File Preparation: Make the Best Software Choice
There are quite a few different applications on the market for Desktop Publishing and Design. Listed here are a few of these applications along with a little explanation of how each application should be used. Many times office personnel try to get these applications to do things they were not intended to do, so please look closely and use a program that will suit what you are trying to do.
Layout & Design
Adobe PageMaker (6-7.0) - Good layout software for brochures, single page fliers, books, and complicated design work. Not as involved as Quark and a little more user friendly. (No real drawing capabilities.)
Adobe InDesign (CS) - Good layout software for brochures, single page fliers, books, and complicated design work. Has more image manipulation and drawing capabilities than the average layout software.
Illustration & Graphic Art
Adobe Illustrator (CS) - Illustration software, excellent for line art, logo design, and graphic illustration. Great tool for line drawings and dynamic blending, type on a path, and has all the Photoshop filters available as well.
Macromedia Freehand (8.0) - Illustration software, excellent for line art, logo design, and graphic illustration. Great tool for line drawings and dynamic blending, type on a path. Also has more vector blending/gradient capabilities than Illustrator, but less user friendly. Other. Please output to pdf before submitting.
Adobe Photoshop (CS) - Digital manipulation and imaging software. Allows the complicated manipulation of photos and digital images via filters, and dynamic tools. Very good for image retouching and color correcting of photos.
Adobe Acrobat (CS) - Digital document creation and viewing software. Allows one to convert single paged, and multiple paged documents into a digital format for use on the web and/or trouble shooting problem documents
Document Setup - Text Editing
Files created in any of the Programs below should be converted to .pdf files befor sending to us to avoid any problems in production. To convert to pdf you may download "Easy PDF Converter" for free.
MS Word (2003) - Word processing software created by Microsoft. Great for word processing at your desk, when you can print to your printer but no good for offset printing . Limitations in software make it difficult to do proper, efficient layout. Any MS Word files presented for offset printing will have to be converted to pdf at the customers cost.
Microsoft Publisher (XP) - Software for brochures, single page fliers. Not as involved as Quark. No real drawing capabilities. Supported only by the Copy Center when files are sent as PDF's. Any Publisher files presented for offset printing will have to be converted to pdf at the customers cost.
MS PowerPoint (2003) - Presentation software created my Microsoft. This software is great for creating slides/transparencies for a presentation. Limitations in the software prevent this from being an efficient layout program. Supported only by the Copy Center when files are sent as PDF's. Any PowerPoint files presented for offset printing will have to be converted to pdf at the customers cost.
MS Excel (2003) - Database software created my Microsoft. Great for creating databases and graphs. Limitations in the software prevent this from being an efficient layout program. Any Excel files presented for offset printing will have to be converted to pdf at the customers cost.
Acceptable File Format Guide
We FULLY GUARANTEE all customer designed work that meets our following specifications!
We accept the following digital file formats:
- .EPS
- .JPG or .JPEG
- .TIF
- .PSD (Photo Shop Document)
- .PDF (Acrobat Format) We recommend PrimoPDF (fonts must be embedded)
NOTE: Fonts must be converted to outlines or paths. We accept Pagemaker and Quark files ONLY for CUSTOM JOBS. Business cards and postcards must be: EPS, PDF, TIF or JPG
Accepted scanned or linked image formats:
- Adobe Photoshop (PSD)
- .TIF
- .EPS
- .BMP
NOTE: All scanned images must be at 100% size, at least 300 dpi, and CMYK format. You must convert your RGB images to CMYK.
File Preparation:
- Business Cards NO bleed: 3.5 inches x 2 inches
- Business Cards WITH bleed 3.625 x 2.125
- For files with a bleed allow a minimum of 1/8th inch for trimming
- Crop all images exactly the way you want them to look.
- Illustrator has trouble with clipping masks and transparencies. PLEASE edit your IMAGES in Photoshop. Fonts and graphics placed over these "Clipped" areas often error when ripped. If in doubt, distill your file and look closely at the areas in question.
- All scanned images must be 100% size
- All scanned images must be 300 dpi
- All images must be CMYK
- All colors must be CMYK (PMS SPOT COLORS MUST BE CONVERTED TO CMYK)
- All fonts MUST be converted to paths or outlines including any linked/placed .eps files
Include all linked/placed images along with your master document.
Please .zip or stuff your files before sending.
All fonts must be converted to paths, curves or rasterized. If you don't know what that means, then don't send your file.
Back Printing, when chosen, is black ink and should be submitted in grayscale or black and white bitmap format.
Make sure all elements (.tifs, images, etc.) are embedded in one file per side of card. So that means, if you have a double sided card, you would only upload 2 files: 1 for the front and 1 for the back.
Spot UV means that a certain part of the card should have no gloss. In this area the card can be written on with a pen or pencil. There needs to be a black and white image (NOT Greyscale) created for each side that will have spot-uv. The file should be BLACK where you DO want UV, and WHITE where you DO NOT want UV. Spot-uv cannot be 'faded' with greyscale values. The file must be in Black and White ONLY.
*if you send files in RGB or Spot Color format, we are not responsible for color variation. Some CMYK versions of spot colors may vary. Please reference a Spot to a Process chart when choosing your colors. Most jobs are gang-run to provide you the lowest possible prices and colors may vary slightly.
Standard production time is 5-7 business days from proof approval, plus shipping.
Please note that errors in production resulting to a problem mentioned above may increase production time resulting in a longer wait.
