Artwork FAQ's
All I have is an idea for my design, do you do custom artwork?
We
can create original Logos, layout, and artwork for you, or we can
use an existing design that you have created. Many large
Clip-art libraries are available to us for use in the design. Visit
sites like these to help you find the images you are looking for:
Photo
and vector image sites
clipart.com
istockphoto.com
Embroidery design site
dakotacollectibles.com
How
much do you charge for artwork creation?
Artwork creation fees start at $35 an hour.
I have my own design.
What type of file should I send?
When
submitting designs, please keep a few things in mind that may
save you money:
We prefer certain file formats over others because of their
reliability and our own software tools.
Any cleanup or reworking
of the original art files by our designers will add more cost
to the final price of the project.
A quick crash course in design terminology:
Raster art: Raster art is the standard term for a pixel
based image.
Raster files are more suited to photographs or images with
a large amount of detail. A JPG or GIF is an example of raster
art, in which tiny blocks of color
make up the image. The more block density that you have
the higher the overall resolution. A 72 dpi image 1" X
1" is made
up of 5184 (72x72) blocks of color. if increased to 5"x5" it
still contains 5184 blocks of color information. The larger
the blocks the more jagged the image appears. Because your
computer
monitor only
displays at 72 dpi, a picture that looks acceptable on
the screen will not necessarily look good printed. A good
resolution
for most print projects is around 300 dpi. At this resolution
the pixels are no longer visible to the human eye. Any
photos or
scans
that are submitted for artwork should be sent at the needed
size and resolution for final production.
Vector art: A vector image is made of mathematically
defined lines and shapes that are assigned properties such as color
and stroke.
This
allows the shapes to be rotated and transformed easily allowing
you to share full control of a composition. In the raster definition
the
computer sees a raster file as many tiny little color blocks that
make up an image. Because the computer has to store each block in
memory,
file sizes can get large even on simple images. A vector image
is different because the computer defines the shape and its characteristics.
A 1" square
with a fill color of black will be the same file size at 5" inches
without a loss of definition.
Proof: an example from the designer to the client of artwork that
is being submitted for approval.
Production ready art: Artwork that can be used immediately by our
designers without any cleanup or reworking of the original file.
Non-production ready art: Artwork that is not print ready. Our designers
have to take the time to redraw or clean up some artwork to make it
acceptable for production. This will usually result in a design fee
being added onto the project.
If available, do you prefer vector art or raster art?
When
available we prefer vector art over raster for most projects. All
type and logos should be
in vector format.
If you are
using a font
that is unusual or proprietary, please include the actual font file
with your order or change your font into vector outlines using your
design software (in illustrator select type and use the "create
outlines" function in your type menu). If raster elements are
used they should be at least 300 dpi and the size of the final print.
Make sure that any raster files used are embedded into the final output
file, because some programs just link to graphic files on you computer
instead of saving them within that file.
Acceptable Production Ready Vector file formats:
(all of these programs can contain raster and vector art within the
same file)
Corel Draw 12 and earlier
Adobe illustrator cs and earlier
PDF
EPS
Acceptable raster art
(300dpi or better at print size)
PDF
TIFF
Non-production ready files:
(Use of these files will typically result in artwork charges)
Word
Excel
Publisher
Freehand
JPEG
GIF
WMF
Scanned images
Page layout files (Quark, InDesign, PageMaker)