From design to a print-ready PDF: The ultimate roadmap

To get an idea of what your printed matter will look like, it is important that the colours on your screen are set correctly. You can do this by using colour profiles (ICC profiles). They are easy to install; just place them in the right folder on your computer. At Antilope De Bie we work with the ISO Coated v2 colour profile by default. You can download it below.

Where can I install the ICC profile on my computer?
Mac: /library/colorsync/profiles
Windows: C:\Windows\System32\spool\drivers\color

Activate this colour profile in InDesign as well.

If you set this in Adobe Bridge, it will be correct in all Adobe packages.

Go to Edit – Colour Settings 

At ‘Working Spaces’ you can install the colour profile

CMYK – ISO Coated v2 (ECI)

Now you must set the correct colour and overprint display on the screen.

You can easily do this at View – Proof Setup – Working CMYK – ISO Coated v2 (ECI).

Always make sure your Overprint Preview is turned on. View – Overprint Preview. This is to avoid surprises. Sometimes you can overlook certain settings and get a different result in your printing than on your screen.

The only way to check that all overprint settings have been used correctly is to turn on overprint preview in InDesign. If you check your formatting afterwards in Acrobat, turn on ‘overprint preview’ there too.

That way you always see the right end result.

If your document is good for print, it needs to be made into a pdf. You have a lot of settings for this. But make it easy on yourself and load our job options. This way you can be sure that your pdf is exported correctly.

How do I install these job options on my computer?
InDesign: File – Adobe PDF presets – Define – Load: Antilope De Bie Printing ISO COATED.joboptions – Done

In this way, the flattener settings are automatically installed along.

Then export the pdf from InDesign:

File – Export
Adobe PDF Preset: click on ‘Antilope De Bie Printing ISO COATED’
Then click on ‘Export’

Please check your file before submitting it, this will prevent additional costs and delays. Open your file with Adobe Acrobat. If you don’t have a pro version, you can download the reader for free: http://www.adobe.com/products/reader.html

Note, always turn on your overprint preview. Because sometimes bizarre things happen to your design. White text disappears, suddenly other colours come through your image, … This while it was not visible at all or very visible on your design. Such problems usually occur because of the wrong use of overprint settings in the original layout. You can always check this by turning on your overprint preview, both in InDesign and in Acrobat.