Print Promotion

Are you a web developer in need of some help printing quality business cards?

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Kevin Byrd wrote a great primer for web developers looking to print quality business cards. If you have additional questions, please shoot us an email at help@PrintPromotion.com. We’re here to help.

Don’t forget that we offer spot color printing and raised ink for business cards, letterhead, and stationery. We also offer spot color printing for pocket folders. You can find our templates here.

Filed under: Education on June 28th, 2005

The important differences between custom runs and gang runs…

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When you need to look your best, you need a custom run. By utilizing custom runs we can give each job the attention it deserves to ensure the best results.

Many online printers utilize gang run printing to offer lower prices, however, with lower prices comes a quality tradeoff. Gang runs can offer cost savings because they group a bunch of different jobs together and run them through the press all at once. These jobs share the setup costs, but they also share a color calibration and paper stock. The press operator has to choose a color calibration that will work for all jobs, making it sub par for each individual job. You’re also usually stuck with gloss coating that can look good for certain promotional pieces but can’t provide a more sophisticated feel when that is what you desire.

Our custom runs allow you to choose the paper stock right for your job and ensure the best results by calibrating the colors on press just for your job. On press your job has our undivided attention.

Gang runs are appropriate for certain situations, but when you need to look your absolute best, you need a custom run. Custom run pricing becomes more competitive as the quantity of your job increases.

Filed under: Education on June 13th, 2005

Is your graphic design complete? Are you still trying to design a business card in word or publisher?

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If you’re not a graphic designer, your time is best spent focusing on your core business. A professional design communicates legitimacy and attention to detail. We can connect you with professional designers who can help you present your business in a way that reflects the care and effort you’ve invested in your business. Please send an email to help@printpromotion.com with the subject “Need design help” and we’ll help you find the right designer for your situation.

Filed under: Design on June 13th, 2005

Not sure which products are best for your situation or most cost effective?

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Printing can feel incredibly complicated and there are lots of options. If you’re wondering which products to choose, please give us a call and we’ll help you sort through the options to find the best solution for your situation. Ask for Steven or Dan. We look forward to speaking with you.

Filed under: Products on June 13th, 2005

How to prepare print ready files

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File preparation is very important to the quality of you final output. To help you get it right, we prepared two file prerparation guides:

Color printing and stationery file preparation guide
Large format file preparation guide

If you have questions after perusing the guides, don’t hesitate to call. We want to make sure you’re happy with your final results.

Filed under: File Preparation on June 12th, 2005

Color printing and stationery file preparation guide

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Follow the checklist below to make sure your files are print ready.

The following products all print in spot color (Pantoneâ„¢) 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
Promoplanesâ„¢
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.

Filed under: File Preparation on June 11th, 2005

Large format file preparation guide

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Goals and Design

When preparing your files for output, you need to determine the goals of the project and then choose a medium and create a design that will best meet your goals.

For example, if you are a Marketing Manager given the task of producing a giant banner for a product launch, you need to make sure your design will translate well when printed very large and viewed from a distance. If you’re preparing for a trade show, you need to consider both distance and the fact that people will be darting by your booth, requiring your visual content be potent enough to catch wandering eyes.

The best solution when designing for large-format printing is to keep it simple and direct. Subtlety and complexity are difficult if not impossible to see at a distance and when competing for viewers’ attention.

The bottom line is to create a message that the medium can support.

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.

Filed under: File Preparation on June 11th, 2005

How can I check the status of my job?

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At any time you can login to your account and view a list of your jobs in progress that indicates the status of each job. You can click on any job in the list to view full details. On the page with job details there is a send message form that you can use to communicate any questions that come up. Each time the status of your job changes you will receive an email notification. So when your job ships, you will receive an email notification with a tracking number.

Filed under: Questions about active job or job status on June 6th, 2005

What should I do if I have a question about my job?

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Login to your account, click on the job in question from the list of jobs in progress and use the send message form to communicate your question. As soon as you post your message, we’ll receive an email notification and answer your question within two hours. You will receive an email notification when we post a message for you. The entire conversation will be easily viewable on the job details page. This way you don’t need to worry about digging through email to figure out what you asked us and how we answered.

Filed under: Questions about active job or job status on June 6th, 2005

When will my job be in my hands?

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Once your proof is approved, the job will be in your hands after the production time required, which varies by product and is indicated on each product page, and the shipping time. The day of proof approval counts as day one of production if the proof is approved by the time indicated in the chart below. After you upload your files and submit your order, based on your proof selection, you will either receive a PDF soft proof within 24 hours or a hardcopy proof within 48 hours. Hardcopy proofs arrive via FedEx overnight. The one exception is hardcopy proofs for Giclee Fine Art prints, which require an additional 24 hours. After proof approval and the production time required, your job will ship and you will receive an email with a tracking number for your package.

Filed under: Turnaround Times on June 6th, 2005