Artwork Applications:

Adobe Illustrator - Macintosh or IBM Compatible
Change all text into "outlines" in your document. 
Color your text and graphics with standard Pantone or CMYK color mixes. 
If you are using an imported graphic in your Illustrator document, be sure to include the original graphic file. Place graphics at 100%. 
Save the file as an Illustrator EPS, selecting version 6.0 or higher when given the option. Save and create artwork in Vector Format 

Adobe Photoshop - Macintosh or IBM Compatible
Files must be saved as a Macintosh TIFF with no LZW compression. 
Do not color an image in Photoshop. 
Please submit black and white bitmap images at 600 dpi or higher. 
Images that come to us at lower resolutions than what is recommended will be output as sent. We can not raise the resolution successfully 
Color all text and graphics according to standard Pantone or CMYK color mixes in a layout application (like QuarkXPress or PageMaker). 
All files need to be submitted at the size being used for printing. 
For business cards, if bleeds are needed, allow 1/8" on each applicable side in a layout application. 

Corel draw - IBM Compatible (MUST be exported to Illustrator format)
Always export your files according to the following specifications and be sure to include your supporting graphics when sending to us. 
When creating your files, please create only one page per document. Pages after the first one are lost when exported. 
Color all text and graphics with standard Pantone or CMYK color mixes. 
Place all graphics at 100%. 
Export as an EPS file. 
Always select the "text to curves" option to eliminate font information from your file.

Macromedia FreeHand - Macintosh or IBM Compatible
Be sure to "convert to paths" all text characters in your document. 
Color your text and graphics with standard Pantone or CMYK color mixes. 
If you are using an imported graphic in your FreeHand document, be sure to include the original graphic file colored correctly. 
Place graphics at 100%. 
Export the file as an EPS.



Artwork Formats:

AI - (Accepted)
Adobe Illustrator File, the very best in quality to recreate your artwork in the printing process.

Bitmap files
Images are exactly what their name says they are: a collection of bits that form an image. The image consists of a matrix of individual dots (or pixels) that all have their own color (described using bits, the smallest possible units of information for a computer). Unless these are in very large sized resolution (600 DPI or better), they are unusable in the printing process.

BMP - (Not Accepted)
A generally low resolution Image format. This format will not work to use in the printing process.

Doc - (Usually Not Usable)
Word doc files can only be used if you would like to display typeset text. Any images in a word doc will not be able to be printed correctly. 

EPS - (Accepted)
Encapsulated Postscript file: An alternative picture file format that allows PostScript data to be stored and edited and is easy to transfer between Macintosh, Windows machines, and other systems.

GIF - (Not Accepted)
Commonly used on the web due to it's ability to reduce the number of colors an image uses to be viewed to save webpage load time. This format will not work to use in the printing process.

JPG - (Not Accepted)
Commonly used on the web due to it's excellent ability to compress the graphic to save webpage load time. This format will not work to use in the printing process.

Mechanical Artwork
The traditional standard for acceptable mechanical artwork that is "camera-ready black and white" material

Metafile
A collection of structures that store a picture in a device- independent format. Device independence is the one feature that sets metafiles apart from bitmaps. Unlike a bitmap, a metafile guarantees device independence. There is a drawback to metafiles, because they are generally drawn more slowly than bitmaps. Therefore, if an application requires fast drawing and device independence is not an issue, it should use bitmaps instead of metafiles.

Page Layout Documents
The font files and document preferences that need to be supplied for use on the supplier’s end in case they do not have a rare or special font that you would like to use.

(PDF) files
Adobe® Portable Document Format preserve the visually rich content of original files, and are easier to read than HTML content that appears in a Web browser. Adobe PDF files print cleanly and quickly, and anyone can share Adobe PDF files, regardless of their platform or software application. This is good to show the end result you would like, but usually not good for sending artwork that needs to be printed.

TIFF - (Accepted)
Tagged Image File Format file: A file format for exchanging bitmapped images between different applications.

Vector files
Sometimes called a geometric file, most images created with tools such as Adobe Illustrator and CorelDraw are in the form of vector image files. Vector image files are easier to modify than raster image files. (which can, however, sometimes be reconverted to vector files for further refinement) Another way to look at it is that every pixel in the image has an X and a Y axis, this allows easy resizing without loss of quality.

Web Pages- (Not Usable)
As a general rule, if it can be viewed on the web it will most likely be too low of quality for printing. Web graphics are made to load quickly, thereby cutting the quality of the image. The eye may not notice on the web, but it will show up in printing.



File Sizes:
All Files must be a minimum of 600 DPI (Dots Per Inch), this will usually be a very large file. If the image you plan to send is on a webpage, there is a 98% chance that it is too small for use in printing. Please make sure you contact the designer of the image for the original large version of the image. Many customers experience problems Emailing large files due to their servers file size limits, you may feel free to use the upload link to use our server bandwidth to send your logo to us.



Fonts:
If you are using a special font, it is critical that you include the font when sending your artwork, you may select the font by finding it in your font directory and saving it to your desktop, then attach it with your artwork when sending. If you use the Style palette to modify your font, it must be converted to outlines, or saved as a rasterized flat layer image.