Two-Colour School Prospectus with Phone Photos
A school wants an 8-page A4 prospectus, 1,000 copies, printed in two colours: black plus Pantone 186 red. The coordinator chose two-colour printing to cut costs but wants the photographs 'as colourful as possible'. The supplied material includes 18 phone photographs (RGB, 1200 × 900 px), a handwritten principal's message scanned at low quality, and a logo containing a red gradient. The prospectus must include a fee table, admission dates, a faculty list, and photographs of laboratories and sports. The printer requires a press-ready PDF with 3 mm bleed. Several photographs are intended to run full page, and the fee table has six columns. The admission season starts in three weeks, so there is no time or budget for a new photo shoot.
1. The coordinator wants colourful photographs in a two-colour job. Explain what is possible and plan a practical colour strategy.
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A two-colour job can print only black and Pantone 186 red. It cannot reproduce full-colour photographs. I would explain this before designing anything, because the expectation has to be corrected early. What is possible is a strong black-and-white or duotone treatment: convert photos to grayscale and add the red as a duotone or as flat accent shapes. Duotone images can look intentional and lively, and red can be used for headings, rules, page numbers and key figures.
The strategy should be disciplined: one dominant image per spread, high-contrast black-and-white photography, and red used sparingly so it remains an accent. If every page is covered in red, the prospectus will look cheap and the photographs will fight the type. I would avoid putting red behind small black text, because the contrast may be poor and registration errors will show. If the school truly needs full-colour photographs, the only honest answer is to change the print specification and budget, not to ask the printer to 'make it colourful' within two colours.
2. Evaluate the supplied images and logo for an 8-page A4 prospectus. What will you use, replace or resize?
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The phone photographs are 1200 × 900 px. At 300 dpi that is about 101 × 76 mm, so they are usable at roughly a quarter-page size, not full page. A full A4 page at 300 dpi needs about 2480 × 3508 px. I would not upscale beyond about 120%; instead I would use the phone photos smaller, crop them tightly, or replace the most important full-page images with higher-resolution files. For a prospectus, one sharp image is better than a soft full-page one.
The handwritten principal's message needs rescanning at 600 dpi as line art or 300 dpi grayscale, with the background cleaned, or it should be reset in a clean typeface. The logo with the red gradient cannot reproduce in two colours; I would create a solid Pantone 186 version and a black version. The logo also needs a clear-space rule and a minimum size. I would check every image for permission, especially photographs showing identifiable students.
3. Specify the prepress and layout checks for the fee table and final PDF.
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The fee table has six columns, so clarity matters more than decoration. I would use a simple grid, repeat the header row, right-align the fee figures and align decimals, and keep row rules light. Alternating a 10% red tint can help reading, but only if the black text remains strong. The minimum type size should be comfortable for parents, not squeezed to fit. I would check that the table does not break awkwardly across pages and that the admission dates are repeated where needed.
For the final PDF, I would check 3 mm bleed on every page, crop marks outside the trim, and a safe margin for text. Black text should be 100% K, and Pantone 186 should be a separate spot plate, not converted to CMYK. Images should be effective 300 dpi at their placed size, fonts embedded, and the PDF exported as PDF/X-1a or another printer-approved standard. I would check the logo's solid red version, the page order, and the total page count. Finally, I would ask for a contract proof or a digital proof on the actual paper, because the red and the black tints will look different from the screen.