We recommend the guidelines described below for creating and supplying digital files.

SOFTWARE:
Use industry standard professional graphics software as follows:
Page layout: Quark Xpress, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Pagemaker, Adobe Distiller. Illustration/Drawing: Adobe Illustrator, Freehand, Coreldraw. Photo manipulation: Adobe Photoshop.

Tip: Avoid using software like Microsoft Word or Publisher to produce final artwork as these ‘low-end’ programs often give inconsistent and poor results. Always use software for the purpose they are intended and don’t be tempted to use Excel (spreadsheet software), Dreamweaver (web site software) or any other nongraphics programmes to produce final artwork.

FONTS:
We recommend that you use Postscript fonts wherever possible rather than TrueType in your artwork. TrueType (especially Wingdings and Webdings) can cause your text to re-flow or even strange characters to appear in final output. Always obtain your fonts from respected vendors such as Adobe and never use free fonts downloaded from websites or given away on promotional discs.

GRAPHICS:
All associated graphics (logos, images, illustrations etc) for your artwork should be supplied in the following formats: Tiff, eps or jpeg. Lineart/bitmap tiff’s at minimum 1200dpi resolution.

Colour/greyscale tiffs and jpegs at minimum 300dpi resolution. Vector graphics created in programs like Adobe Illustrator and Freehand are resolution independent - this means they can be enlarged and reduced in size without loss of quality. Never use graphics taken from web pages as gifs and web jpegs are very low resolution and not suitable for print reproduction. If you are supplying your completed job as a press ready PDF, please ensure that all fonts are embedded and that you have conformed with the above instructions. Tip: When placing non-vector images (cmyk/grayscale tiffs, eps or jpegs) in your layout, always place as close to 100% size and never enlarge by more than 120% as this will reduce picture quality. Also be careful when formatting jpegs as over compressing images will reduce picture quality.

MEDIA:
Once your artwork is complete and ready for print you can supply your job on the following media: Floppy disc, CD, DVD, external USB/Firewire drives. Alternatively you can send your jobs via the internet by email (under 10mb) or by FTP for larger files. See our website for details.

PROOFS:
Every job should be supplied with a full set of separated or composite proofs/prints.This is to enable the printer to check that the artwork has been supplied correctly.