Improve the quality of computer framing design from an engineering point of view

In the past decade, the rapid development of desktop publishing technology has brought about a revolution in prepress technology. At the same time, it has also brought about earth-shaking changes in design methods. Computers and mice replace the original paint, brush and ruler more. Designers can use their talents in a wider space. We also see newer, more impactful works. However, with the increasing utilization of computers in book design, people have regained their enthusiasm from the initial shock and found that not everything that comes out of the computer is satisfactory. Some of them were just that. Some even added new troubles. So, in addition to improving the designer's personal accomplishment and design level, can the quality of bookbinding design be improved from other aspects? Here we discuss this issue from the perspective of engineering technology.
First, truly master your device Desktop publishing system is not just an Apple computer or a Pentium II, it also includes the corresponding application software and some peripheral devices such as scanners, color or black and white printers. Each kind of peripheral has many functions. If they can't fully play their role, they can't be free and free when designing. Take the scanner for example. At present, scanners commonly used in desktop publishing systems are mainly flatbed scanners, such as the DuoScan series of AGFA, the ScanMaker series of Microtek, the Lino-Hell's Saifei, and SCREEN's Caixian. These flatbed scanners have been used as input devices for computers for more than a decade. They have been widely used due to their low price, high efficiency, flexibility, and intuitiveness, and their performance has also been greatly improved. However, many of the pictures that we have seen on the flatbed scanners usually have very big defects, such as serious color cast, loss of subtle layers, and unclear images. What is the cause of these defects? In addition to the capabilities of the device itself, the software that comes with the scanner is not an important factor. Virtually every scanner comes with powerful software such as the LinoColor software from Lino-Hell, ColorTone and PhotoFlow from AGFA, and ScanWizardPro from Microtek. These software can not only achieve color management, color separation processing, and some can also achieve scanning batch processing, improve work efficiency. In fact, when purchasing equipment, users have already paid for the software. If they can fully play their role, it will certainly have a multiplier effect. Unfortunately, many of our designers are only satisfied with the operation, and neglect the development and utilization of these functions, which not only impedes quality but also reduces efficiency, resulting in a waste of equipment investment. Therefore, before using these devices, you should read the manual fully and dig out every potential, so that you can really be confident and have a good idea.
In the same way, there is also a lot of potential in application software. We can see that many cover designs are very rough, such as shadows, gradients, and simple stacking of metal characters, except that in part the designers don’t mind and don’t invest in it, often because the designers are not familiar with the application software. In fact, today's applications such as PhotoShop, Freehand, and Illustrator all have very powerful features. Designers can buy books related to the use of guidebooks. After reading them carefully, they will find that they are open and they will certainly benefit.
Second, chase the pace of technological progress "Science and technology is the first productive force", the development of desktop publishing technology also embodies this principle. The advancement of computer technology can be described with rapid changes. Not only has the development of hardware technology advanced by leaps and bounds, but also the upgrading of software has been very fast. It can be said that it has presented an acceleration trend. For example, Adobe's PhotoShop, the classic software for image processing, has been used for more than a decade from the initial prototype (for the production of stunts in the movie "Star Wars") to PhotoShop 2.0 with preliminary industrial productivity. Time, and it took only three years from relatively mature PhotoShop 3.0 to PhotoShop 5.0 with powerful networking capabilities. The significance of the upgrading of software lies in the perfection of technology and powerful functions. Any one in the industry can clearly understand the difference between Freehand 3.1 and Freehand 8.0 like night and day. However, many people pay attention to the replacement of hardware and not to upgrade the software. They think that the existing Freehand 3.1 is sufficient, and they do not want to spend a week plus a guidebook to learn Freehand 8.0. This is not only inconvenient in the design and production (less function, slow speed), but also brings a huge disaster to the subsequent process (such as "2000point" error, etc.). Therefore, breaking the embarrassment and being brave enough to keep up with the pace of technological advancement is a challenge that many designers face.
Third, from the perspective of engineering technology, colors are generally speaking, most of the designers are graduates of fine arts colleges, art foundations are more solid, so the understanding of color they are more confident. However, "this color" is not "the other color" and it refers to the color of engineering. In the past, the processing of image colors often depended on the masters of the printing plate making process, such as electric masters. Since the popularity of color desktop systems, the processing of images has been more accomplished by designers. After the designer scans the picture with the flatbed scanner, the picture is color-adjusted according to the monitor. Finally, the finished image file is delivered to the printer or the output center. After proofing, many designers often find that the printed proofs are far apart from the colors they see or see on the screen. Sometimes they can’t even believe their eyes, such as the blue sky becomes purple, and the peach becomes red. Cheng Dahong and so on. The reason is nothing more than two: 1 over-reliance on the screen. Each monitor has a certain color cast. Before use, the brightness and contrast of the monitor should be adjusted, and the color correction software should be used to adjust the color shift as much as possible so that the colors of the monitor and the proof of the print are as close as possible. In addition, in theory, the screen color and the process color are not completely consistent. Because the display is made of red (R) green (G) blue (B) trichromatic light by color light addition method, and the print is blue (C) magenta (M) yellow (Y) black (K) four colors The material is rendered by a subtractive method. The RGB color rendering range is larger than the CMYK color rendering range. Therefore, the reason for over-reliance on the screen is not sufficient, designers should have a complete understanding of their own screen; 2 color separation is not handled properly. In the printing engineering technology, electronic color separation is an important content, it has its own laws, only in accordance with these laws can be the best reduction of color. Therefore, for the designer, some high-demanding originals should be handed over to the professional plate-making factory or the output center for color separation, and then they must be designed and produced so as to achieve the best results.
Fourth, to strengthen cooperation with printing engineers The binding design of books and publications is closely related to printing technology. Printing technology is a systematic project. It is completed by many interlocking processes, such as layout design, color separation, word printing, typesetting, proofing and printing, and post-press processing. Each step is related to the final Quality of products. Therefore, the cooperation between designers and printing engineers becomes crucial. From the outset, the printing process should be considered as a whole and it is easy to go wrong. There was once a children's book. The design of the book was novel and unique, and it was beautifully printed. However, because the designer did not consider the folding method in the post-press processing, the result was bleeding from the bleeding of the artwork and eventually became unqualified. product. In addition, some of the printing processes are specially trained, such as the aforementioned electronic color separation, etc. All of these require the cooperation between designers and printing engineers to finally obtain satisfactory products.
5. We pay attention to the quality of the original manuscript. We are often impressed by the quality of foreign publications and some new domestic magazines such as "Fashion" and other publications. Fine pictures and wonderful colors make people feel disappointed. In addition to the level of printing capacity, the most fundamental reason is that their originals are of high quality. When the color desktop system is not yet popular, it may be influenced by commercial propaganda. People feel that the desktop system is so magical and powerful. At the same time, there is a misunderstanding that it is not true that any manuscript that is taken into a computer can be turned into a beautiful picture. Currently used manuscripts generally include color reversal films, color photographs, and prints. There are many people who now want to save money or save time and casually cut pictures from newspapers and magazines as a manuscript. It is very difficult for these originals to be scanned into the computer. Therefore, “it is not a mistake to sharpen a knife by cutting wood”. If you want to produce good works, organizing the manuscript carefully is the basic work that cannot be ignored. Only with good manuscripts, designers have good materials. Like tall buildings, every brick should be the strongest.
There are many factors that affect the design quality of book and book binding design. The engineering technology is a relatively stable factor. Let us do the best in this area. The rest is the designer's own business. (Zhang Haibo)