DTP DTP File Management & Prepress Workflow 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is a 'spot color' in desktop publishing?
- A color mixed from CMYK process inks on press
- A specially mixed premixed ink printed as its own separation (Correct answer)
- Any color used as a small accent in a design
- A color sampled using the eyedropper tool
Correct answer: A specially mixed premixed ink printed as its own separation
A spot color is a premixed ink (such as a Pantone color) printed in its own pass on press, ensuring color consistency that cannot always be achieved with process color mixing.
Question 2: What does DPI stand for and why does it matter in print production?
- Document Pages Index — it tracks the number of pages in a file
- Dots Per Inch — it measures print resolution and affects image sharpness (Correct answer)
- Design Pixel Interface — it controls screen display quality only
- Digital Print Instruction — it tells the printer which ink to use
Correct answer: Dots Per Inch — it measures print resolution and affects image sharpness
DPI (dots per inch) measures how many ink dots a printer places per inch; higher DPI produces sharper printed images, with 300 DPI being the standard minimum for commercial print.
Question 3: Which color mode should images be converted to before sending to a commercial offset printer?
- RGB
- CMYK (Correct answer)
- Lab Color
- Indexed Color
Correct answer: CMYK
Commercial offset printing uses cyan, magenta, yellow, and black (CMYK) inks, so images must be in CMYK mode to print accurately and avoid unexpected color shifts.
Question 4: What is a 'bleed' in print layout, and what is the standard bleed distance in the US?
- Extra white space added inside margins; 0.5 inch
- Artwork extended beyond the trim edge to prevent white borders; typically 0.125 inch (1/8 inch) (Correct answer)
- A safety zone kept clear of all text and important graphics; 0.25 inch
- A duplicate layer used as a backup; no standard distance
Correct answer: Artwork extended beyond the trim edge to prevent white borders; typically 0.125 inch (1/8 inch)
Bleed extends background colors or images 0.125 inch past the trim line so that after cutting, no white paper edge appears if the cut is slightly off.
Question 5: What does 'overprint' mean in a print production file?
- Printing a document more than once for quality control
- Setting an ink to print on top of underlying inks rather than knocking them out (Correct answer)
- Using more than 100% total ink coverage on a single area
- Duplicating a page to create a back-print version
Correct answer: Setting an ink to print on top of underlying inks rather than knocking them out
Overprinting instructs the printing press to lay one ink color directly over another instead of removing the underlying color, which is commonly used for black text and trapping.
Question 6: In a preflight report, what does 'missing link' indicate?
- A hyperlink in the document leads to a broken URL
- A placed image or graphic file cannot be found at its original path (Correct answer)
- A font is partially embedded but not fully installed
- A master page has been deleted from the document
Correct answer: A placed image or graphic file cannot be found at its original path
A missing link means the document references an external image or graphic that InDesign or QuarkXPress can no longer locate, which will cause that image to output at low screen resolution.
DTP DTP File Management & Prepress Workflow 2
What is a 'spot color' in desktop publishing?