PostScript Quark Vs. InDesign Workflow Issues

Transparency Preflight Collaboration

Transparency Flattener in InDesign

Check the transparency in your project by using the Transparency Flattener Preview (Window-Output-Flattener Preview) in Adobe InDesign.

By selecting the "Outlined Text" option with the graphic I was working on, I noticed that the lower tagline would get corrupted. When it was printed, this text ended up skewed slightly.

Placing the text on a layer above the circle graphic fixed it.

The next test was for affected graphics. This selection is not as important as outlined text, as flattened graphics do not generate so many errors as text does. In the case below, the "Swayambhunath" eyes caused a white box to overlap the gradient in the disc below.

Again, placing the graphic in its own layer, above the gradient disc, fixed it.

So, to conclude: a best practice in designing for transparency is to keep all objects on their own, separate layer. Keep text at the top. And do not expect to rely on a PDF/X format for printing—make sure the print file is PDF 1.4 (Acrobat 5) or later.