What print ready means.

Vector vs raster

Every file is one of two kinds. A vector file is made of math: points, lines and curves. You can stretch it from a business card to a 4x8 ft banner and the edges stay sharp.

A raster file is made of pixels. Photos are always raster, and that's fine. The problem is a logo saved as a small raster file. Blow it up and it turns soft, then blocky.

Rule of thumb: logos, text and simple shapes should be vector. Photos can be raster, as long as there are enough pixels for the size you are printing.

Not sure which one you have? Open the file and zoom in to 800 percent. Smooth edges at any zoom means vector. Little squares along the edges means raster. A logo file from your original designer, labeled AI, EPS or SVG, is almost always vector.

File types we can use

Here is what works best, in order:

• PDF for finished layouts. Export with bleed and fonts embedded.
• AI (Adobe Illustrator) for logos and layouts we may need to edit.
• EPS for logos coming out of older software or from a sign company.
• PNG or JPG for photos only, at full resolution.

Two traps. A JPG dropped into a PDF is still a JPG. Saving it as a PDF does not make it vector. And a logo copied off your website is usually built for screens, so it is far too small for print. If that is all you have, see the cleanup section below.

300 DPI at the final size

DPI means dots per inch. For anything held in the hand (cards, flyers, postcards), you want 300 DPI at the size it prints.

The math is simple. A 3.5 x 2 inch business card at 300 DPI needs a file about 1,050 x 600 pixels, plus a little more for bleed. A 4 x 6 postcard needs about 1,200 x 1,800 pixels.

Big signs are viewed from farther away, so large format can usually run at a lower DPI at full size. That is why a 3x6 ft banner does not need a giant 300 DPI file. It still needs a real original, not a phone screenshot.

To check a photo, open it in Photoshop or Preview and look at the image size with resampling turned off. Set it to 300 DPI and read the inches. If the inches come out smaller than your print, the photo is too small. Adding pixels in software makes the file bigger, but it does not add detail. For sizing your banner, see the vinyl banner size guide.

Bleed and safe zone

Printers trim jobs on a cutter, and every cut can drift a hair. Bleed and a safe zone keep that drift from showing.

• Bleed: extend any color or photo 1/8 inch past the trim line on every side. A 3.5 x 2 inch card becomes a 3.75 x 2.25 inch file.
• Safe zone: keep text and logos at least 1/8 inch inside the trim line.
• Banners: our vinyl banners are hemmed and grommeted, so keep words and logos a couple of inches in from the edge.

No bleed means a thin white sliver on the edge. Text in the danger zone means a phone number with a clipped last digit.

Outlined fonts and linked images

If we open your file and don't have your font, the software swaps in another one. Line breaks move and the layout falls apart.

Fix it one of two ways. In Illustrator, convert text to outlines before you send it (keep an editable copy for yourself). In a PDF, embed all fonts on export.

Same idea with photos. Layout apps often link images instead of storing them in the file. Use the package or collect feature, or export a PDF, so the images come along. From Canva, download as PDF Print and check the boxes for crop marks and bleed.

CMYK vs RGB

Screens make color with light in RGB. Presses make color with ink in CMYK. Some screen colors, like neon green and electric blue, have no exact ink match, so they print a little duller.

Build print files in CMYK, or convert before you send them, so you see the shift on your screen first. If your brand has a Pantone color, tell us on the ticket.

One more note on black. Small text should be plain 100 percent black so it stays crisp. Big black areas look richer with a rich black mix. If you are not sure, leave it to us at proof.

When a file does not match the size you ordered

This is the most common problem we see. Someone orders a 3x6 ft banner and sends a square Instagram post, or orders 4 x 6 postcards and sends an 8.5 x 11 flyer.

We check every file's shape and resolution against the requested size on the job ticket. If the proportions are off, we flag it before the proof. Stretching a file to fit warps the logo and the faces, so we never do that.

From there you have choices. Send a new file at the right size, change the size you ordered to match the file, or have us rebuild the layout. If the resolution is too low for the size, we tell you before anything prints.

When design cleanup rates apply

Lots of files need a little work. Here is how we bill it:

• Layout, $45 per hour: resizing to a new shape, adding bleed, moving text out of the trim, setting up a print PDF.
• Graphic design, $65 per hour: rebuilding a blurry logo as vector, cleaning up photos, fixing colors.
• Full project design, $125 per hour: starting a piece from scratch.

If your logo is beyond saving, a new one is $250 flat. Once you have clean vector files, every future order skips this step. See what we print on the printing page and the signs and banners page.

Sending files through the job ticket

Upload files right on the job ticket. It takes 20 files at 100MB each.

• Send originals only. Screenshots, and photos saved from a text thread or social post, lose detail.
• Name files so we can match them to the order, like "front.pdf" and "back.pdf".
• Add a note if colors need to match something you already own, like a truck wrap or a shirt.

If a file is bigger than 100MB, call or text 512-817-2200 and we will sort out another way. Proofs on new jobs come back in 1 to 2 business days. Nothing prints until you approve it.