Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?*

[ar_wahan]

* (as kendokamel would say)

Last May, I wrote a brochure about the UU meetinghouse's stained glass windows. I had 50 color photocopies run off at a print shop as a draft version, with the intention of doing a glossy four-color offset print run at some future date. I was thrilled to have found some Arts & Crafts-era fonts on line to use in the brochure, and bought the CD.

EDIT:

http://ar-wahan.livejournal.com/186671.html

So this week, in the midst of everything else, I needed to update the copy a little. We're having another of the public lecture series on Sunday, and I want brochures available, with a inserted slip asking for donations to help us restore the windows. I went to the print shop and pulled out my CD with the Quark document and photos on it. And I was told, by the same person I've dealt with before (who is very nice and knowledgeable, so this is not a complaint), that they couldn't print a proof of the brochure for me to sign off on because it used fonts they don't have, and their computer was substituting Arial for them. She told me I need to come back with the font CD, which they'll install, and then uninstall there after the job is done to make it all copyright-law-happy.

This left me scratching my head. Did I actually go to a different print shop in May? There are several in town. I use this one for my own town's newsletter and for the UU Emily Dickinson brochure, but maybe I went somewhere else? My memory can be leaky at times.

I just looked through my records, and I did run off the 50 copies there! With no problems about not having the fonts.

What's changed? (This is just a rhetorical question, unless a geek out there actually knows the answer.)

Anyway, it means I have to go back there tomorrow or Friday. Good thing I didn't try to get the thing printed at the last minute.

Comments

[skyearthandsea.livejournal.com]

Maybe they've upgraded their pooters? I'll bet it's Vista! I blame everything on Vista! :P

[gngr.livejournal.com]

Perhaps they've updated/switched out the entire computer system, are using new software, and so on. It's entirely possible for a design firm to switch out the fonts they use, over time. Not your fault, not theirs, you simply needed to update your copy with a font that looks similar to what you had chosen before. I'm glad that aside from the font, the rest of the file was not corrupted. :) They may even be able to dredge up the font from somewhere, even download it from somewhere online. lol

[ar-wahan.livejournal.com]

I am not switching the fonts -- I paid for them! I'll take in the CD.

[ar-wahan.livejournal.com]

I added a link to the fonts, FYI.

[ar-wahan.livejournal.com]

No, the file was never in danger of being corrupted. I was bringing them a brand-new version on a new CD, not asking them to update one in their system. They could open it fine, but couldn't print the fonts. I think it may be their computers. I doubt they ever had the Arts & Crafts fonts in their system.

I was also told that if I'd brought in the document as a .pdf file, they could print it. What's weird is that I've brought in Quark docs in the past -- in fact, just a week or so ago -- and *they've* converted them to .pdfs for me (I can't do it myself, as I don't have the software and don't want to pay the megabucks to buy it). Not sure why they couldn't do the same thing with this brochure.

Whatever. I'll go back in, loan them the fonts, end of story...

But .... your comment sounds as if you know quite a bit about this design business. Have you tried looking for employment in that area?

[gngr.livejournal.com]

I just know quite a bit about computers. See, your Quark file references a font that they used to host. The font is not part of your CD. ;)

[gngr.livejournal.com]

Just so you know, a PDF is just an image, it would be different than a Quark document, which is more like an HTML document in which you can incorporate words and images. Just like an HTML document, the font used is one stored on YOUR computer, not the website it's hosted on. I don't know if I just made that clearer or muddier. ;D

And I could probably make it at a design shop. I speak da lingo, anyway. I'll have to check that out.

I drove by a Yahoo! building yesterday. wtf?!

[pegasi1978.livejournal.com]

What's weird is that I've brought in Quark docs in the past -- in fact, just a week or so ago -- and *they've* converted them to .pdfs for me (I can't do it myself, as I don't have the software and don't want to pay the megabucks to buy it).

It's been a while since I was at the newspaper and using Quark (Macintosh version) but I *think* I remember there being a way to save a Quark file as a PDF built in to it. Gah, I wish I could remember better. We had to do it from time to time to submit things for the paper's Web site.

[ar-wahan.livejournal.com]

That's what they told me at the print shop, too. But I've looked through my manual and the help section, and can't find anything about it. My version is 4.0, however, so it just may be old enough that it never had that feature.

I only use Quark four-five times a year, and only for volunteer work, so I don't really want to upgrade. (It's expensive!)

[teal-cuttlefish.livejournal.com]

I know in Word you can save a document with embedded fonts if you are using a special font. I haven't used Quark, and you probably haven't time to find the option right now, but that may also be an option in the future.

Or next time just put a copy of the font on the same CD, and instruct the shop to use the font then discard it due to copyright. That is probably more straightforward.