File Set Up

PREFERRED FILE FORMAT:

Press Quality PDF files with crop marks and *bleeds (if applicable). No color bars are needed.

Creating Press Quality PDFs

Output: Press Quality

Downsample images

Color and Grayscale images to 300 DPI if over 450 DPI

Monochrome images to 1200 DPI if over 1900 DPI

Marks and Bleeds:

Select crop marks and if applicable set up the bleed to .125 inches.

Output: No Color conversion (as is) if the color in the document is what you want for the file output.

Embed all fonts or convert to outlines.

Photoshop users: Do not flatten image, or rasterize the file. Keep your layers when making the PDF.

Native files with fonts and linked images accepted but a charge may be applied for creating a PDF from your native file for our workflow. A PDF proof will be sent back to you for proofing.

Software we have available for your native files:

Mac & PC: CS4 Adobe Suite InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop & Acrobat (PDF)

PC: Microsoft Office 2007, Publisher, Word, Excel & PowerPoint. Quark 5, Pagemaker7, Freehand 9 & CorelDraw 10

Mac: Quark 7

 

MARGINS and BLEEDS:

Please include a 1/4 inch white margin in your file to accommodate the gripper for the press and margin settings on the laser printers.

If you want your images to go to the edge of your piece you will need to include a bleed and crop marks in your file. We will then print your project on an oversized sheet and trim it to size. See how to set up a bleed in left column :PDF file link BLEEDS INFO.

IMAGES:

Photo image should be a 300 dpi minimum resolution.

Graphics that are not photos should be at least 300 dpi if they are only available as raster files.

We would prefer vector art files. These are usually a PDF, EPS, Ai (illustrator) or other vector program art file. We have CS4 version of the Adobe Creative Suite products. Sometimes files of this type have imported raster art in them and are so the file you send may not be vector art images. Text at 300 DPI will be less crisp if it is raster art.

TEXT AND FONTS:

If the text is part of a logo please send a PDF file that has the text embedded. You may change the text to outlines or paths but do not rasterize the text. If you need to send us the font, the fonts will need to be zipped first before emailing. Let us know what platform you are working on: Mac or PC as fonts can be specific to a platform.

COLORS:

For offset press printing use CMYK and/or Pantone Spot colors.

For laser printing color are converted to CMYK on our laser printer.

CMYK is Cyan, Magenta Yellow and Black. These four colors make up the spectrum for four color process printing. They combine in a dot pattern to produce the color in photographs graphics and text.

PMS (Pantone Matching System) SPOT COLORS:

These are colors made with special mixed inks using a Pantone color swatch book formula. Be sure you use the same PMS color throughout your documents. Do not mix a PMS uncoated with the same PMS coated or matt color or you could end up with two plates for that color on the press. Example PMS123U in the same document as PMS123C will produce two separations for the PMS123 color. Please use a PMS color from the correct PMS swatch book for the paper you are printing on. What you see on the screen will not represent the actual color in the books. The color will also be different on coated than on uncoated paper. If you are creating your file using PMS color remember that each color will produce a separate plate.

RGB:

is for website usage and screen viewing. Do not depend on what you view on your screen or inkjet printout. Many scanners use RGB as a default color even when the image is black. Microsoft Word and Publisher use RGB as the default color. Your document may look like it only uses two colors like a orange and a green but unless they are two PMS spot colors they are likely to be RGB or CMYK colors. The two colors you are viewing may produce four plates if you are going to be printing to an offset press.

For offset press printing, colors will need to be in CMYK, PMS Spot or Grayscale to produce the correct plate output.

If it is printed on a digital laser printer, it will be converted by the print driver and there are no plates to be concerned with. Each printer and driver will interpret color differently.