Prepare quality print-ready files
Follow the checklist below to make sure your files are print ready.
The following products all print in spot color (Pantone™) PMS colors only, which means your artwork needs to be vector, and the best program to use for vetor output is Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, or Quark.
Photoshop will not give you the ability to print spot color at all. Photoshop files can be used to print anything in CMYK, Full Color. See below.
Letterhead
Envelopes
1-4 Spot color Pocket Folders (Full color folders, see below)
1-2 Color Business Cards
The following products all print in CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black) 4 color process, a.k.a. Full Color.
Coop Business Cards
Coop Postcards
4cp Pocket Folders
Inkjet Posters
Banners
Promoplanes™
Brochures
Giclee Fine Art Prints
The following product prints in RGB.
Digital C Prints or Photoprints
1. Images: Before placing or embedding your artwork into any layout or illustration application, please make sure your images, photos, and raster graphics are saved in CMYK mode or grayscale mode, not RGB (they will not print correctly and it will cause our system to detect a problem and halt the production of your proofs and production of your job entirely). You will receive a message letting you know that your images need to be converted to CMYK mode.
2. Fonts: There are thousands of fonts and that means that there are an unlimited amount of potential font based problems, to make it simple, include a compressed folder with all the fonts you used in the project; ones used in Photoshop, Illustrator, Quark, InDesign, or any other popular graphics software programs. Send both screen and printer fonts for Type 1 fonts. Send the same format (Type 1, TrueType, OpenType) as used in the document. Send all the fonts used, including fonts in EPS graphics (or, convert fonts in graphics to outlines before placing in page layout application). By outlining the fonts in Illustrator or other EPS capable programs, you can outline your fonts which turns them into vector (or shaped) graphic elements as opposed to editable type. Since we are not in the business of editing copy, this should not cause any problems. If you want to leave your files in an editable format, make sure to include ALL the fonts used.
3. Page Layout: When using programs like Adobe Page Maker, InDesign or Quark XPress, make sure to include in a compressed packaged folder of all the elements that are used to create your layout; logos, images, photos, vector art, fonts, etc…this way when we open and decompress your files we can see everything that was used to create your project in one convenient concise folder.
4. File Size: If you feel that your files are too big to simply send over the internet, call us first, you may be surprised – OR use these tools to help you; www.stuffit.com (Mac Compression Software) or www.winzip.com (PC Compression Software). These programs will shrink or compress your files and make them smaller without compromising the integrity, quality or stability of your files included in the compressed, stuffed or zipped folder. Our file upload form can safely upload files up to 100mb. If you have a file bigger than 100 mb, please call us and we can walk you through uploading the exceedingly large file to our ftp server.
5. Illustration or Vector Art/Type: When you create vector art for your graphics and type you are ensured of good crisp printing. Vector art is the sharpest type of graphic format there is, there is no bitmapping or rasterizing that happens, in other words there is no fuzziness when you zoom in on your artwork, the integrity of the art or type is flexible and will scale to whatever size you choose, especially when printing large posters, banners, photo C prints or giclee prints.
Large Format File Preparation Tips
When blowing up images to large sizes from computer-generated image files, it is important to make sure the files were created in formats and resolutions that will assure quality results when printed.
There are three main issues to be aware of and if you’re careful, you’ll be amazed when you unfurl your product from the carton.
1. Resolution and File Formats
Resolution relates to how crisp your images will appear when scaled up to many times the size you’re viewing it at on your monitor (72 dpi) or the color laser hardcopy proof you printed to get design approval from your boss or client (300 dpi at 8.5” x 11” size).DPI stands for dots per inch, which harkens back to the world of offset printing where printed images are literally composed of CMYK dots that combine to form the illusion of a solid image on paper. Although computer images are defined by combinations of RGB pixels (rectangles instead of dots), the term DPI has carried over and is usually used to determine how many pixels are actually present in a computer image at any given size (e.g. 150 DPI at 30” x 40”).
Most large-format output devices are now capable of yielding output at resolutions of 300 DPI or higher at giant sizes, yielding very clear crisp results (have you seen billboards lately? Or been stuck in traffic next to a bus that is wrapped with adhesive vinyl panels advertising the incredibly sharp facial features of your favorite TV personalities?)
The formula for getting it right when going “grand” is actually pretty simple as long as you prepare your files properly in advance.
The good news is that there are certain file formats that don’t depend upon resolution to look great any size. These are called vector files.
Fonts and .eps logos are classic example of vector file formats.
Vector graphics can be stretched like rubber bands or blown up like blimps and they will still look sharp. That is because vector files, unlike their needy counterparts, bitmap files (which we will get to shortly), are defined by mathematical ratios, not a finite pre-determined number of pixels.
When preparing documents for large-format output, bitmap images require the most attention. If you create images in Photoshop, scan photos, or take photos with a digital camera, then you need to make sure those images possess enough resolution (DPI) to print properly at their final size. If you don’t, your poster or banner could look like some kind of horrible disaster at Lego Land!
For example, if you’re designing for a final size of 36” x 48” and you want to get your images to 300 DPI at that size, you can set your page up for 18” x 24” (25% scale) and import your bitmapped images at 1200 DPI and they will then blow up nicely to 300 DPI when scaled up 400% to 36” x 48”.
Note: Your intuition might tell you that 25% size of 36” x 48” is equal to 9” x 12”, when in actuality, 9” x 12” is equivalent to 1/8 the size of 36” x 48”. Your intuition wasn’t paying attention in math class, as scaling up is an exponential process! Okay, just look at the handy chart below and it will help you catch up on your geometry.
Image size and required resolution to print well
Designing at 25% of your final output size is a good way to help manage your file sizes, because bitmaps at full-resolution, full-size can be very cumbersome to work with.
By the way, for most poster and banner applications that are not especially complex, detailed, or subtle, 150 DPI at 100% will yield pretty good results. On the other hand, if you’re dealing with detailed and/or color critical imagery, 300 DPI at full-size is a better choice. If you’re designing something color critical at 25% size, you need to make sure your bitmap imports or Photoshop document are at 1,200 DPI.
When you’re dealing with REALLY BIG stuff, you can often get away with 150 DPI at full-size, simply because your final output will probably be viewed from a greater distance (“good from far, far from good”). In other words, it doesn’t matter if it looks a little grainy or jagged up-close, because your audience will be at a safe distance from the display (e.g. an arena or large event setting).
2. Color Management
The two main color models utilized in computer graphics are RGB (Red, Green & Blue) and CMYK (Cyan, Yellow, Magenta & Black). How your final output is printed or viewed determines the correct color system to choose when preparing your files.If you’re designing for digital or offset printing, or for that matter, any ink or toner-based printing device, you should be designing and proofing your images using CMYK. If you’re designing for a monitor screen or projector-based presentation, 35mm slide imaging, or a Digital C Print, you should work in RGB, as that is the native color model for those environments.
Note: Digital cameras produce images that are RGB, which is why they look accurate on your monitor (also RGB). If you’re taking digital camera images and putting them into a CMYK design, make sure you bring them into Photoshop (or any other image processing software) and convert them to CMYK first. That is also a good time to check the resolution (DPI) of those bitmapped images to make sure that they will look good when printed large.
3. Submitting Files for Printing
PrintPromotion.com supports native documents from most major graphics software packages (e.g. Illustrator, Photoshop, Quark, InDesign, Powerpoint). If you’re not sure about a file format, please feel free to call and ask.We also support exported files, such as .tiff, .eps, or high-resolution .jpg and .pdf files (again, feel free to call and ask).
If you’re using native file formats, make sure that you include any imports or fonts that are not imbedded in the files (e.g. use the “collect for output” command in Quark that automatically gathers up all of the support documents and fonts your file requires for it to output correctly).
When you’ve gathered everything together in one folder, compress the files into archives using stuff-it or .zip so that all the files are batched into one file that is significantly smaller in megabytes than the raw files would be. Smaller files upload faster and are easier to store and manage on both ends.
Thanks for trying PrintPromtion.com and we hope this quick little lesson in the basics has been helpful.