Submission Guidelines
- Storage media accepted:
- CD
- Memory Stick
- Paper camera-ready artwork (rarely used, but helpful to know)
- One color: good black copy on a white background with crop marks, preferably at 100% size
- Two or more colors: good black copy on white background with crop marks and register marks-one per color with appropriate traps applied; labeled by color. Place black boxes in position for photos. On the photos indicate percentage of reduction or enlargement and page number/position.
- Other ways we can receive your electronic files-
- Via email (if no larger than 1 mb)
- Via ftp upload to our web site (see instructions under FTP or call us for details)
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- Include Support Files; When giving us electronic artwork, include fonts, photos and graphics:
- FONTS
- Mac Fonts (preferably Postscript Type 1 fonts), include both screen and printer versions or convert fonts to paths or outlines. Include fonts used in eps images. We cannot use PC fonts.
- Do not apply bold or italics to fonts through the program but always choose the attribute from your font list. (i.e. B Helvetica Bold)
- GRAPHICS
- Send along graphics used in your file. For print jobs, it is best to use only eps, and tiff formats, For web jobs we take jpegs and gifs.
- We accept files in the following applications (listing our most recent versions):
- Adobe Illustrator CS3
- Adobe Indesign CS3
- Adobe PageMaker 7.0
- Adobe Photoshop CS3
- Quark Xpress 6.0
- Macromedia FreeHand MX (v11.0.1)
- Microsoft Office
- Adobe Acrobat PDF format (if more than one color, please save each color as a separate pdf file with registration marks on each page)
- We can USUALLY convert the following to a useable format: MS Word, Corel Draw
- We are unable to use:
- Microsoft Publisher
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- Specifing colors
- When sending a full color print job, save colors as CMYK.
- When sending 1-, 2-, or 3-color jobs, save colors as spot.
- Never send colors as RGB, Index, or Lab. The only time we could use RGB is if you were providing a graphic for a website.
- Image Resolution
- Print images need to be saved at a resolution of 300 and sized at 100% of placement size if possible. To retain image intergrity, reductions are ok but enlargements over 110% will start to look pixilated and lose information. Digital camera images must be saved at the highest setting possible on the camera as many of the cameras take images at a resolution of 72 (great for exchanging over the internet; however, not great for printing) the higher setting creates a larger image that can be resampled successfully to a resolution of 300.
- FYI:
- A 72 dpi photographic image will be acceptable for use on a video monitor or internet uses.
- A 150-dpi image will be acceptable for use in a newspaper ad.
- A 250-dpi image may be acceptable for a magazine ad.
- A 300 - 600 dpi image may be acceptable for use in a traditional printed brochure or outdoor billboard.
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- Line Screen
-
- 85 (lpi) lines per inch is acceptable for newsprint
- 133 lpi for uncoated stock printing
- 150 lpi for printing on coated stock, glossy pictures
- Trapping:
- Color work should have appropriate traps set. Line work traps can be 0.5 point and type traps can be set at 0.3 point.
- Extraneous Files:
- Please do not leave unnecessary files on the disk you bring us. This can be confusing to the output operator and you run the risk of having the wrong information in your file.
- Color Proofing:
- A color proof is used to simulate how the printed piece will look. Because of differences in equipment, paper, inks, and other conditions between color proofing and production pressroom operations, a reasonable variation in color between color proofs and the completed job is to be expected. This is called pleasing color when variation of this kind occurs.
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- Alterations/Corrections:
- Client alterations include all work performed in addition to the original specifications. It is customary in the industry to charge for these services.
- Copyrights:
- The client warrants that the subject matter to be printed is not copyrighted by a third party.
- To send files FTP
-
- Mac users please stuff files. PC users please zip files first.
- Let us know also what layout program and version was used to create document and what operating system it was created on.
- Glossery of Terms
- FTP
- File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a standard network protocol used to exchange and manipulate files over an Internet Protocol computer network, such as the Internet. FTP is built on a client-server architecture and utilizes separate control and data connections between the client and server applications.
- FTP uses a password and login system to transfer data reliably, and efficiently.
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- EPS
- Encapsulated PostScript, or EPS, is a DSC-conforming PostScript document with additional restrictions intended to make EPS files usable as a graphics file format. In other words, EPS files are more-or-less self-contained, reasonably predictable PostScript documents that describe an image or drawing, that can be placed within another PostScript document.
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- GIF
- GIFs are suitable for sharp-edged line art (such as logos) with a limited number of colors. This takes advantage of the format's lossless compression, which favors flat areas of uniform color with well defined edges (in contrast to JPEG, which favors smooth gradients and softer images).
- GIFs can also be used to store low-color sprite data for games.
- GIFs can be used for small animations and low-resolution film clips.
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- In view of the general limitation on the GIF image palette to 256 colors, it is not usually used as a format for digital photography. Digital photographers use image file formats capable of reproducing a greater range of colors, such as TIFF, RAW or the lossy JPEG, which is more suitable for compressing photographs.
- The PNG format is a popular alternative to GIF images since it uses better compression techniques and does not have a limit of 256 colors, but PNGs do not support animations. The MNG and APNG formats, both derived from PNG, support animations, but aren't widely used.
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- JPG
- A commonly used method of compression for photographic images. The degree of compression can be adjusted, allowing a selectable tradeoff between storage size and image quality. JPEG typically achieves 10:1 compression with little perceptible loss in image quality.
- JPEG compression is used in a number of image file formats. JPEG/Exif is the most common image format used by digital cameras and other photographic image capture devices; along with JPEG/JFIF, it is the most common format for storing and transmitting photographic images on the World Wide Web. These format variations are often not distinguished, and are simply called JPEG.
- The compression method is usually lossy, meaning that some original image information is lost and cannot be restored (possibly affecting image quality.) There are variations on the standard baseline JPEG that are lossless; however, these are not widely supported.
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- TIFF
- Tagged Image File Format (abbreviated TIFF) is a file format for storing images, including photographs and line art. TIFF is a flexible, adaptable file format for handling images and data within a single file.
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- Trapping
- A prepress technique, also known as spreading and choking consists of creating small overlaps between abutting colors in order to mask registration problems on the printing press later on in the graphical production.
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- Camera-ready
- A common term used in the commercial printing industry meaning that a document is, from a technical standpoint, ready to "go to press," or be printed.
- It is created with a software program commonly used in the printing industry, such as InDesign (Adobe), Illustrator (Adobe), Freehand (Adobe/Macromedia), Quark XPress (Quark, Inc), and exported in a commonly used file format, such as EPS, PDF and sometimes TIFF. JPEG images are usually considered "not camera ready," as the compression used in the JPEG format deteriorates the quality of the image.
- All camera-ready documents must use the correct color setup. If printing a (full) color document, all graphics should be converted to CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black). If it is a spot color document, the color(s) to be used by the printer must be specified in the digital file.
- The layout should be created at the correct and final size to be printed, and the "document size" in the desktop publishing program should match the size of the final printed piece.
- Text or graphics that are intended to bleed off the page of the final printed piece should be extended off the document boundary in the digital file. The amount varies depending on location, but is usually 1/8 inch in the US, and 3mm in metric systems.
- Fonts used in the digital file may be converted to vector graphics (usually defined by the software as "Convert to Paths" or "Outline Text"), or alternatively, the fonts are included in the final digital package sent to the printer.
- Raster or image files are originally created at high resolution settings, such as 300 DPI (dots per inch). This ensures a high quality image. Images saved from Internet web pages are usually low-resolution, 72 dots per inch JPG or GIF files and are not considered camera ready.
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