Artwork Guidelines
Print File Formats
PDF: PDF is the preferred file format for ready to print documents. All elements of the print job are fully contained in one file. When exporting a PDF use the high quality print setting with bleeds added for the best output.
Adobe InDesign: A packaged InDesign file is ideal for when we need to make additional edits to your print-ready files.
Adobe Illustrator: Illustrator is great for vector graphics and illustrations such as logos but not great for complex page layouts.
Adobe Photoshop: Photoshop is mainly for photo and raster graphic editing. It is not designed to do page layout. If you are supplying layered Photoshop graphics for us to design with great. If you are laying out a an entire brochure, other formats are better.
Microsoft Publisher: Publisher is a basic page layout program designed for beginners. While not the best for high end output, if it’s what you have we can work with it.
Microsoft Office: Word, Excel, and Powerpoint were not designed for print layouts and generally give unexpected output. That being said, Word is great for providing basic text you want us to use in something we design. Excel is the preferred format for supplying mailing list and database files for variable data output.
Image Formats
Logos and Illustrations: These are best in vector format, which defines shapes using mathematical calculations. This makes them resolution independent meaning you can scale them to any size with no loss of quality. Typical vector file formats are eps and ai, but you can also have vector graphics in a PDF. You know a graphic is vector if you can zoom way in on it and still see perfectly smooth lines
Photographs. Photographs are know as raster graphics or made up of a series of tiny pixels. Typical file formats include jpeg, psd, tiff, and png. Because they are made up of individual pixels the size you can make them depends on how many pixels are in the image. As you enlarge an image you are enlarging each pixel and will eventually be able to see them in the final output. You know a graphic is raster if you zoom in on it and see individual pixels.
General Guidelines
Bleed: Anything you want printed to the edge of the sheet should include what is known as a bleed. A bleed is an extra 1/8″ of content past the page that is meant to get trimmed off.
Image Resolution: Images should be a minimum of 100 pixels per inch at the final printed size. 300 pixels per inch is ideal for close viewing of printed graphics on paper. Line art should be 600 pixels per inch or vector.