FAQs

We recommend standard professional graphics software as follows: Page layout: Quark Xpress, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Pagemaker, Adobe Distiller.

Illustration/Drawing: Adobe Illustrator, Freehand, Coreldraw. Photo manipulation: Adobe Photoshop.

Tip: Avoid using software like Microsoft Word or Publisher to produce final artwork as these ‘low-end’ programs often give inconsistent and poor results. Don’t be tempted to use Excel (spreadsheet software), Dreamweaver (web site software) or any other nongraphics programmes to produce final artwork.

We recommend that you use Postscript fonts wherever possible rather than TrueType in your artwork. TrueType (especially Wingdings and Webdings) can cause your text to re-flow or even strange characters to appear in final output. Always obtain your fonts from respected vendors such as Adobe and never use free fonts downloaded from websites or given away on promotional discs.

If you are supplying your completed job as a press ready PDF, please ensure that all fonts are embedded and that you have conformed with the above instructions

All associated graphics (logos, images, illustrations etc) for your artwork should be supplied in the following formats: Tiff, eps or jpeg. Lineart/bitmap tiff’s at minimum 1200dpi resolution. Colour/greyscale tiffs and jpegs should be of minimum 300dpi resolution.

Vector graphics created in programs like Adobe Illustrator and Freehand are resolution independent - this means they can be enlarged and reduced in size without loss of quality.

Never use graphics taken from web pages as gifs and web jpegs are very low resolution and not suitable for print reproduction.

Tip: When placing non-vector images (cmyk/grayscale tiffs, eps or jpegs) in your layout, always place as close to 100% size and never enlarge more as this will reduce picture quality. Also be careful when formatting jpegs as over compressing images will reduce picture quality.