How-To-Guides
Preparing your files properly for printing is a very important step, not only for saving you time and money, but in getting the best possible results for your final finished piece. By taking a few moments during the design process, you can ensure that you're printing experience will be completely hassle free.
Here are a few basic areas to consider:
Before you begin......
CHOOSE THE RIGHT PROGRAM
The most common programs for page layout are Quark XPress© and Adobe InDesign©. These programs are specifically designed to handle the needs of both graphic designers and pre-press Professionals. Creating your final layout using one of these programs will make it easier to prepare your files for printing and get the highest quality results. Other graphics programs such as Photoshop© and Illustrator© are also acceptable, but may require extra steps in preparing your file. Office programs such as Microsoft Word©, Excel© or PowerPoint© are generally not suited for professional printing; however you may submit them for review by our Pre-Press staff and we will gladly assist you.
Need Help? Choosing the Right Program
While designing your piece, remember.....
USE HIGH RESOLUTION IMAGES
To ensure the best quality printing, your images' resolution should be at least 300 dpi (dots per inch). Images that are taken from the internet should be avoided since typically they are at a resolution of 72 dpi and will reproduce poorly on a printing press. Images from many digital cameras are also typically saved at 72 dpi; these need to be adjusted in an image editing program such as Photoshop© before they can be used for printing. Many scanner drivers will default to a low resolution when scanning; make sure to adjust your software to scan at 300 dpi BEFORE scanning images.
Need Help? Adjusting the Resolution of Your Photographs
USE THE RIGHT COLORS
Different types of printing can require very different set-up in the design process. Make sure you are using the correct types of colors in your document: grayscale for black & white printing, CMYK for full color documents and spot colors for spot printing. If the colors in a document are not properly defined, your final results may be muddy, poor color or worse, entire images or blocks of text may be missing.
Need Help? The First Impressions Guide to Color Printing
SET UP BLEEDS
Whenever any part of your image goes off the edge of the page, bleeds are required. Adding extra image area off the edge of your document allows some margin for error when the final piece is printed and cut.
Need Help? Creating Bleeds
When you've finished your design.....
MAKE A PDF
Creating a High-Resolution PDF allows your document layout, fonts, and images to be saved all in one file and helps streamline the pre-press process. Even when sending original native Quark© or InDesign© files, creating a PDF allows us to see how the document is intended to look and help us prevent errors before they're printed.
Need Help? High Resolution PDFs
ZIP OR STUFF YOUR FILES
While not always necessary, using a file compression program such as WinZip© or Stuffit© reduces the number of files you need to send, lowers the overall file size for faster sending, and can help prevent file corruption.
If you have any questions...
CHECK OUT OUR WEBSITE
Our FAQ, How-To-Guides, and Glossary are full of useful information to help guide you through the printing process.
CALL OR EMAIL US Our Design and Pre-Press team will be happy to assist you.