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When creating type in applications designed for print—for example, Adobe InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop—there are three types of fonts that you can use:

• PostScript Type 1. This is the font format developed originally by Adobe as a proprietary format but now published. PostScript Type 1 fonts are stored as two files: The scalable outlines are stored in one, and fixed-size bitmaps for the screen and metric information in the other. This format is an older format used by graphics professionals and is available from all font developers. In the illustration below, a font family, Adobe Caslon, has four styles—regular, italic, semibold and semibold italic. The bitmaps are stored in the FFIL file; the outlines are labeled LWFN.

• TrueType. This font format is most popular with general computer users and is also available from all font makers. The font outlines and metrics are stored in a single file.

• OpenType. This is the newest font format, which overcomes some of the limitations of PostScript and TrueType fonts. Adobe and Microsoft developed this format originally, but OpenType fonts are now being released by virtually all font vendors.

The font family shown below are OpenType fonts (hence, the extension is .otf). In an OpenType font, one font file stores all the information for the font. One of the advantages of the OpenType format is that it can be used cross-platform. That is, the same file works on both Macintosh and Windows computers.

When fonts are viewed in the Adobe Creative Suite applications designed for print the applications display a font menu which gives the option of previewing the appearance of the font. In Adobe InDesign, you can also see what the font type is. In the illustration below, “O” indicates an OpenType font; “TT” is a TrueType font; and “a” is a PostScript Type 1 font. The sample of the font is shown on the right.

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Your commercial printer’s workflow may require that transparency be flattened.  We discussed flattening transparency in this blog post.

The printer may have created a custom Transparency Flattener Preset which has the settings they require for their workflow. This post explains how to use such a preset.

The first step is to load the preset. In Adobe InDesign, choose Edit > Transparency Flattener Presets. In Adobe Illustrator, choose Edit > Transparency Flattener Presets. In the dialog that appears, there will usually be three standard presets called [Low Resolution], [Medium Resolution] and [High Resolution]. Click the Load button, navigate to the preset the printer provided, and select it. It will then appear in the dialog as shown below (here labeled “Platesetter”).

The printer will then request that you create an Adobe PDF file using the Adobe PDF preset they requested. We discussed PDF presets here.

For example, if they asked you to choose the PDF/X-1a PDF preset, you would choose it from the Adobe PDF Preset menu in the Export PDF dialog box. On the Advanced panel, you would select the Flattener Preset from the list. If you’ve installed the custom preset, it will appear there as shown below.

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When you use transparency in Adobe Creative Suite applications like Adobe InDesign and Adobe Illustrator, you must take care to follow best practices. This is especially important when transparency must be flattened. We discussed flattening transparency in this blog post.

• If possible, place text and vector content higher in the stacking order than objects using transparency. If the transparency is higher, it may interact with the text or vector content, forcing it to be rasterized, making it spread (thicken in weight). In the example below, even though the type doesn’t touch the drop shadow around the image, it could still interact with it.

If you’re using spot colors to color objects, and you’re also using transparency, a PostScript raster image processor (the processor that produces the artwork for printing) must use overprinting to image both spot colors and transparency at the same time. If overprinting is not used, you may encounter an effect I call the “white box effect” behind the transparency as you see in the illustration below. When flattening occurs (as by choosing Acrobat 4 or earlier compatibility for a PDF file), the spot colored background doesn’t image properly.

Keep transparency live as long as possible. Use native file formats like Photoshop PSD and Adobe Illustrator AI files instead of saving as EPS files which will flatten the artwork. When creating PDF files from document containing live transparency, use a PDF format with Acrobat 5 compatibility or higher, such as PDF/X-4 that support transparency, if your printer’s workflow supports such files.

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In my previous blog post, I talked about the usefulness of saving PDF files in Photoshop and Illustrator.

In this posting, I wanted to help you pick from the PDF presets available to help you make the right choice. The dialog below is from Adobe Illustrator, but the choices in Photoshop are the same—with one exception.

Illustrator Default is only found in Illustrator. You would choose this when you plan on opening the PDF again, or placing it in a layout program like Adobe InDesign. This option is not found in Photoshop.

High Quality Print is found in both Illustrator and Photoshop. Use this preset to create a PDF document for high-quality printing on desktop printers and proofers. Color and grayscale images are downsampled to 300 ppi. Colors are left unchanged (they aren’t converted to another color space). Transparency is retained. Editing in Illustrator or Photoshop is turned ON.

Smallest File Size is found in both Illustrator and Photoshop. Use this preset for onscreen display, email, or the web. Color images are downsampled to 100 ppi, grayscale images to 150 ppi. Transparency is retained. Editing in Illustrator or Photoshop is turned OFF to keep the file size small.

Press Quality is found in both Illustrator and Photoshop. Use this PDF preset for high-quality commercial printing where the printer is comfortable receiving a PDF with live transparency. Transparency isn’t flattened. Color and grayscale images are downsampled to 300 ppi (considered an industry standard for commercial printing). RGB images are converted to CMYK; CMYK values are unchanged. Editing in Illustrator or Photoshop is turned ON.

PDF/X-1a, PDF/X-3, PDF/X-4 are found in both Illustrator and Photoshop. These are presets that are explicitly intended for commercial printing. All these settings will downsample images as described in the Press setting. Editing in Illustrator or Photoshop is turned OFF. Only print-related features are supported. If you choose PDF/X-1a, transparency is flattened and any RGB images are converted to CMYK. PDF/X-3 is like PDF/X-1a but RGB and color management is supported. PDF/X-4 supports transparency, RGB, and color management. Check with a commercial printer to see which they prefer.

As you can see there these options cover most of the uses for PDF files. However if you like, you can customize your PDF settings as well. In my third and last post in the series, I’ll cover how to create your own settings and why you might want to do this.

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