Fonts & Illustrations

Fonts & Illustrations

Fonts

One important consideration in printing a book is the selection of fonts. While Friesens does have the complete Adobe Type 1 Font Library; we still require that all fonts be supplied when submitting your job to Friesens. Fonts, like other software, come in versions; different versions of the same font may contain different kerning/tracking information. If the version used to print the files is different than the one used to create them, reflow becomes a possibility. Text reflow can result in hyphenation changes, missing lines of type or changes in line breaks.

We recommend using OpenType or Postscript Type 1 fonts when creating your book project. OpenType fonts print as reliably as Postscript fonts but have the advantage that the same font file can be used on both Macintosh and Windows. Avoid using Multiple Master fonts in your printing project.

Choose fonts by name when selecting fonts in a layout application. Selecting fonts by name is preferable to using the bold or italic style. In some cases, such as when working in Windows, some font styles are not available in the font list even though the font is installed. The style palette can be used to apply a bold or italic style as long as the bold or italic fonts are loaded. Fonts may revert to the plain version when printed if the font style is not available. In some cases the font may even revert to Courier.

Illustrations

Due to the nature of Vector graphics, intricate illustrations can consume large amounts of RIP time. Vector graphics are created using programs such as Illustrator and CorelDRAW.

Keep the following in mind when working on computer generated illustrations:

  • Create your illustrations at final size to keep line weights consistent. Remember any re-sizing of artwork in the page layout software will also re-size the line weights.
  • Avoid placing large Hi-Res scans in your illustration files; integrate the scan and the artwork by placing them separately in the page layout program.
  • Remove FPO images used for tracing in the illustration even if they are on hidden layers as our pre-flight software will identify these as low resolution images.
  • Avoid “Nesting” EPS files in illustrator programs. Copy and paste editable files instead of importing EPS files, using the Place Art command.
  • Remember to keep a list of all fonts used in your illustration. You will be asked to supply these fonts as well. You can use the “Convert to Paths” feature in your software to outline the text, eliminating the fonts used in the illustration.