Designing For Print

At SonicPrint we recognize that by streamlining the prepress and graphic design process we are able to spend less time fixing problem files, which results in significant savings for our customers.

From years of experience with art files, we've seen the same common pitfalls that can ruin a client's day and be costly for everyone. This guide shows the most common mistakes we experience on a day to day basis.

File Types We Recommend Acrobat PDF (Flattened) Tiff (with Zip Compression) JPG w/ Maximum quality Any Rasterized/Bitmapped 300dpi file File Types We DO NOT Recommend Publisher Documents Corel Draw Print Shop/Paint Shop Any MS Office program

Additional File Types We Accept Acrobat PDF unflattened Adobe Illustrator w/ fonts outlined Adobe Photoshop (flattened) EPS or PS with fonts outlined File types that require exporting to PDF/TIF: Quark Indesign Corel Draw Publisher

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Flattened PDF is the BEST printable file

In the last 5 years PDF has become the preferred print file. A flattened PDF can be achieved through ALL current design software suites. If not, you can use acrobat or distiller to convert your file to PDF. If you do not have Acrobat, there are many shareware PDF programs available. By using PDF we eliminate the risk of embedded fonts, overly compressed images, and other nasty problems.

Why Publisher and other MS programs are BAD!

Although we provide Publisher templates because of customer demand, we really don't recommend it as a design program. Without getting too techinical- Publisher is NOT a professional design program, and will leave many problems with your files that we will be unable to fix. Namely, the JPG compression automatically compresses at the lowest quality possible, leaving your files blurry. Secondly, all text in Publisher or other MS programs are output as a "4 Color Black" which causes your small text to be fuzzy and at times unreadable.
If you are using Publisher because of a budget concern and would rather have a professional designer for your art, please contact us. We would rather substantially discount our design fees, over accepting substandard art / print files due to a software deficiency.

Tips For Quality Print Output:

What to know before you print...

Please read these guidelines very carefully! Although we check all of our customer files for problems, we are not responsible for customers that submit incorrect artwork. To insure proper output, please follow all guidelines and use our templates! If you have any questions regarding your files, please review our design tips and design guidline documents in our customer help center.

Download our design templates!

Resolution
We are a high resolution printer so we require all submitted files to be 300dpi (Dots Per Inch). If you design a job at 72dpi or lower we cannot use the file. Our prepress will resize it to 300dpi therefore "stretching" the image out. See the example below where one image was created at 300dpi, the other was created at 72dpi and then stretched out to 300dpi



Bleed, Trim & Safety
Bleed
About 1/8” on all sides will be trimmed off. Everything that extends past the original canvas size is considered a bleed. Make sure you do not have any important content in this area. Adjust your canvas size to compensate for this; allow another 1/8”. (See Size)

Although our cutting staff is extremely precise, we can not guarantee any print job cuts with out the added bleed. There are no exceptions. Also, please keep your text at least 1/4" away from the edge of the piece unless it is an eighth page or smaller. This way your text is in a "safe" area. If you have any questions regarding this policy you may call us, or use our design templates located on our website.

Trim
The trim area is a space of 1/8" after the bleed. Its purpose is to separate any text or important content from the edge.

Safety
The safety area is the space where its "safe" to put your layout, design and content.





Size
Your print files should be designed in the size that is being ordered. We assume that you desire what you have ordered, and files will be re-sized in accordance to the job. We will not stretch and enlarge a file unless at your request. For example a 4.25"x5.5" quarter page ordered as a 4"x6" postcard will print as a 4"x6" Please refer to our Design Templates for exact sizes and formats.

Borders
If your job is requires a border, please note that in order to have your border exact, we recommend ATLEAST a minimum of .25" on all sides. Our cutters are specialists in their field, however due to paper shift, we can not guarantee it would be exactly balanced on all sides.

Color
There are two types of color spaces that are used for graphic and print design:

RGB
(Red, Green, Blue) These are the colors your monitor uses to display everything.

CMYK
(Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black) These are the colors used for printing.

Color shifts are usually not visible in color photographs; however, rich and solid colors (like a background) can be affected by a color conversion. Most of the time, color shifts are minor and may not be noticeable.



Using the color BLACK
Rich Black
Large, solid black areas and text over 36 points should use Rich Black to prevent the color looking gray. Rich Black consists of 30% Cyan, 30% Magenta, 30% Yellow, 100% Black. For regular body text, do not use Rich Black.

4 Color Build Black
If you have small, thin text on your piece, it is STRONGLY recommended that you do not use 4-color build black on your piece. Although, using a 4-color black is recommended on larger areas, using 4-color text on small areas will make your text blurry and at times, unreadable.

Process printing uses 4 plates that overlay to make your full color spectrum on your paper. Although precise, the registration of the 4-plates will shift during the print process. If you use all 4 colors to create your black, they will not line-up precisely, creating a ghosting affect.

This is especially evident on small text, or small lines 12pt and smaller. In order to fix this, we require that all small text be created as 100% black, 0% Cyan, Magenta, Yellow. This way, as plates shift, it will not affect the black color.

Please view this picture for an example.

Fonts
Convert fonts to paths when possible. By converting fonts to paths in programs like Illustrator and FreeHand, you will avoid having to send the fonts with your files. When converting to paths, the text becomes a vector shape and will look no different than its original state.

In Photoshop, text can be rasterized and therefore does not need the fonts. Keep in mind that after rasterizing text, no changes can be made to the text.

If your fonts are not converted to paths or rasterized, your design may not be viewed the way it was meant to be seen.

File Names
In order to make the pre-flight process more efficient, please use unique file names for files you are submitting. The file name should reflect the job name that was given when ordering. Example: jsmith_4x6_front.pdf

Image on Both Sides
Let us know during the ordering process if you want your project printed with the same image on both sides. If we are not notified early in the project and receive only one file, your project could be delayed in order to locate the second file. If we receive two of the same file, your project could be delayed until you verify that both sides are to be printed with the same image.

Instructions For Exporting From Design Programs