Technical discussion

[Joan Marie]

This thread is for people who want to discuss the finer technical requirements for creating and printing the collaborative deck we are woking on.

For everyone else, the basic technical requirements are found in the post: Official Instructions. That post contains all the info you will need to create a card to contribute to this project.

Please use this thread here to discuss any tech issues beyond the scope of the official instructions.

Thank you!

[Joan Marie]

Not sure if it was mentioned, if you are going to print the deck, the submitted artwork must be CMYK.

p.s cmyk not needed for most pod will accept rgb as well & do conversion on their own!

Regarding CMYK:

These cards are going to be first displayed online.
RGB is best for that and is the format most people will submit their work in. (whether they realise it or not.)

CMYK is required for printing so every image will need to be converted. I will do this.
I will also rasterise all the fonts, convert all files to PDF, colour correct and proof every card for printing range, and adjust the bleed area to accomodate print-drift.

I am aware that some printing services will do all that for you.

It's my belief that it is better to submit work in a ready-for-print state and not leave it to whoever is on staff today at the printers to make all those decisions. I know they usually do a good job, but why leave it to them when it's possible to control it ourselves?

For example, when you convert a file from RGB to CMYK slight shifts in the colour and transparencies, etc. occur. So every card will require a slight adjustment. With this deck there is the additional consideration that the shift that occurs will affect every card in a different way entirely because they were each created differently so that means making the colour corrections will be different than if they were all created by the same artist using the same techniques and colour palette.

The varying of lights and darks is also an issue (some cards will have an overall darker composition and others much brighter and more colouful) and is just too much to trust to an anonymous 3rd party to adjust to the best advantage of the art. Or rather, I should say it isn't fair to expect them to.

I am capable, have all the tools and am willing to prepare the cards for print. I have been working closely lately with a professional printer who has given me a lot of guidance and really upped my abilities on getting files printer-ready.