Part of our regular design work for AgustaWestland includes the design, layout, artworking and prepress production of their multilingual in-house magazine RotaryWing.

Whilst adhering to a strict set of corporate style guidelines and fitting both Italian and English copy into the page layouts we also take a great deal of pride in delivering perfect print ready hi-resolution PDFs to the printer. RotaryWing provides a good example of how we manage a job from concept through to print.

We work from a flatplan generated by the client and the project manager. Our job folders are automatically generated with all the sub-folders and reference files required. This is important as we need to keep track of copy that has been cleared, copy that has been sent to the translation house and copy that has returned as an Italian translation.

As the publication takes shape we also need to keep track of the multiple proofs being sent for approval to stakeholders in the UK and Italy and keep track of who has signed-off on what. Colour coding of files and using a hierarchy of nested folders keeps everything in order. We also make use of a job bag system which records time spent on the job and allows the designer/artworker/project manager to add notes/instructions about job particulars.

Our artworking team will strip in the Italian translations, keeping a careful eye on accents and rogue characters that may not replicate perfectly in the brand typeface. Experience really counts here. Italian typically runs 20% longer than English, so getting two sets of identical content to match up in the layout requires some finessing.

The grids for AgustaWestland can be complex and part of the artworking duties is to check that text is locking to baseline grids and has the correct style sheets applied.

The artworker will enhance images, create styled tables, charts and graphics and work with editorial to cut overmatter, amend headlines or relay pages as required (referring to the senior designer or art director as necessary).

They also check all pictures supplied are suitable for print (ensuring they are 300dpi, CMYK, apply unsharp mask as required, check ink densities, colour and contrast). They flag potential problems as early as possible to allow time for replacement images to be sourced if needed.

Finally, they flightcheck the final Indesign document for missing files/font problems etc and then generate hi-resolution PDFs using the correct PDF specs provided by the printer. The final high resolution PDF is uploaded to the printers FTP site. We then liaise with the printer as required.

The system works, and it works well. We are in our third year of producing the magazine and despite having to print in two languages and distribute to three countries no edition of RotaryWing has ever run late or missed a print deadline. No section or edition of RotaryWing has ever had to be reprinted. And the publication has doubled in pagination in the past year. That's a record we can be proud of.

Examples of our work for AgustaWestland can be viewed here