Printing Tips

We accept files of all kinds at ColourTime. We don't limit ourselves or our customers by restricting the types of files you send to us, however, there are things that you can do to make your files alot easier to work with and ensure that your next order with us looks as good as you picture it in your mind.

* All the following steps and information apply to all general design programs on both the Mac and PC platforms, unless specified.

1. Laying out your file
Always design your document to it's finished size. All design programs have a page set-up menu where you can designate page size. (i.e. letter, tabloid, legal, envelope. etc.) If your document is a custom size, choose custom or enter the size values in the page setup menu.
Keep in mind that if you are creating large posters (48 inches or larger) some programs might not allow you work with such a large size. In this case, prepare the file at half size or quarter size, we can enlarge the file in our prepress department.

2. Placing links to images and embedding images
When using page layout programs, most times you'll be placing type and photos together. Placing a link to an image and then including the original image along with the document using that image is always preferred to embedding (or placing the image in its entirety) into the document. Please note, programs like Microsoft Publisher automatically embed images, while Programs like Quark X-press automatically place links to original images. Programs like Adobe Illustrator give you the choice of either embedding or placing a link to the original image. As a general rule, placing links is better because you can still edit the original image easily and update the page layout program. An embedded image is always more difficult to work with as you can no longer edit the image once it is embedded.

3. Fonts
Always include all the fonts that you have used in a document. This is extremely critical for maintaining a documents look and feel. Mac fonts usually reside in the system folder in a specified folders called conveniently enough...fonts. PC Windows users can find their true type fonts in the C:\windows\fonts folder.
Programs like In-design and Quark X-press will allow you to collect fonts as part of the Package option. This makes collecting your fonts alot less troublesome, the program will do it for you.

A great link to information on printing file preparation can be found here.

Generally speaking, scanning and digital cameras are the most popular methods of acquiring images to use in digital documents. When you use images in your documents, obviously you would want the digital file to look as sharp and as clear as possible. Here are several tips to ensure that the images you send us are as good as they can be...

Scanning

If you have a photograph that you want to use in your digital documents, and you want to ensure that the resolution or quality of the scan is acceptable then follow these simple instructions.
The most basic of rules, is to scan at 300dpi for printing. DPI stands for Dots Per Inch, and 300 is quite a few dots in an inch. If your image has been scanned and it's at 100% of it's finished size then 300 dpi will get you good results.

A couple things to remember:

• The higher the DPI the more disk space the image will occupy, which in turn means slower performance when manipulating that image and longer amounts of time to print the document.
• Stay away from 72dpi images  unless you are preparing images for the internet.
• Scan in RGB mode and convert to CMYK in photoshop unless you are using Microsoft Word or Powerpoint.