gbjack

Title: When the rocks hide us III (series)
Media: Digital (Affinity Designer 2)
Sharing a painting series I've done in my spare time.

Title: When the rocks hide us III (series)
Media: Digital (Affinity Designer 2)
Sharing a painting series I've done in my spare time.

Title: When the rocks hide us II (series)
Media: Digital (Affinity Designer 1)

Title: When the rocks hide us III (series)
Media: Digital (Affinity Designer 2)
Sharing a painting series I've done in my spare time.

Title: When the rocks hide us II (series)
Media: Digital (Affinity Designer 1)

Title: When the rocks hide us III (series)
Media: Digital (Affinity Designer 2)
Sharing a painting series I've done in my spare time.

Title: When the rocks hide us II (series)
Media: Digital (Affinity Designer 1)

Title: When the rocks hide us III (series)
Media: Digital (Affinity Designer 2)
Sharing a painting series I've done in my spare time.

Title: When the rocks hide us II (series)
Media: Digital (Affinity Designer 1)

Title: When The Rocks Hide Us #001
Media: Digital - Infinity Designer
Dimension: 3000px x 3000px

+1 for the ability to place PDF file with embeded fonts. 

Then it is critical to make sure the colours you have chosen in RGB is within CMYK range and work in their given profile.
Also some digital printers do have a full range of colour charts. If you are regular or high volume client, they may give you a copy. This way you can get the exact colours your need. I suggest you to get such a colour book from them, and don't have to depend on the colours on your screen. We can do a test print on a smaller  output with the same printer so that we can then adjust the colours in the final actual size print.
Lastly I want to add that we need to have a good monitor too to get better colour display. Ideally 100% sRGB and 80% RGB. I am using a ThinkPad with poor sRGB at home and iMac at work. So I tend to "distrust" the display on the ThinkPad, rather replying on the colour percentages I choose.
I guess the longer you work with it, you will generally know what the output will be. E.g, if you add 100M 100Y you have a general idea how red it will be or 10m 100y, you will have an idea how the outcome will be.

My workflow with Adobe - use RGB PSD but CMYK to set colour attributes (e.g., set brand logo colour at M100, Y100 instead of using RGB. Doing this will not result in colour shift later), use CMYK illustrator files, Stock images in default JPEG, any PNG or JPEG (pixel size had to be big though because adobe distiller will convert the DPI to 300dpi)
PDF/ X is used for offset printing. I use it for all my print jobs, brochures, annual reports, flyers, event booth graphics including newspaper print (Newspaper only accept PDF through electronic transfer for a long time already). All printers will require you to use this format, but some designers still don't use it due to some reasons of their own.
If printer require special PDF settings, you can just set it or they will email you the settings for import. To be true, I don't remember I doing this at all since switching to PDF workflow more than 20 years ago.
There are a few types of PDF exchange format, I tried to keep to PDF/X-4 as much as possible because it is more flexible, unless your printer uses an old RIP that don't support this newer PDF format:
PDF/X-1a:2003, blind exchange in CMYK + spot colors, based on PDF 1.4 PDF/X-3:2003, allows CMYK, spot, calibrated (managed) RGB, CIELAB, with ICC Profile, based on PDF 1.4 PDF/X-4, Colour-managed, CMYK, gray, RGB or spot colour data are supported, as are PDF transparency and optional content For newspaper print, we will need to adjust the total ink coverage to 200% or as specify by your newspaper printer.
For web graphics, save your profile as sRGB will do. The old ways of converting images to CMYK and using TIFF format are long gone, there is no need to keep the old unproductive workflow.
Things to check in PDF
Check printer's marks Check overprint if you need in some instances Preflight PDF/X format in acrobat Check printing plates Check embedded fonts Check ink percentage Check total ink coverage, e.g., if you are printing on thin stock, don't use high percentage on all CMYK. The ink will soaked the paper and affect printing quality and drying time Hope this clarify everything.

Then it is critical to make sure the colours you have chosen in RGB is within CMYK range and work in their given profile.
Also some digital printers do have a full range of colour charts. If you are regular or high volume client, they may give you a copy. This way you can get the exact colours your need. I suggest you to get such a colour book from them, and don't have to depend on the colours on your screen. We can do a test print on a smaller  output with the same printer so that we can then adjust the colours in the final actual size print.
Lastly I want to add that we need to have a good monitor too to get better colour display. Ideally 100% sRGB and 80% RGB. I am using a ThinkPad with poor sRGB at home and iMac at work. So I tend to "distrust" the display on the ThinkPad, rather replying on the colour percentages I choose.
I guess the longer you work with it, you will generally know what the output will be. E.g, if you add 100M 100Y you have a general idea how red it will be or 10m 100y, you will have an idea how the outcome will be.

My workflow with Adobe - use RGB PSD but CMYK to set colour attributes (e.g., set brand logo colour at M100, Y100 instead of using RGB. Doing this will not result in colour shift later), use CMYK illustrator files, Stock images in default JPEG, any PNG or JPEG (pixel size had to be big though because adobe distiller will convert the DPI to 300dpi)
PDF/ X is used for offset printing. I use it for all my print jobs, brochures, annual reports, flyers, event booth graphics including newspaper print (Newspaper only accept PDF through electronic transfer for a long time already). All printers will require you to use this format, but some designers still don't use it due to some reasons of their own.
If printer require special PDF settings, you can just set it or they will email you the settings for import. To be true, I don't remember I doing this at all since switching to PDF workflow more than 20 years ago.
There are a few types of PDF exchange format, I tried to keep to PDF/X-4 as much as possible because it is more flexible, unless your printer uses an old RIP that don't support this newer PDF format:
PDF/X-1a:2003, blind exchange in CMYK + spot colors, based on PDF 1.4 PDF/X-3:2003, allows CMYK, spot, calibrated (managed) RGB, CIELAB, with ICC Profile, based on PDF 1.4 PDF/X-4, Colour-managed, CMYK, gray, RGB or spot colour data are supported, as are PDF transparency and optional content For newspaper print, we will need to adjust the total ink coverage to 200% or as specify by your newspaper printer.
For web graphics, save your profile as sRGB will do. The old ways of converting images to CMYK and using TIFF format are long gone, there is no need to keep the old unproductive workflow.
Things to check in PDF
Check printer's marks Check overprint if you need in some instances Preflight PDF/X format in acrobat Check printing plates Check embedded fonts Check ink percentage Check total ink coverage, e.g., if you are printing on thin stock, don't use high percentage on all CMYK. The ink will soaked the paper and affect printing quality and drying time Hope this clarify everything.

Work in RGB and export to PDF exchange format (PDF/X) for print. That's my workflow, and no problems at all. I don't do any manual conversion for many years now.

Work in RGB and export to PDF exchange format (PDF/X) for print. That's my workflow, and no problems at all. I don't do any manual conversion for many years now.

Don't worry appuser99, now there is affinity to the rescue!
My customer journey with affinity begins constantly looking for workarounds on Adobe Illustrator due to its bugs in the latest and newest version. I went through Adobe's forum only to be told 1 message, "upgrade to the latest version!" without any solution.
One day, I can across some forum talking about affinity designer and photo. I checked it out, looked at their features, checked out some reviews and purchased the software in conjunction with Black Friday offer. This proved to be a good decision for small-time freelancer like me. I picked up the software immediately and there is little need for re-training, while the money saved on subscribing to Adobe software can be used on better hardware.

Don't worry appuser99, now there is affinity to the rescue!
My customer journey with affinity begins constantly looking for workarounds on Adobe Illustrator due to its bugs in the latest and newest version. I went through Adobe's forum only to be told 1 message, "upgrade to the latest version!" without any solution.
One day, I can across some forum talking about affinity designer and photo. I checked it out, looked at their features, checked out some reviews and purchased the software in conjunction with Black Friday offer. This proved to be a good decision for small-time freelancer like me. I picked up the software immediately and there is little need for re-training, while the money saved on subscribing to Adobe software can be used on better hardware.

Answer 1 : AUD55 for 1 piece or bundle 3 at AUD150 per year should be good and competitive.
Answer 2: Have an option to sell the bundle like for - graphics, web, video/ animation/ gaming or individually, instead of forcing us to have everything.
 
 
 
 

I have used Adobe tools 5 to 6 days a week daily for the past 26 years, with the exception when Freehand is still in business, and when later InDesign came along. What good is a software if it needs user to do many workarounds and switched off many resources? Maybe you are working with small files. We worked with huge pre-press files, large event panel files, and the latest Illustrator is just not production ready.
Bounding box disappeared by itself (mac) Changing text box A attributes will affect text box B. Text box A have no effect, need to quit (mac) Select an object and the properties panel do not reflect the selection (mac) The program reset preference as and when it likes (mac) AI ext is associated to XD and cannot be changed (Win) measurements are not accurate (e.g., enter 210 mm, the properties may become 209.99 mm - long term) White became yellow on screen kerning set will revert to 0 after deselect Out of memory (mac) Most these may be non-existent if you are working with tiny file sizes, I do not know! Support will only tell you we have a new update 23.0.1, please update and thread is closed.
Sorry for whining, out of topic.

I have used Adobe tools 5 to 6 days a week daily for the past 26 years, with the exception when Freehand is still in business, and when later InDesign came along. What good is a software if it needs user to do many workarounds and switched off many resources? Maybe you are working with small files. We worked with huge pre-press files, large event panel files, and the latest Illustrator is just not production ready.
Bounding box disappeared by itself (mac) Changing text box A attributes will affect text box B. Text box A have no effect, need to quit (mac) Select an object and the properties panel do not reflect the selection (mac) The program reset preference as and when it likes (mac) AI ext is associated to XD and cannot be changed (Win) measurements are not accurate (e.g., enter 210 mm, the properties may become 209.99 mm - long term) White became yellow on screen kerning set will revert to 0 after deselect Out of memory (mac) Most these may be non-existent if you are working with tiny file sizes, I do not know! Support will only tell you we have a new update 23.0.1, please update and thread is closed.
Sorry for whining, out of topic.

I have used Adobe tools 5 to 6 days a week daily for the past 26 years, with the exception when Freehand is still in business, and when later InDesign came along. What good is a software if it needs user to do many workarounds and switched off many resources? Maybe you are working with small files. We worked with huge pre-press files, large event panel files, and the latest Illustrator is just not production ready.
Bounding box disappeared by itself (mac) Changing text box A attributes will affect text box B. Text box A have no effect, need to quit (mac) Select an object and the properties panel do not reflect the selection (mac) The program reset preference as and when it likes (mac) AI ext is associated to XD and cannot be changed (Win) measurements are not accurate (e.g., enter 210 mm, the properties may become 209.99 mm - long term) White became yellow on screen kerning set will revert to 0 after deselect Out of memory (mac) Most these may be non-existent if you are working with tiny file sizes, I do not know! Support will only tell you we have a new update 23.0.1, please update and thread is closed.
Sorry for whining, out of topic.

If you have buggy products, and bad company management, no subscription based or perpetual license is going to save you. Instead of paying all the money to cloud based companies and network infrastructure, the easiest way would be to set a shelf life to the software, like 3 years. If everyone is doing something, this does not mean it is the only way to go.
Like I said, if you had a mind blowing and essential feature in major upgrade, users will want to upgrade. The last few versions of Abode CC just introduced more bugs!