image will print either as low res or will not even show up. To ensure that the artwork prints correctly, convert to CMYK and save as a PDF/X.