Just when you think you know how your printer wants your art files, everything changes when you call another printer and ask the same question.
Native files, Vector art, Hi-Res, EPS, Outlines, Crop marks – Whew!
If you attempt to be a liaison between your printer and your designer you'll feel like you're translating German to Spanish while you only speak English.
Designers that specialize in design for print already know how to submit their art files but frequently we get files from web designers who live in the world of JPGs or even Do-it-yourselfers who love their Publisher, or Word Docs.
Even when the designer submits the native files, you get a call from your printer asking for the fonts, or to have them embed the graphics. Seems like there is no pleasing those demanding printers.
Here is the universal answer to the age-old question about art file submission for printing – PDF!
PDF (Portable Document Format) has been around for a while and we all recognized the icon. It's a means of saving the file so it arrives as intended by the designer.
Advantage to saving as a PDF:
- Fonts and images are embedded (no need to gather them)
- Views the same on all computers
- Smaller file size for easy emailing
Sending any file saved as a PDF does not mean it's good for print, however. It's just a means of saving a file. The original file must still be created in a proper graphic program (like Adobe Illustrator) then saved as a PDF.
For a good print file:
- 300dpi at 100% of size to print
- Provide graphics as scalable vector art
- Add crop marks
- Include fonts and graphics
- Save as PDF
Follow these steps every time and you will not receive any confusing calls from your printer about your files.
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