File Preparation

Preparation of Printing files

The best choice for graphic elements is vector files. This format allows scaling of the graphic without loss of resolution at any scale. At which point the only limitation of resolution is the printing equipment itself.

You can find information to produce your files on the product pages listed on this website. If you do not see the specific information you are seeking please contact us directly with your inquiry and someone will get back to you as soon as possible.

Lots of clients bring us art files with the intent of printing them at various sizes. Usually we are unable to provide an adequate printed piece due to poor file formatting or a lack of understanding of art requirements specifically resolution. This also happens with a few designers who are recent graduates entering the field of print and web design who have not acquired a cohesive understanding of all the different types of file requirements for various printing equipment and methods.

Naming Convention

Best format for your file names would be an acronym for your company/yourself_product being produced_and side of product being printed.

Example: NG_BC_Front_GeorgeN.pdf & NG_BC_Back.pdf
(which translates out to this: Neolith Graphics_Business Card_Front_Who for.pdf) Universal pieces say for instance the back of a business card that will be the same for everyone does not need a "who for" designator.

You have a 64 character limit in file names and you cannot use spaces or illegal characters such as !@#$%^&*().

One Sided Coatings

If you are only getting one side of a product coated make that side the "Front" side of your print file. As we default to front, single side coating. Mixed coatings (UV Gloss and Aqueous Matte) are not available for printed products at this time.

PDF Output

You have relatively two choices that I have found to work best for me on our equipment. When Saving PDF's from your favorite graphics editor you can choose [Press Quality] or use the following alterations to the press quality setting, which is what I use 99% of the time for my offset press work:

Adobe PDF Preset: Neolith CMYK Baseline Settings
Compatibility: Acrobat 5 (PDF 1.4)
Standard: None

Description
Use these settings to create Adobe PDF documents best suited for high-quality prepress printing.  Created PDF documents can be opened with Acrobat and Adobe Reader 5.0 and later.

General
Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities: On (this can be set to "Off" if you so choose)
Embed Page Thumbnails: Off
Optimize for Fast Web View: On

Compression
 Color Bitmap Images:
  Bicubic Downsampling
  Resolution: 300 ppi
  For Image Above: 450 ppi
  Compression: JPEG
  Image Quality: Maximum
 Grayscale Bitmap Images:
  Bicubic Downsampling
  Resolution: 300 ppi
  For Image Above: 450
  Compression: Automatic (JPEG)
  Image Quality: Maximum
 Monochrome Bitmap Images:
  Bicubic Downsampling
  Resolution: 1200 ppi
  For Image Above: 1800 ppi
  Compression: CCITT Group 4
  Compress Text and Line Art: On

Marks and Bleeds
 Trim Marks: Off
 Registration Marks: Off
 Color Bars: Off
 Page Information: Off
 Printer Mark Type: Roman
 Trim Mark Weight: 0.003 in
 Offset from Artboard: 0.083 in
 Bleed Left: 0 in
 Bleed Bottom: 0 in
 Bleed Right: 0 in
 Bleed Top: 0 in

Output
 Color:
  Color Conversion: Convert To Destination
  Destination: U.S. Web Coated (SWOP) v2
  Profile Inclusion Policy: Include Destination Profile
 PDF/X:
  Output Intent Profile Name:
  N/A
  N/A
  N/A
 Mark as Trapped: Off

Advanced
 Subset embedded fonts below: 100 %

Security
 Document Open Password: Off
 Permissions Password: Off
 Encryption Level: High (128-bit RC4) - Acrobat 5 and later

Remember: We are not responsible for client supplied artwork. Too many variable exist between your equipment, software, and technical expertise for us to guarantee an accurate print result or color reproduction. 

Colors vary from print run to print run and if an ink change happens during a split run there will most likely be a variation in the hue of your printed product. We see this occassionally and most of the time it's barely noticeable, other times that's not the case. We make every effort to get a closest match to your color specifications but there is no possible way to guarantee an exact match.

If you require an exact match in color you will need to specifiy this up front and factor in the increased costs of an exclusive run. Exclusive runs start with a set up fee of not less than $4,000.00 and a piece count of not less than 10,000 pieces.