Month: November 2019

By Gary D’Atrio

If you are a graphic designer creating a document that will be printed by a commercial offset or digital print provider like Newark Trade, it is recommended that you provide a “print ready” PDF. This will ensure that there are no problems with fonts, linked images or special characters as long as the PDF is made properly. Here are the steps needed to create a “print ready” PDF from the most widely used page layout app, Adobe InDesign, using PDF presets.

Don’t forget the bleed and crop marks!
This is the most important, and most overlooked, step that should be addressed at the start of the project. Anything on the page that goes up to the trim edge should be set up with a .125” bleed. For more on bleeds, see my previous blog: https://www.newarktrade.com/blog/2018/02/21/by-gary-datrio/

PDF Presets
Adobe InDesign comes with several PDF presets that will cover most of the print and web scenarios you will encounter. The PDF/X-1a:2001 setting is good for 4-color offset printing since it converts the file to CMYK using the US – Web Coated (SWOP) color profile. The High Quality Print setting is good for digital printing that is toner or inkjet based. But both of those presets lack what I mentioned about above: Don’t forget the bleed and crop marks!

Create New Presets
To save you time in the future, I would recommend creating two new presets based on the previous two mentioned. While exporting a PDF, choose the High Quality Print in the PDF Presets. In the left column choose Marks and Bleeds. Click on the Crop Marks, Page Information, and the Use Document Bleed Settings options. In the lower left, click on the Save Preset… button and name it High Quality Crops. Do the same steps starting with the PDF/X-1a preset.

Now you are prepared to send your “print ready” PDF to either an offset or digital printer confident that it will be trouble-free and accurate.

By Bobby DePasquale

After spending more than 30 years in the software development field, successfully fulfilling various job roles across multiple industries, I now find myself at a creative digital marketing agency focusing on print, visual marketing solutions and the pharmaceutical industry. Although my job “world” may have changed, I am finding that the concepts and practices used in software development can also be applied here at Newark Trade.

For instance, instead of software coding standards (a set of guidelines, programming styles and conventions that developers adhere to when writing source code for a project) and best current practices (work procedures which are considered to be the most effective for performing a specific task or process), I now focus on pharmaceutical standards and FDA guidelines when proofreading pharmaceutical label pieces (e.g., full prescribing information (PI) sheets, medication guides, patient instructions), that are designed here at Newark Trade. Although the standards and guidelines differ between what I used in my previous career and what I now use, conceptually they are similar.

Software development is driven by a product requirements document – an outlined set of statements that, collectively, define what the product should do, and how it is expected to function under certain conditions and variables. Developers write software code to match the requirements. Testers formulate test cases that can be traced back to specific requirements. This traceability ensures that all requirements have been met; i.e., “Did we build the product right?” Work is managed according to a particular software development process methodology, such as Waterfall or Agile. At Newark Trade, we follow an Agile-like methodology for larger scale custom design projects – most notably for a recent web page redesign project – where we develop requirements, design according to those requirements, write/execute test cases, and perform requirements traceability. For our pharmaceutical work, we employ client style sheets when designing/proofreading drug label pieces. These client style sheets are similar in concept to requirements documents in that they provide guidance as to how the completed pharmaceutical deliverable is expected to look.

Software testing and quality assurance in the software development realm are synonymous with proofreading and quality control in the Newark Trade realm. Each are associated with the back end of the process. Each represents the last line of defense before the designed product is placed into the hands of the customer/client. Software testers execute test cases as many times as necessary until management is confident that the test results consistently reflect expected outcomes. At Newark Trade, pharmaceutical pieces are triple-proofread to ensure confidence that our designed copy matches the FDA-approved source. Also, each printed product undergoes thorough quality control measures before being delivered to the client.

So, here is what I have learned from this career change: though I may have left the confines of the software development world, at Newark Trade I have found that I am really not far from “home.”

By Lillian Mondaro

When the concept of pets within a professional environment is mentioned, we often think of feel good stories about colleges and universities offering stressed students time with therapy animals. Pets, however, are becoming more commonplace within offices and other businesses, integrating themselves into company culture.

Having pets in the workplace can be a boon and a challenge. There are many different aspects to consider before incorporating a furry friend into your work team. Here are just a few (in no particular order):

• People with allergies
• How well-behaved the pet in question is
• Who will be responsible for the pet’s health and well-being while in the office and after hours

Some benefits to having a pet in the office are:

• Stress relief/morale boost
• Healthier employees

If you’re office is considering the addition of a pet to your workplace, consider the pros and cons carefully while following all relevant company policies.

For more information about the challenges and benefits of having a pet in your workplace, check out Bridget Miller’s article on HR Daily Advisor entitled “Pros and Cons of Allowing Pets at Work”: https://tinyurl.com/yyd2c3t9

Do you have a pet in your workplace? Share your photos below and tell us all about them and how they are included in the day-to-day operations of your office.