TRAIL ZONE

TRAIL BOSS BLOG:

THE JOYS OF PRE-PRESS

In the production of each new issue of TRAIL ZONE, the final stages are called pre-press, which is where all the words, photos and page design files are merged together and converted into high-resolutions pixelations that are called PDFs, which then go to the printer for the long (and expensive!) run down the print press.

The boys who do the pre-press for TRAIL ZONE are at AP Digital at Brookvale, right here on the northern beaches of Sydney.

Dean, Paul and Andy at AP Digital have been doing the pre-press for the mag ever since we kicked off TRAIL ZONE six years ago, so they've got it all down to a fine art and the mag now rocks through their bureau like a well-oiled machine.

And thanks to the marvels of modern technology, what we look at on our computer screens is what we end up looking at in the finished printed magazine a week or so later ... mostly!

But every now and then, a slip-up does get through the system. But it's generally only because I've missed the mistake at the final proofing stage.

Take page 76 of the last issue of TRAIL ZONE (#34) and the advert for the Suzuki Classic Dirt 8 event at Conondale in June. Look realy closely in the middle of the page and you will see the name/date/venue details for the event were printed with just a fine black keyline around the lettering ... Doh!

That text was supposed to be solid white and a whole lot easier to read -- but I never spotted the blunder on the proofs last issue. Double-doh!

So with the advert to be repeated in TRAIL ZONE issue #35 that we've just finished, you bet I was checking the proofs much more closely this issue -- and as you can see in the photo, the proof sure has white text this time around!

Here's hoping that's how it comes off the press this time? We'll know next week when the new issue is printed, bound and in our hands ... stay tuned!

-- Clubby, www.trailzone.com.au