It's OK to design things yourself or have an outside agency create your copy. To make sure that you get the best possible results, please follow this list of guidelines so your print job is able to be processed as smoothly as possible. It is also important to remember that whatever you submit is exactly what will be produced. Please double check all your copy for complete accuracy.
~ Acceptable Programs ~
We will accept, at no extra charge, native files created in QuarkXpress, Illustrator, Pagemaker, In-design, Photoshop, Postcript, Acrobat, or PDF. Any incomplete files or file manipulation will be billed accordingly. We DO NOT accept artwork created in Corel Draw, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Publisher, Ventura Publisher and other word processing or non-professional programs. We'd be glad to work with you to create professional files that match your ideas. There are fees associated with this service.
~ Media ~
We can accept files in the following formats: Thumbdrive, Jaz, Zip, 3.5" Floppy Disk, or CD-Rom disk. Please include a printout of all the files on the disk. Create three folders: fonts, documents and images. You should also include a text file with any special instructions on how to print your job. Note: Keep a backup copy of all files that you send us. You may email artwork as well. For large files, we recommend using our Dropbox account. Call for info.
~ Electronic Files ~
Submit your files in one of these formats: QuarkXpress (mac/win), Adobe PageMaker (mac/win), In-Design (mac/win), Adobe Illustrator (mac), Adobe Photoshop (mac/win). Other programs are usually NOT compatible with professional printing techniques.
~ Image Formats ~
All images must be either EPS or TIFF. You should save all images at high-resolution (at least 300dpi). Web graphics are extremely low resolution (72dpi) and are NOT acceptable for print. Do not rename a graphic after it has been placed in a layout. Also, you must convert all RGB color images to CMYK (for full color jobs) or spot color.
~ Scanning ~
All line art (b/w) images must be scanned at 600dpi or above. For best results, full color and gray scale images should be scanned at 300dpi or above. Scanners often capture color images in RGB format. These scanned images MUST be converted to CMYK or spot color before we can accept them for printing. Always scan images at the size you will use in your page layout.
~ Fonts ~
You must use Postscript fonts. True Type fonts are not acceptable. Make sure you include both the screen and printer fonts for every font you use. Do NOT use the bold and italic attributes inside your program. You must use separate fonts for these to print accurately.
~ Colors ~
We print 4 process (CMYK) colors or spot (PANTONE) colors. Do not use the default red, green or blue colors available on your color palette as these do not accurately convert.
~ Bleeds ~
Set your document size to the exact size of your finished piece. If your design includes images or color fills that extend to the edge of your final printed page - you must create bleeds. Make sure your images or color fills extend 1/8" past the page edge.
~ Trapping ~
We perform basic color trapping as part of our normal pre-press operations and would prefer to do traps in-house. If you plan on supplying your own traps, call us first to make sure we can support your trapping method.
~ Proofs ~
Make sure you have supplied us with both a composite and seperate printouts for each color plate (CMYK). In addition, you need to supply a seperate printout for each PANTONE color you use. Label all text, images and photos that you wish to print in color.
~ Questions ~
If you have any questions regarding how to correctly set up your files for printing, please do not hesitate to contact us.
