Business Card printing and correct CMYK profile settings

Question

So I bought this business card template that comes as a PSD file with the U.S Web Coated (SWOP) v2 CMYK profile. I edited it in Photoshop and then found out the printer company:

• wants CMYK colour mode and uses FOGRA39 as the profile.
• says fonts must be converted into paths / curves or embedded completely.
• suggests to send PDF/ X-standard (PDF/ X3-standard or PDF/ X1a-standard).

So now I am unsure what to do so colors on the card look as close as these on screen:

1. Convert to FOGRA39 > save as PDF using FOGRA39
2. Rasterize > Flatten > convert to FOGRA39 > save as PDF using FOGRA39
3. Save as PDF using FOGRA39 directly

Also I believe Photoshop uses vector fonts, thus I assume it is better NOT to rasterize them, so when saved to PDF they look great at any magnification? Would that work if the printer company doesn't have the font? I mean is this what they mean by "embedded completely"

Thank you.

Answer 1

Alternatively, if you remove all of the type layers from Photoshop and just set up your business card artwork to be the background for an Illustrator file... then you can reset the type in Illustrator and convert all text to outlines.

Just mind your Photoshop background file resolution and color mode, and make sure your Rasterize settings in Illustrator are set correctly.

Embedding fonts and emailing font files can be iffy unless you are familiar with the printer. Converting them to outlines locks them down as vector shapes. No rasterizing necessary.

Answer 2

If you don't need exact colors, converting the color profile will likely be just fine.

Fonts can be retained as fonts in a PSD file, but the printer then needs a copy of those fonts to then open it.

When you create the PDF, however, you can embed the fonts (provided the fonts you are using allow for embedding). In that situation, the font information is embedded in the PDF file so the printer doesn't need the separate PDF font files.

Alternatively, you can rasterize the type. If you working with a relatively high resolution image, this is likely the easiest solution all around. However if it's a lower-resolution image, you are correct in that rasterizing will 'lock' the type to that particular resolution and likely not produces the best results for you.

Answer 3

PDF/X-1a is the safe choice for print in almost all cases. Fonts are embedded (if they permit embedding, which any professional-grade font does), so there is no concern about possible substitutions with the reflow and kerning issues they entail. The reason PDF/X is so useful is that it is an open standard supported by all modern prepress workflows and RIPs. Both you and the printer are dealing with a known quantity, which avoids surprises. (Surprises are wonderful when you're designing. When the ink hits the paper on an expensive production run, not so much. That's why we still do press checks on color-critical work.)

If the printer has a .joboptions file available, as many do, you should install it and use that in the PDF export dialog. This is especially important when sending to magazine or billboard publishers, but it's just a good idea in general. In OS X, .joboptions files go in Library > Application Support > Adobe > Adobe PDF > Settings. In Windows 7+, they go in [system drive]:\ProgramData\Adobe\Adobe PDF\Extras.

Convert to the target color profile in Photoshop. You should not see a significant color change on screen unless you're converting from an RGB color model to CMYK (and not always then). This is for convenience. Converting inside the PDF export dialog uses exactly the same engine to do the conversion, but the interface is more complex (and it's easy to forget, in the rush of a deadline, to make the change).