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File Submission Guide

We strongly encourage maintaining a close contact with our pre-press department as early as possible in the process. Direct dialogue with the individual preparing the file will help to avoid delays, additional costs and ensure that your printed piece is of the best quality.

Native application file formats (Mac)

QuarkXpress up to v. 6.5
llustrator up to v. CS (11)
InDesign up to v. CS2 (4.0)
Page Maker 6.5 PC

Other
Corel and Freehand files are acceptable as long as they are saved as Illustrator EPS files, with all the fonts attached or the text converted to curves (preferable). We can also accept print-ready PostScript files from other applications. Please contact us about the proper way of preparing these files. Acrobat PDF are acceptable as proofs, as well as final files if they have been generated with the 'press' settings, and include all fonts, bleeds and trim marks.
Supporting file formats

Pictures
TIF
Photoshop EPS (only needed if clipping path is present and used)
DCS (1 or 2.0)

Vector art (ie. logos)
Illustrator EPS (up to v. CS)

Fonts
Mac format Type 1
Mac format True Type (avoid mixing with Type 1 in the same job)
Open Type and PC True Type
(Miltiple Master fonts are to be avoided, Adobe does not support them anymore)

Media and delivery
CD-R Mac format
CD-R PC format with ‘Joliet extensions’ (in order to preserve long file names)
DVD-ROM
E-mail (compressed with Winzip or Stuff-It)
FTP post (compressed with Winzip or Stuff-It)
Resize, Proofs and file construction
Document size should be set to the trim size of the printed page. Bleed (if applicable) should be 1/8 inch. Repositioning of page elements may become very expensive.

Important: Every file must be accompanied by a 100% (if possible) composite proof (greyscale or colour) and separations for files with spot colours (including varnishes and dielines). Separations of CMYK files would be very helpful (for the designer too). If the job is submitted by e-mail, a PDF from the originating application is desirable.

If your printed piece requires folding, a properly folded mock-up is necessary.

Avoid composing a multi page document in printer spreads (which will increase time needed for imposition), unless there is a specific reason for that.

Please do not…
Send pictures embedded in MS Office documents (e.g. Word)
Use pictures extracted from web pages
Use low resolution and/or low quality pictures (especially JPGs)
Things to avoid

The following may result in substantial delay in processing your files and may require re-quoting your project:

Fonts and/or pictures missing
Unnecessary channels in Photoshop files
Unused elements and/or colours in Illustrator EPS files
Unused objects left on QuarkXPress paster-board
Unused colours / inks
Improperly defined colours (spot instead of CMYK and vice versa)
Photoshop EPS files saved with JPEG compression
RGB images or colours
Trapping of EPS vector artwork not placed at 100%
‘White’ overprinting
Extreme reduction or enlargement (more than 50%) of photos or artwork
Background of ‘none’ in Quark picture boxes (except for EPS pictures with clipping path)
Style attributes applied to fonts (bold, italic…) instead of using the respective stylized version of the font