Final Artwork
What is Final Artwork?
Final artwork is an important part of graphic design.
But what is it exactly? What does it include? And where does it begin?
Let us first take a closer look at the term “Final Artwork”.
It is intended to transform the sketch/rough design into a clean/final “artwork”.
The aim is to produce a finished (publishable) product — as counterpart to the changing work file.
The design should not somehow see the light of day — but in an intended and planned way.
The term “Artwork” is preceded by the term “Final”. So this is about finalisation in the sense of completion and conclusion.
Final does not necessarily mean that Final Artwork is only done at the end. Final Artwork should be an integral part of the design process. It is also a method of quality control during the graphic design process.
The aim of Final Artwork is perfection and uniqueness.
Perfection in the layout, elaboration and execution.
Uniqueness in terms of sharing the final file and all shown and immanent informations that are necessary for the production.
When applying Marshall McLuhan’s saying “The Medium is the Message” to the final artwork, the final artwork must contain exactly (and only) the information necessary to produce the corresponding file.
Ideally, everything is self-explanatory and no questions (for the producer) remain unanswered.
For this purpose immanent information (inside the file) is used: e. g. bleed, folding marks, spot color, embossing.
If these are not sufficient, the producer is provided with additional information (production advices): e. g. material, scale, coherence of several files, location.
And when the Final Artwork has eliminated all errors, everything is coherent and looks good, and no questions remain unanswered, production starts.
Perfection finds its realisation.
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