Art File Help / Requesting Design Services

Your printed materials will only look as good as the art file that is given to the printer. Properly created art files are crucial to producing a successful print run.

Go to:
Supplying Files

Go To:
Request Design Services

Supplying Files Guidelines:
If you choose to supply print files, there are some guidelines you must follow in order to avoid needing computer time to fix your art files and make them print ready. You may always choose to let us fix your art files for you at a small additional fee.

Guideline 1. Size - The art you supply should not be the exact size of the finished piece, IF the design (image) touches the edge of the paper.

The size of your pdf (art file) should have an addition 1/8th of an inch on all edges if your piece bleeds. (What is Bleed? Click Here to learn) Furthermore, all critical text and design elements need to be 1/8th of an inch in from the trim line. More simply, add 1/4" to both the height and width and keep all text and critical elements a 1/4" away from the edge. Here are some examples of Bookmark sizes and their corresponding art file dimensions:

Size: 2.00 x 7.00 - Bleed Size: 2.25 x 7.25 - Safe Area: 1.75 x 6.75
Size: 2.50 x 8.50 - Bleed Size: 2.75 x 8.75 - Safe Area: 2.25 x 8.25

Also please keep in mind that you should never have crop marks or printers marks in your art. Make sure the canvas size is correct before uploading to the proof tool. If you designed your art file in any kind of Microsoft program then you will likely have size issues (along with font, color and image resolution issues as well) and will require us to use computer time fixing your files. The fee for this is $35 per hour but most issues do not take that long and can be fixed for as little as $5 - $20.

Guideline 2. Fonts - The art you supply should not have editable text. You must either outline, convert to curves or flatten (rasterize) all text.

SET YOUR FONTS. Giving a file to your printer where the text/fonts can be edited is a bad idea and will sometimes cause your fonts to change. To remedy this situation either flatten your text layers in Photoshop or convert all of your text to outlines in Illustrator or Indesign. Corel calls this Curves.

Click here to read about flattening fonts in Photoshop.
Click here to read about converting fonts to outlines in Illustrator or InDesign.

If you designed your art file in any kind of Microsoft program then you will have font issues (along with the other guidelines as well) and will require us to use computer time fixing your files. The fee for this is $35 per hour but most issues do not take that long and can be fixed for as little as $5 - $20.

Guideline 3. Color Mode - Art files must be in CMYK not RGB.

CMYK is an acronym for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black. These are the four colors that are used to print full color picture quality images on paper. Please make sure that your art file’s color space is set to CMYK.

Learn how to do this in photoshop.
Learn how to do this in Illustrator.
Learn how to do this in InDesign.

If you designed your art file in any kind of Microsoft program then you will have color space issues (along with the other guidelines as well) and will require us to use computer time fixing your files. The fee for this is $35 per hour but most issues do not take that long and can be fixed for as little as $5 - $20.

Guideline 4. Image Quality - All images must have a resolution of 300dpi.

There is no reason to set the resolution of your images higher than 300 dpi, it just makes your file size larger than necessary. Conversely, images with a resolution of less than 300 are extremely discouraged. Most images taken from the web are set at 72 dpi, so if you have used images in your print files that have come from a website the resolution is likely to be low and therefore the piece will print muddy or blurry. You CANNOT take a 72dpi image and change the resolution to 300dpi. It will still print badly. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions regarding the images in your file.

Guideline 5. One File Per Side - One pdf for the front, and one pdf for the back.

Pretty self explanatory... You will need to have only one file for the front and only one file for the back. Please do not upload multi-page pdfs unless you are ordering a booklet, a catalog, a calendar or any other multipage document. it is encouraged to have your file for the front named as front, and the file for the back named as back.

Requesting Design Services:

If you would like us to create a design for your printed piece we would be more than happy to oblige you. However, we will require a minimum of direction or instruction from you. To help you with this we have created the "Request Design Services" Form which will help you gather all of the necessary information needed to start your design project.

Here are a few things you will be asked to supply or describe in the "Request for Design Services" form.

1. Logo - Upload or Design it for Me
Here you will want to upload your Logo. Please try to avoid uploading jpgs, bmps, tifs, pngs or any other kind of raster file. Vector files are the best. Try to find an ".ai" file, ".eps", ".indd", ".pdf" or even some corel and quark files will work. If you need us to design the logo for you it will add $250 to your invoice, and we will need items 2-7 below described for the logo as well.

2. Color Scheme - Give a description
The world is yours, and so is any color you can think of for your design, just let us know what it is. The absolute best way to do this is to use Pantone PMS colors. Pantone is a color matching system meant for printing, if you can give us specific numbers you will be able to determine exactly how the colors will turn out in your finished printed piece. Most people don’t have access to a Pantone book as they are fairly expensive so feel free to make references to common colors in your everyday world or online. (ie. the best buy logo blue online, would be a great reference)

3. Style - Give a description
There is no right or wrong answer here, just your best effort at describing how the style of your piece should look. You can be vague and say "Contemporary" or "Classical" or you can be specific and say "I want the Chicago skyline in the background". The more specific you are the less time it will take, and will therefore cost less.

4. Fonts - Choose 3-4 or more
You may choose from our gallery of fonts here, or you may suggest or upload some of your own fonts. To view fonts on your computer use a program such as Microsoft Word, and go to the type option. To find the actual font file on your computer for uploading please follow the below instructions.

PC - Go to "Control Panel", go to "Fonts", and select which fonts you would like to upload.

MAC - Go to "Macintosh HD", go to "Library", go to "Fonts’, and select which fonts you would like to upload.

5. Supporting Images - Upload or Describe
Here you may either upload images you already have or describe images you would like. If you choose to upload your own images please make sure that they are a medium to large size and that they are high resolution. If you choose to describe images that you would like then we will have to find or buy images for you and this may add to the cost of your design. Images can cost from $5 to $30 each, but you will be notified of additional costs before any images are purchased on your behalf.

6. Text Content - Paste Text here or attach a document
You will need to supply all of the text for your design. No one can describe your business better than you can. So please paste text here, giving each section a title, or upload a text document that you have already finished. Please make sure your text has no typos or grammatical errors in it.

7. Layout - Give a description of each elements placement
Describe the placement and arrangement of the above design elements. The more descriptive the better.

If you have any additional questions regarding Art Files please go to the "Contact Us" button at the top right hand side of this page and select the option called "Need Help with Art". We will contact you as soon as possible. You may also call us at 1-866-590-8403.