Help Center

We invite you to take advantage of our state-of-the-art digital imaging and printing capabilities.

We have prepared the following pre-press tips to help you achieve the best possible end results.

If you think of anything we've missed - just Contact Us.

Pre-Press Information

Preparing files for print publishing is not too difficult because there are only three major requirements:

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Fonts
This means both the printer and the screen fonts. Fonts with the same name may have different font’s metrics from one manufacturer to another, so if we substitute our fonts, it may affect your layout. If you are using an IBM PC, be sure to use True Type Fonts.

Images
This includes clip art, photos and scanned images.
Please link all images to the document before sending the file.
 

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Colors
All documents should be in CMYK mode. Spot colors are OK if created from a CMYK mode, never from RGB.

If you use spot colors - make sure you have only one defined color in the swatch palette for each plate you want output. For example: If you have an imported EPS that uses PMS 291C don’t make another swatch like PMS 291U to assign to your layout elements. Always use the color swatch imported with the graphics, rather than one created in the layout program.

Do not rely on your screen as an accurate representation when choosing colors. Instead, use a Pantone color swatch book for choosing colors, or a CMYK Process Tint Guide to make or convert colors. We strongly recommend manually entering the CMYK percentages for all created process colors to ensure color accuracy. If you wish to see how PMS colors will print when converted to process colors, look them up in a Pantone Process Tint Guide. (Please note that some PMS colors cannot be accurately matched from process colors. The most difficult colors to produce using CMYK are blues, oranges and metallics. Light background screens are also difficult to reproduce accurately on press.)

If we have to convert the graphics, there will be an additional charge.
 

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Resolution
We recommend that artwork be scanned at a minimum of 300 dots per inch (dpi) and preferably higher than 300 dpi for best quality. However, a photo that will be reduced by 50% can be scanned at 150 dpi. But an image that will be enlarged by 200% should be scanned in at 600 dpi to achieve a final dpi of 300 in the final product. When enlarging a picture in Quark, please do not exceed 120% as the image tends to lose resolution if enlarged any more than that.

To achieve the best possible quality, your images will be professionally scanned on our Howtek Scanmaster Pro 7500 Drum Scanner at a reasonable charge.

All we will need is a good quality original to start off with.

Once it is scanned, we can "clean up" the image (additional charge may apply).
Please provide an FPO (For Position Only) copy, so that we may place and size the image correctly.
Ideally your original for black and white line art should be at least 1200 dpi from a high quality laser printer. Artwork output at a lower dpi may appear bitmapped or ragged once scanned or printed.
Please note that if you choose to do your own scanning, you are responsible for the quality of the images in the final printed product.
 

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Direct to Media Output - PDF Files
Some programs will allow you to save/export your document as a PDF (Portable Document Format) file. We will accept these files for output, but we will have very limited editing options for manipulating them. If there are problems or mistakes in the file, we may not be able to correct them. You may have to correct them and resubmit the file.

If creating PDF files ALWAYS include fonts. Be sure that the resolution is high enough that your document will not turn out looking blocky. We suggest a minimum of 300 dpi on all images at 100% of printing size and 1200 dpi on all line art.
 

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If you have all three items, your artwork is going to print well for most conventional print jobs.