Digital files
Digital files must be in vector format. That means that every piece of the design had to be created in a vector based program. These programs include Corel Draw, Illustrator and Free Hand. You can not create them in Word or Paint and then save them in Illustrator. Every detail must have been created in one of these programs. To tell if you have a vector image that is suitable for printing, zoom in on it and see if the image looks fuzzy or not. A fuzzy image is bad and a sharp image is good. Check here for sample images. Files must be supplied to us in .CDR, .PDF, .AI or .EPS formats.
Non camera ready art (the cocktail napkin)
Types of non camera ready art
Photocopies of any type
A fax
Business cards or other printed items
Dirty Artwork (smudges or marks)
Continuous tone images; i.e., B&W and color photographs
Original drawings or paintings
Anything for a website
A cocktail napkin or any other scrap of paper with a drawing or idea on it
You can provide us with just about any type of art, some will just take more time to prepare than others. These types of artwork will be the most expensive to prepare for screen printing because of the amount of time it will take to convert them into vector images.
ART CHARGES
We charge $60 per hour for artwork. Here are some common errors in preparing art that will result in art charges.
1. Fonts ~ There are millions of fonts to choose from when designing artwork. Use as many as you want but they must all be converted to outlines in Illustrator or to curves in Corel Draw. A font is like a program, If you use a font that we do not have on any of our systems we will not be able to see it. By converting it you are making the font a vector object that anyone will be able to edit. You can save us hours of work by converting the fonts.
2. PMS Colors ~ All art work needs to be designed with PMS colors not CMYK or RGB. This is for everything including gradients. Depending on the complexity of the job it can take several hours to convert them ourselves.
3. Clipping Masks ~ Do not use! Clipping masks can not be printed. It could take several hours and possible costing hundreds of dollars to correct this problem.
4. Vector ~ And of course everything must be vector.