FAQ
Artwork Guidelines
Some helpful information to insure your order is printed correctly.
In printing, bleed is printing that goes beyond the edge of where the sheet will be trimmed.
When artwork continues to the edge of the paper, a bleed is required. Commercial printing machines cannot print to the edge of the paper. Artwork is printed on a larger sheet of paper, then cut down to the final size. Without a bleed, technical errors in trimming can cause your artwork to not extend to the edge of the paper.
The standard bleed should be ⅛ inch (.125) on all sides.
For Example:
If you design a 4×6 flyer with gray background, make sure to extend the background so it is ⅛ inch on all sides. The artwork you will submit will be 4.25 x 6.25. Make sure there is no important information or graphics is in the outer ⅛ inch bleed area. To be safe always design your artwork at least .25 inches inside the trim line.
A trim line is determined by the crop marks. This is where the artwork will be cut and will be the edge of the page.
Crops marks indicate where your image will be cut. This should be included on your artwork.
Please email us a PDF with crop marks and bleed. Artwork that requires adjustments or edits are subject to a design fee.
- Click the Microsoft Office Button, point to the arrow next to Save As, and then click PDF.
- In the File Name list, type or select a name for the document.
- In the Save as type list, click PDF.
A proof is a one-off copy of your printed document used for visual inspection to ensure that the layout and colors of your document are exactly how they are intended to be. A proof is made prior to sending the document to the press for final printing.
Typically, we will produce a proof that will be sent to you via email in PDF format or a physical proof, which can be viewed in our store. For multiple-color jobs, we can produce a proof on our output device to show you how the different colors will appear on the final product.
Your approval on the final proof is the best assurance you have that every aspect of our work and your own is correct, and that everything reads and appears the way you intended. Mistakes can and sometimes do happen. It benefits everyone if errors are caught in the proofing process rather than after the job is completed.
Yes. When you save your image with an RGB color profile and try to print it, the printer has to interpret the information and convert it to CMYK in order to output it using CMYK toner. Printers are generally not designed for color conversion: that’s the computer’s job. You can save a lot of headache and prevent any unwanted color surprises by saving your images with CMYK color profiles before you send them to print.
The most common size paper we print on is 8.5”x11”. Larger sizes include 11”x17”, 12”x18”, and 13”x19”. Occasionally, we receive customer stock that is smaller than 8.5”x11”. In these cases, we can usually print on anything that is 5”x7” or larger, such as 5.5”x8.5”, 8”X10”, or 9”x12”. If you have a custom-size stock that you’d like us to print, do not hesitate to ask one of our associates and we will assess your stock to see if we are able to print on it.
Booklets
Booklets are great for bundling information together and presenting it in a professional way.
Booklets are printed by folding sheets of paper in half and stapling the spine. Two pages of your document will fit side-by-side on a single side of a sheet, meaning that a total of four pages will fit on both sides of a sheet. Unless you would like blank pages in your document, make sure to design your document with a number of pages divisible by four.
Standard sizes for catalogs and booklets are 5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″, 8 1/2″ x 11″, and 11″ x 17″.
Creating a booklet involves creating page spreads and folding them around each other; they are then Saddle Stitched, meaning that two staples are placed along the fold. They are then trimmed down to make sure the pages are even. Because the pages are actually spreads folded in half, the print-ready file will need several important features:
- Pages will be placed in a spread in such an arrangement that will allow them to end up in correct numerical order once the pages are folded and bound into a saddle-stitched booklet.The formatting of these pages is done through a process called Bookletizing.
- The overall pages must be in multiples of 4 (Each sheet that is double sided will have two spreads printed on it, for a total of four pages once it’s folded)
Our in-house designer can do the set up for you if you feel unsure! Be sure to mention that when you’re requesting a quote.
Printing Terms
The printing world involves a lot of specialized knowledge and technical details.
Here are some important terms to that might be helpful:
Manually inserting pages into a document, such as color pages in a larger black and white document
- Half fold
- Tri fold
- Z fold
- Gate fold
- Double gate fold
Our folding machine is capable of making two folds per pass, for more intricate folds we can score and fold.
See PDF for examples of folding options.
Making a book that’s stapled down the middle and folded in half, perfect for programs, events, product manuals and obituaries.
Adding an indentation to the page, makes for nice clean fold lines typical to those on our greeting cards. Recommended for card stocks and certain glossy text weights.
Puts a straight line of tiny holes in the page, making it easier to tear off. Examples of this are tickets with stubs, coupons and send and return letters.
We have a few sizes of drill bits allowing for many creative uses, such as making holes for product tags, making custom (3) or more hole drill pages, or having a place for ribbon to adorn a wedding invite.
We have a large blade cutter to cut hundreds of pages at once to the thousands of an inch, ensuring absolute precision.
Using a sheet of chipboard as the bottom, we apply glue to the edge of the page thus sealing it. Great for personalized stationary. Using a different glue we also use padding for carbon copy NCR pages.
As straightforward as this one is, we are capable of laminating foam core boards, and also have a lighter weight lamination for foldable pamphlets. Our lamination comes on the roll so we can laminate up to three feet wide by practically any distance.
Using a heat bed we can apply a print to a white or black foam core board up to three by four feet. We also have the capability to apply a print to a larger board by hand. For our yard signs, we use corrugated plastic that we can apply an image either as a single sided or double sided and spray with a water resistant spray.