12th Grade — Finalizing & Preparing for Print

⏰ Do Now — Start Here

If even ONE page in the whole book is the wrong size or resolution, what could happen at the print shop?

🎯 Today's Big Question

How do we assemble every approved section into one final book and prepare it correctly for the printer?

📈 By the End of Today, You Will Be Able To

Assemble all approved sections into the book's final page order.
Verify every page meets the printer's technical specifications (resolution, color mode, bleed, page size).
Submit the final file to the printer (or print vendor) before the production deadline.

🧰 What You'll Need

All approved section files
Printer/vendor specification sheet
Computer with PDF assembly tools

📋 Your Plan for Today

Day 1: Assemble

Do Now (5 min): if even one page is the wrong size, what could happen at the print shop? Assemble (35 min): combine every approved section into the final page order, resolving any last overlaps or gaps.
Check-in (5 min).

Day 2: Technical Check

Do Now (5 min).
Technical check (35 min): verify every single page against the printer's specification sheet (resolution, color mode, bleed, size).
Log issues found (5 min).

Day 3: Submit

Do Now (5 min).
Fix any remaining issues (15 min).
Export/package the final file (15 min).
Submit to the print vendor (10 min): confirm receipt before the deadline.

🖥️ Today's Slide Deck

Short, on-the-board pacing slides — project these to follow along. (The full details are in the handout above, not here.)

📚 Key Words

Page Order / Pagination: The final, confirmed sequence of every page in the finished book.
Printer Specifications: The exact technical requirements (size, resolution, color mode, bleed) a print vendor requires.
Submission Deadline: The final date a file must be sent to the printer to guarantee delivery on time.

✅ What Your Finished Work Should Include

Final file checked page-by-page against the printer specification sheet before submission; submission confirmation recorded.

Exit Ticket: What was the single most important technical requirement we had to get right before submitting to print?

📊 Before You Leave

Quick, anonymous class check-in -- takes less than a minute.

Class Check-In

📁 Portfolio Update — Once a Week

Once a week, add your best finished or in-progress yearbook (or, later, studio) work to your portfolio with a 1-2 sentence caption -- and once you're in the Design Studio phase, a photo of the piece in its real, installed location if possible. This is the same evidence trail you'll use for Archive & Portfolio and any PBAT/portfolio review.

✍️ Example description for your Google Sites portfolio (fill in YOUR blanks -- don't just copy this):

For this piece, I made ______________ (name what you made) for “Finalizing & Preparing for Print.” This project asked: “How do we assemble every approved section into one final book and prepare it correctly for the printer?” I used Page Order / Pagination by ______________ (explain how you used it in THIS piece). The hardest part was ______________, and I solved it by ______________. I'm proud of ______________ because ______________.

🔗 Want to Learn More?

No extra links for this lesson.

🚀 The Extra Mile

Cross-Class Connection: The same "prepare for the real machine" precision a Shop/Tech class teaches before running a physical tool.

Career Connection: Print-prep mistakes are one of the most expensive real errors in Web Design-to-print and publishing work.

Go further -- turn this into a portfolio piece:

Build a "print-ready checklist" (bleed, resolution, color mode) as real reference material any future student could follow. Start here: open one of your actual yearbook files right now and check its resolution and bleed setting — whatever you find, correct or wrong, becomes the checklist's first item.
Research what a real print shop needs from a client and compare it to your own prepared files, noting any gaps. Start here: look up one real local print shop's file-submission requirements page before writing any comparison.