Preparing Your Files
General Specifications for Preparing Press-Ready Digital Files
These general specifications are for complete, press-ready digital files. They must be met in order to process your job. Please review the five general specifications below as well as the application specifications carefully.
Color Mode
All color artwork and/or images must be provided in CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) color mode. All black & white artwork and/or images must be provided in grayscale color mode. Read more about color
Resolution
All file formats must have a minimum of 300 dpi (dot per inch) resolution. Read more about resolution
Bleeds & Margins
Prepare your press-ready digital files by adding 0.125" dimensions to your document size. Read more about bleed
Fonts
Whenever possible outline all fonts, otherwise all used fonts must be collected. If font's cannot be outlined, be sure to include both screen and printer fonts. When collecting fonts, be sure to collect screen and printer fonts.
Do not stylize or use Multiple Masters fonts. Stylizing fonts in programs like Quark Xpress is not recommended and may cause output problems.
*Stylizing fonts by selecting the stylize buttons like italicize in programs like Quark Xpress is not recommended. If available, select the stylized font in the font menu instead.
Use only PostScript type 1 fonts. True Type fonts may be supplied, but we recommend against using them since we cannot guarantee their integrity in our systems.
Other Specifications
For all lines and rules, be sure the thickness is no less than 0.25 pts. Lines less than this value may not print properly or may be converted by our servers.
Templates
All files should be built using correct formatted templates. These templates should include marks that are important to the production of your job.
Please note that for all UV coated jobs, the side labeled "front" or indicated as "page 1" will be UV coated. Sides labeled "back" or indicated as "page 2" will not be coated.
Important: Digital files not meeting these specifications may be returned and corrections will be requested in order to proceed with your job. Not meeting these specifications will delay your order, or may add additional costs.
Application Specifications
Guilderland Printing will accept native digital files from the list below:
1. Adobe Illustrator®
2. Adobe InDesign®
3. Adobe Photoshop®
4. QuarkXpress®
Note: Digital files created in any Microsoft program (Expression Studio, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Paint, etc) are not supported. This also includes PDFs created within any Microsoft program. You may submit files from these sources, but it is at your own risk.
Submit a PDF! Review our PDF specifications for alternate applications.
Black & White Artwork
All black & white artwork and/or images must be provided in grayscale.
Scanned Images
Image resolution is important for quality results. If you scan any photographic images, you should scan them at a minimum 350 dpi (dots per inch) and at the actual size you intend to print them. All scanned images should be submitted as CMYK images in EPS or TIFF file format.
*Scanning photographic images at a larger resolution than 350 will not help to increase the quality of your raster image. It only makes the file size larger than they need to be and may introduce more problems to your file. Larger resolutions are required only for line art.
Line Art
Line art images (1-bit tifs) should be scanned at a minimum 600dpi (1200dpi preferred) and at the actual size to be printed.
Low Resolution Images
Beware of using images saved as JPEGs and used on web sites. Images used on web sites are optimized for screen/monitor viewing. These images tend to be only 72 dpi and are too low of a resolution for commercial printing.
*Your monitor displays images between 72 and 96 dpi. To adequately view print resolution on a monitor, you should zoom in 400%.
If an image is low resolution can I increase the resolution in Photoshop?
No, you should never increase the total pixel dimension of the image. Your computer will try to interpolate (calculate and add) pixels that are not there. The result will be a printed image that looks fuzzy and blurry.Images interpolated to 350 dpi will print fuzzy and blurry!
To correct a low resolution image, you need to re-scan your image at 350 dpi and at the actual size you intend to print them. Beware, scaling your images up when placing them in layout programs (Quark Xpress or InDesign) will lower the image resolution.
