Every misprinted job traces back to a sentence somebody didn't write. The work order is the shop's real programming language, and the good ones share an anatomy — whether the thing reading them is a twenty-year veteran, a first-week hire, or software.
The six facts
- The item — booklet, postcard, business card, menu, table tent. One word sets every downstream default.
- Finished size — what the customer holds, after cutting and folding. If the file is built at a different size, say which one wins.
- Pages and sides — "44 pages," "double sided," "front only." Half of duplex mistakes are this fact missing.
- Layout intent — gang it, 2-up, saddle-stitch it, one of each. The verb that turns a file into a plate.
- Quantity — because 500 cards at 24-up is a 21-sheet instruction, and the run math should be on the ticket.
- Outputs — what comes back: fixed file, plate, booklet, all three.
Real examples that run
"500 business cards, 3.5×2, gang on 12×18." — complete. "44-page saddle-stitch booklet, finished 5.5×8.5, plate 2-up on 12×18, 0.25 gutter, send booklet and plate." — complete, with house specifics. "Restaurant menus, finished 5×7." — complete enough: item, size, and the file supply the rest.
What to leave out
Anything the reader can see: page count of the supplied file, its built size, whether it has bleed. State intent, not inventory. And skip apologetic hedges ("might need bleed? not sure") — name the outcome you want and let the reader flag what deserves a human decision.