Most graphic design programs will provide pdf’s save the highest resolution pdf your program will allow, usually “for print”. Newer Adobe programs provide X-1A PDFs, which flattens the layers. Check your pdf carefully to be sure it has been converted correctly.
Images of your designs should be 72-150dpi in resolution at 100% print size. Give us your file at full size with no bleeds. If your print needs to be larger than the program’s maximum page size, set it up at half size or even quarter size and we will scale it up. If you want to send us the native file:
Program file type needs:
Photoshop: Flatten your image and send us RGB tif files, set up to actual size and at 72-150dpi resolution. LZW compression on tif files is lossless and will make them smaller when you upload them. If you have control over the color profile associated with the file, use sRGB.
If you really want to send us a jpg, make it the highest quality you can. The lower quality jpg you make, the less vibrant the color.
Illustrator: Save as a “print-ready” PDF.
CorelDraw: Convert your type to curves and send us the cdr file. You can also export to PDF.
PowerPoint: We can generally achieve great results from PowerPoint. One common concern is that it will not let you set a page size larger than 56″ in either dimension, so set things up at half size if they need to be larger, for example, a 48×72 poster set up at 24×36. We will then print it at 200%.
Quark: Collect your file for output and then stuff the folder so we only have one file to deal with as it comes in. Quark also makes a good pdf, be sure you give us the highest resolution pdf it will make.
Publisher: Do not set up pages larger than 30×40. If you need something larger than that, set it up at half or quarter size and we will expand it here. Publisher allows you to set up larger pages, but it cannot address printer dimensions that large.