Supplying Artwork Many people are now wanting to supply material they have created on their PC for us to produce. We will generally be able to use artwork that you supply to us - either on disc or as hard copy. However, an understanding of what we require may not only save you money but also improve the quality of the finished article. We discuss here some of the major issues and common problems we have experienced. Before we get going on how to supply material to us, here are some comments/tips that may help in your design. Fonts and Clipart. It is essential to ensure we have the same fonts and that you supply a print out so we can see how your artwork should look. An excess of fonts or clipart can make your design look amateur and can cause slow printing and hang-ups. If you are having problems printing a document then this is often the cause. Two or three contrasting fonts are normally all that are necessary in most documents. Use bold and italic to emphasise. Make sure that any bold or italic fonts used do actually exist (see text). Use underlining with care (see text). There is no doubt that a carefully chosen graphic will enhance the design but too much clipart can look amateur. If you are using graphics please read the section below which talks about which formats to use and how to supply. Get the paper size and margins right first. Make sure the paper size is set correctly before you start (often the default size is set to 'letter' - an American paper size - rather than A4). A minimum margin on A4 or A5 size paper would be 10mm (and ideally 15-20mm), and 5mm is ideal for a business card. Don't put text closer to the edge unless you absolutely have to (see also grip). Also don't be afraid of empty space - it is not necessary to fill up the page (and often preferable not to). If you are using footnotes or folios (page numbers) set them up on a master page, template or as a header or footer so that they remain consistent throughout (page numbers are often our best guide for position). It is always a good idea to produce a mock up - cut it to the correct size, fold it up - whatever will be done when its finished - to ensure that everything looks right and fits. If you are intending to put the job in an envelope (eg an invitation) it is essential to source the envelope first as there is a very limited range of sizes and colours available - if in doubt use a finished size of A5 or A6. Proof read carefully. Please check artwork you supply to us thoroughly. Whilst we may correct obvious mistakes if we spot them, we cannot be held responsible if material you supply is wrong. Take the time to read what you have typed and run a spellcheck. Copyright. Please make sure that any material you supply to us is free from copyright. It is against the law to use any item that is subject to copyright and we will refuse to copy an item unless we are sure it is permissible. These may include maps, logos, photos, things downloaded from the internet, etc. Grip and paste-up. Printing presses have to physically hold the paper. This means that there is an area of up to 12mm that cannot be printed on along one edge of the sheet. If sufficient grip is allowed in the margins then the job may be printed to size - which saves paper and time guillotining. On other occasions it may be more economical to print several on a sheet. If you can supply the job pasted-up as required it may reduce the cost. Ask how many up it will be printed and what gutter (space between) is required - eg. business cards are normally printed 4-up with a 5mm gutter. Also don't assume we print everything on A4 - there are many other sizes available that may be more economical. What is the best way to supply the artwork? There are several ways to provide us with what we need. We can accept hard copy, films or a computer file. If you are going to supply hard copy then the following sections 'hard copy' and 'colour' would be worth reading. If you intend to supply on disc we prefer PC files on floppy, CD, 100Mb Zip, or by email (if you are going to email us please let us know beforehand and we'd be grateful if you don't email anything much bigger than 1Mb because life's too short!). Most other formats and mac files can also be output if required. It is important to supply a hard copy as well. Should you be able to supply films then we prefer negative working, right reading, emulsion down. (If you can supply films then you will know what we mean) What program should I use? There are hundreds of different software packages on the market that would seem to allow one to produce artwork, however they generally divide into four main types described below. Our preferred program is Adobe PageMaker on the PC, however there are countless other different files and formats that we can accept. Often it may be preferable for you to supply text and/or graphics and let us do the page layout so please talk with us first so we can advise on how best to supply your work. The four main types of program are:- Page layout. This type is the most appropriate and includes the professional Quark Express (our peferred choice) and Adobe In Design. These are very reliable when transferring documents from one PC to another. While they initially appear complicated, they give you great control over the page and allow you to include a variety of graphics and text files that are likely to have been generated by a program in one of the following groups. These software packages are also capable of producing colour separations, trap, etc (see colour) Word Processors. This section obviously includes Microsoft Word and WordPerfect. These are ok for single colour work or for short run work output to our digital copier but they are not really well suited for outputting colour separations (see colour) and we have had problems in the past when transferring documents between PCs. Paint type programs. These normally use the words paint or photo in their title and include Adobe Photoshop, Corel Photopaint, Photodeluxe, Paintshop Pro, etc. They produce raster images (see graphics) and are ideal for manipulating photos and scanned images. Files can be saved in a variety of formats of which tiffs would be our preferred choice (see graphics for more detailed explanations and other alternatives). Whilst it is possible to produce artwork on one of these programs it should be said that it is not their raison d'etre and working with text can be cumbersome. If you are thinking of using them it is imperative that the size and resolution are correct before you start, see graphics - raster below. Draw type programs. Illustrator, Freehand and Corel Draw, are probably the most well known applications in this section. They produce vector graphics (the majority of clipart images are vector graphics) and can export in a variety of formats. The next best to a page layout program, they are ok for producing single page documents but we would recommend using a page layout program if you are producing a multipage book. Text Even if we are doing the typesetting it is often worth supplying the text to us. This not only saves the expense of us typing it again but also reduces the risk of errors. If you are supplying text only, please keep formatting to a minimum. Try not to use more than one tab or space together (rows of tabs and spaces used to align columns vertically normally need to be removed before we can format the text) and don't put extra returns between paragraphs (most applications have a 'space before and after' setting which gives much greater control). Many software programs falsify attributes such as bold or italic when the appropriate font is not present - it may not even exist at all. This generally works OK when printed on laser or inkjet printers (although results can vary). However it will rarely work when output to film on an imagesetter. Check that all fonts used do exist especially if your job contains tints or fine lines that would be best imageset to film. (To do this check the windows fonts folder or Adobe Type Manager if you have it - any bold or italic versions of fonts will be listed separately). Specifying underline is easy but has been known to give problems (a bold line on one printer may come out as a fine line on another). Using bold or italic type to emphasise looks better or use rules under text instead (if you have the facility) - it gives greater control and is less likely to give problems. As mentioned earlier, please check everything carefully (especially details such as names or phone numbers) and run a spellcheck - it is amazing how many typos get overlooked. We can use text supplied in most native word processor files (eg Word .doc, Word Perfect) or in rich text (.rtf) or even ascii (.txt) format. Even Exel files (.xls) work, particularly if there are rows and columns involved (which are transferred as tabs and returns). Graphics There are a bewildering number of formats that a graphic can be saved or exported in. However they can generally be divided to two types - vector or raster. Each has their own advantages and disadvantages which we discuss here. There are also several ways of getting a graphic into your document which we talk about at the end of the section. Raster Images. Also called bitmaps, this type of graphic breaks the image down into a series of pixels and are used for photographs and scanned images. They can be manipulated in photo/paint type software. The advantages are excellent quality if they are supplied at the correct resolution: they are the best format for photographs. The disadvantages are that they can be cumbersome in the way they handle text and curves (compared to vector graphics), if the resolution is too low the quality can be awful, if the resolution is too high the file size can be enormous and they do not resize well - especially when enlarging. As a general rule the resolution, at the size the image will be printed, should be not less than 200dpi for a photograph. For line art use a minimum of 600dpi or 1200dpi for top quality work. If you would like a more detailed explanation of how raster images work Images obtained from the internet are usually low resolution and whilst they can be used they are not ideal for printing. Raster images can be saved in lots of formats. Here are some of the more popular:- Tagged Image File Format (.tif) - our preferred format. Excellent quality and very reliable but can be large files. Use LZW compression when saving. Joint Photographic Expert Group(.jpg) - gives much smaller file size but at loss of quality. When exporting/saving a jpg you are usually given an option of quality versus file size. Always choose maximum quality which gives acceptable results. Graphic Interchange File Format - this is special format for web images and is best avoided for printing. bmp Windows bitmap format. Vector images contain the image information as mathematical curves which means they are not resolution dependent. They are created in draw type software and are good for logos, clipart etc. They can contain colours and tints (see colour) but they are not good for photographs. Vector images can be saved in a variety of formats. Here are some of the more popular:- Encapsulated PostScript (.eps) This is our preferred format - in fact we would usually convert other formats to eps before imagesetting. It is very reliable and can also contain bitmaps. However, it will only print to a PostScript printer - printing to a non PostScript printer will normally give either a low resolution (preview) image or a grey box. Windows metafile (.wmf) Format used by the majority of clipart. Computer graphics metafile (.cgm) Placing graphics Although it is easiest to cut and paste, drag and drop from a browser or scan directly into the document, these methods can make it impossible to manipulate the image afterwards if required. If possible supply the graphic in its native format as well. For instance, rather than scanning directly into your document, scan the image and save it as a tiff. Import the tiff into your document and then supply both the doc and the tiff files. Likewise embedding a native document into another (such as copying an Exel chart into Word) often causes problems when transferred between computers. Adobe Acrobat We can also accept artwork supplied on disc as Adobe Acrobat files (.pdf). This is a format developed by Adobe that allows documents to be transferred between computers without the need to have the appropriate software and fonts loaded. When exporting please use the 'Press' option if possible. If you cannot then please discuss with us the options that should be set. If you require us to email a proof to you then we will normally use this format. To view or print the proof you require Adobe Acrobat Reader (which you are likely to already have loaded on your computer as many help documents are in .pdf format). It is freely available from www.adobe.com Hard Copy As Artwork If you are supplying us with hard copy to use as artwork then it should, ideally, be a clear and sharp black and white print. As a general rule the quality of what you supply is what you will get - it rarely gets better. The artwork should be same size - enlarging or reducing can be done but it adds to the work involved and can affect the quality and the cost. Ask how the job should be pasted up and what gutter should be allowed. Each sheet should only be printed on one side. Supply crop marks if possible. A laser printer is best for artwork. If you are using tints (see colour) then a value of between 10% and 60% will give the best results. If you have the facility to adjust the line screen, then we recommend using a coarse screen of between 60 to 85 lpi (though for best results we recommend that tints are output to film). If you are using an inkjet then the use of photo-quality inkjet paper will greatly improve the sharpness. Tints should be avoided if the artwork will be output on an inkjet as the dots used are too small for the camera to pick up. If you are using colour then we require the artwork to be separated (see colour). A colour print is not normally satisfactory as artwork. Photographs We can scan images for you. Photographs can be supplied as print or transparency. It is also possible to scan paintings, etc. up to a certain size. Colour photographs can be converted to black and white (although purists would argue that it is better to supply a black and white original). Images can be reduced or enlarged to a reasonable degree. See section above for supplying on disc. Colour To print in colour (on our commercial litho printing presses) we need to make a printing plate for each colour used. The appropriate ink - either a standard or mixed colour - is then run up on the press and printed. To produce each plate an artwork or film needs to be produced for each colour. These are called separations and it is in the production of these that professional page-layout programs come into their own. Colour is a very sensitive subject and it should be remembered that an absolute match may not always be possible. Differences in pigment, lighting, age, substrate are just some of the things that can cause colour variation. Also colours will vary depending on the device you are using - for example, a given colour will look slightly different on screen to an inkjet print and different again when printed litho. We are always happy to show you our colour swatches for you to choose from and samples of previously printed work so you can get a good idea of how a colour will look. A colour can be achieved in three ways:- Spot Colour. This is when a standard coloured ink, or an ink mixed from two or more standard colours, is run on the printing press. Any number of spot colours can be used, each requiring a colour separated plate. This is cost effective, accurate and gives excellent quality. Obviously the more colours used the more expensive the job will get. The use of one colour (other than black) often gives a job a more professional look. For a really impressive image use two or more colours. Tint. This is a method of producing a lighter version of a colour by using tiny dots of a given size to give the appearance of a tint (sometimes called half-tones). The degree of tint is expressed as a percentage, but how each tint will appear is dependent on the base colour and the colour of the paper. For instance a 20% tint of black would give a mid grey. Tints of less than 10% or more than 60% are not recommended. For best results tints should be output to film which is slightly more expensive. However they are a very cost effective way of adding depth to a design without the expense of a separate colour working Process Also called four colour process or full colour, this is the method by which colour photographs are produced. Four colours are used - Cyan (a lightish blue), magenta, yellow and black (often abbreviated to CMYK) and in theory by printing these, or tints of these colours over one another any colour can be made. There are limitations - the paper would normally be a white coated paper that needs careful handling (perhaps varnishing etc) and some colours do not work that well, particularly orange. Depending on the job we may recommend that a process job is printed through the trade on specialist machinery. Whilst it can be relatively expensive, process is the only way to produce colour photographs or multi-colour images. If you are intending to use process colour we strongly recommend using a professional page-layout program or let us to do the typesetting.