Magazine ad specs

Magazines take press-ready PDFs built to the PDF/X exchange standards maintained by the Ghent Workgroup.^[1] PDF/X-1a flattens everything to CMYK and is the conservative default any printer accepts; PDF/X-4 permits live transparency and color management for modern workflows.^[2] The title's spec sheet names which one it wants. Send that one, not your favorite.

The checklist prepress actually runs

• Color space. CMYK throughout. RGB images convert on someone else's press profile, and your brand orange becomes soup.
• Ink coverage. Kits state a maximum total ink density; heavy four-color blacks past the limit smear on web presses. Your designer sets this in the export profile.
• Resolution. Effective (placed) image resolution to the kit's stated figure, conventionally 300 ppi at print size. Upsampling a web JPEG does not create detail.
• Bleed and marks. Bleed extended to the kit's measurement on all trimming edges, trim marks offset outside the bleed.
• Fonts. Embedded or outlined. A substituted font is the classic silent failure: no error, wrong ad.
• Rich black vs registration. Body text in 100K single black; never set type in registration (100% of all four inks).

Proofing color

Your screen lies about print. If color accuracy matters (fashion, food, product shots), ask whether the title accepts a contract proof, a calibrated hard proof made to the printing condition, and budget for one. Where no proof is offered, ask which ICC characterization the printer runs and have the designer soft-proof against it. Then accept that a web-press magazine page is not a gallery print.

Dimension vocabulary: ad sizes. Deadline mechanics: Step 05. Creative craft: Step 08.