PRINTING FAQ

Q: My pictures print FUZZY / JAGGY / BAD COLOUR

A:Some of the causes of common problems:

FUZZY: Low resolution pictures will print poorly
JAGGY: JPG/JPEG format (highly compressed) pictures will print poorly (Jaggy & Fuzzy)
BAD COLOUR: Colour Systems can make pictures print poorly (Bad Colour)

We print what you provide. Sometimes photos look good on screen, but just aren't suitable for printing. Some digital cameras are set to low or medium resolution instead of high. We print to different digital presses ($750,000 of equipment), so if the original file is good quality, you will get the very best print possible.

RESOLUTION & COMPRESSION

Resolution (res) is the number of little pieces a digital picture is made of. The more pieces, the better quality the image (usually).

PRINT RESOLUTION: 300 to 600dpi
SCREEN RESOLUTION: 72 to 96dpi

Res is measured in DPI (Dots Per Inch) for printing, and PPI (Pixels Per Inch) for video screens. DPI is often used to decribe both. Though this is technically wrong (Pixels are small and square/rectangular, Dots are large, round blobs of ink), it is perfectly acceptable and generally close enough. But if you want to impress people at parties, you can say ‘ppi’ for video.

Low resolution pictures will print poorly. If your photos or images are less than 300ppi, they will probably be fuzzy and poor quality.

SOLUTIONS:

Do NOT use graphics from the Web (copyright aside, web images are made for the screen, or only 72-96ppi)
Use the TIF format. JPGs throw-away picture info to save space during compression.
When manipulating graphics, only scale down, NOT UP (twice as big = half as sharp)

See eFILEs)

COLOUR

Screens/Monitors use the RGB colour system, printers use CMYK. If your picture will be printed OFFSET, convert to CMYK. Colour is complex, see COLOUR section for more details. Your computer monitor and printer are not calibrated to each other or to our equipment. When we need fairly accurate colour, we use expensive swatch charts to dial in known values. MS Word and Publisher don’t treat photo images very well. If you just want to print out a photo, it is best to bring in the file as a TIF or high-res JPG.

We calibrate our colour machines with a spectrometer daily, but even identical presses cannot be completely calibrated to each other. We use standards, calibration, and professional equipment to come as close as professionally possible.

See COLOUR

Q: My file printed DIFFERENT than at home

A:There are many factors that make printing difficult.

This could be caused by the program you used. MS Word, MS Publisher, and other program files rebuild a document every time it’s opened, so it has different page breaks, fonts, spacing, etc. on different computers. (This could also be because your home printer works differently than our state-of-the-art digital presses. Usually our commercial machines will produce the best possible quality.)

We CANNOT reformat your file while you wait, due to time and job queue constraints. In some cases our Graphic Artists may be able to manipulate the file later. Our standard artwork fee of minimum $16.50 and $66/hr applies. You may want to tidy the file yourself.

SOLUTION:

Turn your document in to a PDF (Portable Document File). This is an international standard, a frozen version that will be the same on any computer anywhere. (NOTE: there are PDF limitations and options. See www.adobe.com/ap/products/reader/ for more info on PDF format and the FREE reader).

3 Ways to Make PDFs

UPLOAD your document on our website! Our special technology automatically turns your document into a PDF ready for printing!
Make a PDF with your own software (some programs allow you to Save As or Export a PDF)
Use the allBIZ PDF WIZ PDF Writer, only $9.95!

NOTE: Some PDF Writers are available for FREE on the Web, but many of these place a brand watermark across every page.

Q:: My file has different MARGINS than onscreen

A:The page size is probably wrong

Most likely the program you worked in was defaulted or automatically set to USA sizes, or US LETTER (LTR). This paper is a little shorter and wider than Australian/International A4 paper. This can sometimes cause problems if margins are tight or centering is important.

SOLUTION:

PREVENT trouble: ALWAYS check that your page size is set to A4. You can make this the default or standard size usually using File / Page Setup in most Windows programs. If your file is already set to LTR, you can change the page size to A4 manually, but you should check the whole document to make sure page breaks haven’t changed severely. Number of pages may change, so watch any manual Table of Contents (it is always best to use automatic ToC and update). For more info on paper sizes, see HELP / PAPER.

Q: My file has different FONTS than at home

A: You have used fonts we do not have. We have thousands of fonts, but cannot guarantee we have the ones you used. (There is no such thing as a ‘standard Windows font’ - you may have installed some we didn’t.) Sometimes customers say it doesn’t matter if the font is not an exact match. But this can cause page and paragraph breaks in strange places, add pages, and put in ‘garbage’ characters.

SOLUTION:

UPLOAD your document on our website! Our special technology turns your doument into a PDF ready for printing, embedding the fonts
Make a PDF yourself, with FONTS EMBEDDED
If using a drawing program CONVERT FONTS TO CURVES
Supply a copy of the fonts used*

*NOTE: Fonts are copyright by their creators. Users are licensed to use the fonts but not to distribute copies. It is accepted industry practice (despite Adobe’s objections) to temporarily install a customer font and uninstall after printing.

Q: Should I use the MS Word/Publisher Wizards for Booklets, Flyers, etc.?

A:No! Pre-formatted documents are actually more difficult to work with, and may slow down your job and/or incur pre-press charges.

DO NOT use the wizards to format BOOKLETS, FLYERS, or any style
ONLY supply A4 pages - our machines will do the rest.
ALWAYS include your fonts (We have thousands but do not necessarily have yours or your version - there is no such thing as ‘standard Windows fonts’)
ALWAYS include a hardcopy sample of what the job should look like