DESIGN GUIDELINES
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Make sure all artwork is Cyan (C) Magenta (M) Yellow (Y) Black (K). It is best to always design in CMYK rather than Red (R) Green (G) Blue (B) and convert the file later. When you convert from RGB to CMYK the color will shift, usually it becomes darker and not as vibrant. Your computer monitor is RGB, therefore, not everything will look exactly the same from the monitor to print. |
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When you are designing a black and white postcard double check that the file is grayscale and the black is 100% rather than it being a 4-color black. If it is a CMYK black then it will be charged as 4-color or you will be charged design time to convert it to one color. |
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Make sure all artwork is at least 300 DPI. The quality of printing will be higher and clearer. If your design is lower than 300 DPI the image will be choppy and jagged. Trying to increase the resolution that is already low will only make the design and/or image blurry and pixilated. Also, please lay out your design 1-up with no printer’s marks. |
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Never take images off of the web unless you can download them and they say high resolution. Web images are only 72 DPI, RGB and very small. These low-resolution images print very poorly. |
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If your postcard is going to have a bleed, please make sure the bleed is 1/8th inch larger than needed on all sides and that all the content is at least an 1/8th inch away from the final trim size. This will ensure that there is no white edge and no important information gets cuts off. |
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When your designs have any type of line make sure it is not a "hairline," they will not print well. Set the line to at least .25 points or .003 inches in width. Note: A 1 or 2 point line looks great around images! |
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We prefer print optimized PDF’s. It is the most efficient way to make sure you get what you want.
If you cannot submit a PDF this is what we do ACCEPT for files:  Adobe Illustrator EPS or AI - Please convert fonts to outlines and make sure it is CMYK Adobe Photoshop PSD, TIF, or JPG - Make sure the file is at least 300 DPI and CMYK Adobe In Design - Please "Package" your file before sending it to us. It is in the file menu. This grabs all of your fonts, and links to ensure we have everything for printing correctly.  QuarkXPress- If you are in 6.0 please save back to 5.0 and "Collect for Output" in the file menu. Files we DO NOT accept unless exported as print optimized PDF format:
Any type of Multimedia Program i.e. Fireworks, even if converted to PDF or AI file. Web based programs only design in RGB and low resolution. There is no way to change the file and when printed it is not very high quality. |
Corel Draw