Artwork / File Set Up

Taken from the Ask Marty Section of our upcoming Newsletter...

No matter how a file arrives at Thermo-Fast, we end up converting it into a pdf file for proofing, imposition and plating. The best way to ensure that your files print as you expect is to send them as press-ready PDFs. As many of you have no doubt already discovered, all PDFs are NOT created equal.

The key concerns are resolution, color, fonts and safe space. For best results, we recommend images be 300 dpi or better. When saving your PDF, make sure it is CMYK (for full color cards) or Spot color for Thermo cards. I can't tell you how many times artwork arrives as an RGB file that needs quite a bit of work before it can be printed. Test print separations before you email your pdf to make sure everything is where it should be, and is separating on the right plate. As for fonts, make sure you are embedding all fonts in your pdf settings, otherwise, though it may look OK on your screen, it could present itself entirely differently to us. Last but not least, give us some space. From the edge of a business card to any copy or logos, we prefer 3/16" of "Safe Space" for trimming. And if your card bleeds, please include crops and 1/8" of bleed all the way around. Some of our Dealers go the extra mile and impose cards for us as they would run them. While this is appreciated, it is unnecessary, and we will more than likely take the file apart and put it back together. We love one-up files.