The Non-Designer's Scan and Print Book

By Sandee Cohen and Robin Williams

Peachpit Press, © 1999

19.99

(USA)

264 pages

Review by Gary Coyne

The holiday season is over and on many table tops sitting right next to shiny new computers are a brand new scanner and color ink jet printer. "Oh boy, next year we are going to make our own Christmas card" the ideas are bursting forth, "We're going to scan in a photo of our family, and print it out on our color printer. Then we're going to take the final copy and get it professionally printed. We're set!!"

This is a simple and common plan for many families, and as the time grows near for the final copy to get in the mail, the neat scanner isn't working as well as one thinks a new scanner should. Is the problem the new scanner or the poor documentation that typically comes with the scanner and bundled software? The real problem here is that this wonderful tool, the computer, can do just about anything; however, getting professional-looking results the first time only happens on TV commercials.

"Non-Designer's Scan and Print Book" is designed to explain to beginner and intermediate computer users all the essentials on how to get the final product to look and print just the way they want. Knowing 'what you want and how you want it,' is why the authors call the first section "Start at the End." The first Chapter, "Know Where You're Going," is fundamentally the key to desktop printing. With so many ways to publish and so many venues available, the manner in which one uses a scanner is unknown till one knows how, and in what manner, the final output will be used. The two other chapters in this section are "The Basics of Desktop Printing," and "The Basics of Commercial Printing."

The book's following sections include "What is the Computer Doing?" with information on computer applications, color modes, raster images, resolutions, vector images, and file formats. "The World of Color" has information on process color printing, spot colors and duotones, and how to specify the number of colors. "Getting Stuff into the Computer"provides information on scanners and scanning, digital cameras, stock photos and clip art, and all about fonts. "Getting your Work Printed" gives information on high-resolution output and output specifications, trapping, proofing your job, and getting yourself ready to go to a service bureau. Just to make sure you were paying attention, the final part of this section is a series of quizzes and projects. These are designed to help the reader understand what can be done on the desktop and what requires professional printing.

As one would expect, the book ends with a section called "Just the Beginning" with extra books, magazines, and newsletters to read, and other resources such as the web.

Obviously such a broad spectrum of material means that there will be limited depth. Whole books have been written on how to use a scanner, and this book only has some 15 pages focused specifically on the scanner (scanner related information is sprinkled throughout the book). The topics covered are limited to the practical needs and problems that beginners and intermediate users are likely to encounter. The explanation on why one can get (and prevent) moiré patterns is probably the best this writer has seen.

As mentioned, there are whole books on scanning, and likewise there are whole books on color management, fonts (Williams has written a few), and all the other subjects covered in this book. The "Non-Designer's Scan and Print Book" is intended to give the beginner and intermediate user the basic knowledge for printing a wide range of materials from the Christmas card to a company's shareholder meeting---both in a professional manner. The authors accomplish this task in one superb book.

.

July 25, 2008