Despite the wonderful technological innovations and new capabilities that software packages have provided to the masses, proper file set-up, color assignments, and layout requirements are ultra-critical in order to produce a quality printed piece. Just because it looks good on your computer screen doesn’t mean that it is set up properly to print with.
Below are some of the most common questions that we are often asked by individuals not completely familiar with the printing process, terminology, or required settings within software programs.
What type of files should I send?
We recommend that you send us your files as a PDF and be sure that you embed your fonts.
PDFs work the best due to the fact that they are more stable than any other document format type. This eliminates a lot of the potential instability problems which can occur when dealing with other file types even when using the same programs.
You can also send us EPS files with outlined fonts. Files with outlined fonts are easier to handle and will likely speed up your turn-around. Remember to add crop marks, bleeds if necessary, and flatten your files before sending them to us.
What are Bleeds and Crop Marks; and why do you need them?
If you have a picture, drawing, logo, text, or background color that you want to print right to the very edge of the paper, then you will need to provide us with a file that has .125” (1/8th of an inch) bleeds and crop-marks.
Crop marks indicates to us where the border of your document is and bleeds allows colors, images, or text to overlap the edge of the document completely while retaining the defined document size. If any element on your document layout makes contact with the document border, you will have to use bleeds. This is true for any colors, photos, or other images, lettering, ECT.
Failure to use bleeds and crop marks when you send us a file means that we have to guess. It will probably delay the completion of your print project and could incur additional costs to the project due to necessary changes or edits.
What is the difference between black and rich black?
Rich Black is an ink mixture of solid black, 100% K, with additional CMY ink values. This results in a darker tone than black ink alone. If you print black alone as 100% K, the resulting black may not be as dark as you might like. You should use the following settings to get a Rich Black - C 60 M 40 Y 40 K 100
Why do the edges of brochures that are scored crack?
When a job is printed then scored and folded, the job may begin to crack. Usually this shows up more on jobs that have full coverage comprised of solid colors that go across the entire page of the printed piece. During use, cracks will begin to appear. This is inevitable. The cracks may become bigger and the ink may even start to chip off depending on the manner in which they are handled.
Cracking is normal on large coverage jobs when coated paper is used and jobs are scored and folded. We offer an option that will reduce the appearance of cracking when ordering your job but we cannot guarantee completely that the printed piece will be prevented from cracking. As the job is used and folded more and more, cracking will eventually happen.
Why is there banding in my screen/gradient?
Several things can cause banding to appear on your job. Banding can be caused by the program that it is exported from, such as InDesign or Corel. Too many gradient steps are usually the culprit and will cause banding when going from a very light color to a dark color, in a small area.
If your file has gradient, it is important to allow enough room for transition. Proper file resolution is also important to keep away from banding or other abnormalities when trying to use a gradient.
What do you mean my file isn’t at high enough resolution; it looks fine on my screen?
Just because it looks good on your screen doesn’t mean that it is at a high enough resolution that we can print it.
We prefer that all files are sent as High Resolution Press Quality PDFs, no less than 300dpi. Low resolution files will be placed on hold until we receive new files, thus slowing your turn-around.
