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Custom Design, Graphics & File Preparation Guidelines

Let Park Place Printing handle your design needs, or if you prefer, send your existing digital artwork to us for quality production. Before submitting your artwork, please follow our guidelines below to ensure that your files print correctly.

- Business Cards
- Booklets
- Bookmarks
- Brochures
- Calendars
- Catalogs
- Special Shapes
- Tent Cards

- CD Packages
- Club Flyers
- Collectors Cards
- Door Hangers
- DVD Packages
- Envelopes
- Staggered Cut Flyers
- Websites

- Event Tickets
- Flyers
- Hang Tags
- Letterheads
- Mini Menus
- Notepads
- Stickers

- Posters
- Postcards
- Presentation Folders
- Rackcards
- Rolodex Cards
- Roll Labels
- Table Tents

When you need assistance in creating a brand for your business, we’re at your service. Let us help you achieve your vision with custom designs to enhance your brand and market your services. We offer design for print and web marketing. Contact us today! We’d love to work with you to help you grow your business.

For Custom Design...

- Choose the product that suits your needs.
- Next, provide us with all the relevant information pertaining to your message and concept.
- You may send us the images you’d like us to utilize or we can help you choose stock images.
- We will then conceptualize the design, create the files. For PRINT, we will send you the proof via email for approval. For WEB, we will create a home page mock-up design for your approval.
- After final approval, your print product will be printed and shipped to your satisfaction! Your website will go online live.

Do-It-Yourself...Guidelines for Preparing Artwork Files

For best results please follow our guidelines. If you have questions regarding these guidelines or artwork submittal, please email us at artwork@parkplaceprinting.net.

FILE FORMAT: We accept the following file formats:
.ai, .eps, .indd, .jpg, .pdf, .psd, .qxp, .tif, .zip

PROGRAMS:

Current versions of:
- Quark XPress
- InDesign
- Illustrator
- Photoshop

Be Sure To Copy All Parts Of The Project:
- Document/Layout file(s)
- Fonts (screen and printer)
- Graphics (embedded and nested images)
- .tif photos/scans
- .eps files

PREFLIGHT CHECKLIST:
- Convert all type in Illustrator to outlines or paths
- Do not specify a rule weight of hairline. Define as .25 point rule
- Clipping paths should be created in Photoshop
- Page/panel sizes should be created in Photoshop
- Save graphic files in .EPS or .TIF format. Not PICT or GIF
- Place all scans/photos at 100% or smaller (enlargements compromise quality)
- Rotate, scal and crop all images before placing on page
- Include bleed, at least .125” (1/8”) up to .25” (1/4”)
- Proofread all your files. We are not responsible for errors in submitted files.

RESOLUTION: All photo/scans (CMYK/grayscale) must have a minimum of 300 dpi (dot per inch) resolution. The images designed for the web are done at a low screen resolution of 72 dpi. Print images need to be created at 300 dpi or there will be a substantial drop in the image quality. Use 1200 dpi for bitmap line art.

COLOR MODE: In both graphic & page layout programs, all color artwork and/or images must be provided in either “CMYK” (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) color mode or as “SPOT COLOR” and must be specified using the spot PMS color number. All black & white artworks and/or images must be provided in grayscale color mode. Heavy black ink might cause smearing. Make black type 100% black. For vibrant black backgrounds, use “rich” blacks: 60%-C, 40%-M, 40%-Y, 100%-K.

BLEED: What's a bleed? Bleed is the portion of the product that will be trimmed off when it is cut to the final size. Why bleed? The purpose of a bleed is to continue a color, image, or design to the edge of the product. Due to the possibility of shifting in the trimming process, a bleed is required to ensure that a white line does not show on the edges of your product. We automatically trim the bleed off of each side, which will result in the desired trim size. Please build your print-ready digital files by adding the appropriate bleed to your file. Bleed size is at least .125” (1/8”) up to .25” (1/4”).

CROP MARKS: Please build your press-ready digital files by adding crop marks. Lines indicating where the paper should be cut to produce the correct size.

FONTS:
- Fonts must be embedded in PDF files.
- Fonts must be outlined or converted to paths or curves in EPS files.
- Some fonts have copyright restrictions and will not embed in PDF Files

SAFE ZONE: All critical elements (text, images, logos, etc.) must be kept at least 0.125" inside the edge. Anything left close to edge may be cut off during trimming.

COLOR MATCHING DISCLAIMER: (This applies if you see CMYK listed for Product Color or Logo Color)

There are 3 choices when printing CMYK files

1) Provide PMS (Pantone Matching System) colors for us to match to. Having PMS colors is the best choice because when you provide a PMS color we can take our PMS book and check the colors as they are coming out of the printer to make sure they are correct. Picking a PMS color from your computer monitor or source other than a PMS book may not be correct as each computer monitor or laser printer will print colors differently. Also PMS colors are not very helpful for full color images that have gradients or fading colors since each point along the gradient is a different color (we have had some success when receiving a starting PMS color, middle PMS color and ending PMS color for simple gradients). If you have no access to PMS colors then we recommend going to step #2 below.

2) Provide a printed sample with correct colors. Since every printer and every monitor show different colors we can't use what we see on our computer screen or printed by our laser printer to check colors as we don't know that what we are seeing is the color you want. If you provide a letterhead, business card, brochure or computer printout that your customer has confirmed the colors are correct and send us this printout we can match to the colors on that printout. This way as the material comes out of the printer we have a physical sample to compare to.

3) Accept whatever color comes out when we print. This is the worst choice but if you cannot provide either of the above options your only choice is to accept whatever colors come out of our machine since we will have nothing to compare to. In the past we have had blues that printed purple or reds that printed pink or other missed colors and we really don't want to have that happen on your job so we urge you to provide either #1 or #2 above so we can make the best product for you.

Many factors can affect the color shown on your monitors or printouts that are completely outside of our control. Likewise, age, environmental and lighting conditions and more can affect the color shown on a printed Certified PMS Color Chart and its interpretation by the human eye.

If no PMS color or sample is provided for the job at hand, as a printer we will be printing your file blind and we take no responsibility for a color that is not to a client's liking. Without Client Stated PMS Colors, we do not have exacting control of color output.

Please note if you cannot provide a PMS color, we can use printed media such as a business card or other printed products that have been previously produced to match to. This process will take more time and will result in matching from 95% to 100% match.

Some colors are not attainable when printing CMYK process, such as neon colors, metallic colors, ECT.

By signing and faxing proof or replying to the Proof as "approved" you're actively approving to produce product under this CMD (Color Matching Disclaimer).

Please call 888-602-3123 for more information and great pricing.