Check the Proof Yourself
Handing over a PDF and hoping is not a handover. Half a job ends at the file.
Every project we finish includes speaking to the client’s printer and checking the first proof. Clients are consistently surprised that this is included, which says something about the norm.
Files Do Not Explain Themselves
A printer receiving artwork with no conversation makes reasonable assumptions that are sometimes wrong. Which black is rich and which is flat. Whether that overprint is intentional. Whether the spot is meant to convert. Five minutes on the phone prevents all of it.
What to Look at on a Proof
Registration first, then the colours you specified against your reference, then anything that overprints or knocks out. Then read the text. Proofs are where you discover the version supplied was not the final one, and it happens more often than anyone admits.
Digital Proofs Lie About Colour
A digital proof shows position, content and imposition accurately. It does not reliably show spot colour. If colour matters, ask for a wet proof or at minimum a drawdown of the actual ink, and put the cost of that in the original quote.
The Reason It Is Included
Because the alternative is a client discovering the problem when twenty thousand units arrive, and at that point the question of whose fault it was is far less interesting than the fact that the work is wrong.
