processes of typesetting, measuring the space between letters (kerning) for easier readability, and the space between lines (leading—so-called for the metal strips used to separate lines of type on early printing presses). Computers also are used to prepare color separations, and for retouching photographs. Selection of paper stock still is done in the traditional manner, as are the review of color separations, proofreading, and press-proofing. As agencies move to the digital age, however, a whole new breed of production expertise has been developed to deal with the production of electronic media. Color-breaks have been supplanted by the use of lines of computer code, headlines are turned into hyperlinks, and other digital techniques formerly the province of computer geeks have become the lingua franca of agency creatives. Even the review process has changed dramatically from the early days of computerization when a creative director might spend hours going through a designer's digital files one by one, checking type fonts, page sizes, and image resolutions to assure that the files would print correctly on press. Now, many of the layout programs have automated checking systems in place to do the same tasks. One of the most popular is a program called FlightCheck, which checks digital files thoroughly and issues warnings about potential printing problems while guiding the reviewer directly to them for repair. FlightCheck produces a complete analysis of each print job, highlighting errors including document wrong- sizing, missing type fonts, incorrect color specifications, transparency of spot colors, incorrect image resolution, links, and much more. It then collects and organizes all the required elements of a print job to insure that the final printing will be as expected.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDMwNDAx