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

[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.