Graphics Guidelines

 U S Printing.com Graphics Submission Guidelines

Preferred Format: PDF (Please follow our PDF Guide to correctly convert your files into PDF format)
 

• All images need to be 300 dpi or higher at size (100%)

• All fonts must be included or saved as curves/outlines

• Bleed Margin needs to be 1/8" larger than trim size on all sides

• Please use our Product Templates for file accucary
   

Photoshop

  This guide will walk you through PDF creation from Photoshop 7. The process is identical on both Mac and Windows platforms, so only one set of instructions is provided. Note that these steps work for Photoshop 6 as well.

1. With your file open select File > Save As

2. In the Save As dialog box, name the file with the pdf extension (ex. filename.pdf). Set Format to Photoshop PDF. Click the Save button. This will open the PDF options dialog box.
   
   
   
   

3. Under Encoding, select JPEG, and set the Quality slider to 12 to produce a sharp image. Check the boxes next to Include Vector Data and Embed Fonts (Note: embed fonts whenever possible as it will produce the best results. However, some fonts are protected from being embedded. In this case you need to check Use Outlines for Text). This will ensure that your text will be nice and crisp in the PDF. Click OK.

Illustrator

  This guide will walk you through PDF creation from Adobe Illustrator. Although the screen shots are taken from Windows XP, the steps are the same for Mac users, and also apply for Illustrator 9 for both platforms.

1. With your file open select File > Save As

2. In the Save As dialog box, name the file with the pdf extension (ex. filename.pdf). Set Format to Adobe PDF. Click the Save button. This will open the PDF Format Options dialog box.
   
   
   
   

3. If it's not already selected, select Custom from the Options Set menu. Check the box next to Acrobat 5.0. Also check the box next to Embed All Fonts. Click OK.

QuarkXPress

Unlike Adobe products, QuarkXpress does not have built-in capabilities to create PDF's; instead it uses Acrobat Distiller to generate PDF's. Therefore, you must have the full version of Acrobat installed on your computer if you wish to create PDFs from QuarkXPress.

The following steps will guide you through PDF creation from QuarkXPress 5 using Acrobat Distiller.

Install the U.S.Printing PostScript printer driver.
U.S.Printing recommends using the U.S.Printing PostScript printer driver, PS, for best results when creating PDF files for printing with U.S.Printing.

1. Download the PS printer driver. (Windows Download) (Mac Download)

2. Open the zip or stuffit file.

3. If Distiller opens, choose PS as your default setting. You can also drag PS.joboptions to the settings folder found under Adobe Acrobat folder.

Export to PDF in QuarkXpress 5 using Acrobat Distiller
These steps are best for those who have a full version of Acrobat Distiller and/or have a multi-page Quark document.

1. With your file open select File > Export > Document as PDF

2. Click Options and open Output menu. Select Registration to Center and 12 pts and Bleed to Symmetric and Amount to .125".
   (If using Quark 6, open the OPI tab and turn OPI off)
   
   
   
   
3. Save the document.
   

1. With your file open select File > Save Page As EPS > Save
2. Open the file in Adobe Illustrator and follow these steps to create a PDF from Illustrator.

CorelDraw

This guide will walk you through PDF creation from CorelDraw 11. The process is identical on both Mac and Windows platforms, so only one set of instructions is provided. Note that these steps work for CorelDraw 10 as well.

1. With your file open select File > Publish to PDF

2. In the PDF Style list box choose PDF for Prepress (Note: If you need to change specific settings, select Settings and do so. In general, the default settings are ok). Click the Save button.
   
   

Freehand

This guide will walk you through PDF creation from Macromedia Freehand. The steps are the same for Mac and Windows users.

1. With your file open select File > Export

2. In the Export dialog box, set Format to PDF. Click the Setup button. This will open the PDF Export Options dialog box.

3. Under Image Compression set Color and Grayscale to None. For Convert Color To select CMYK. Under Compatibility select Acrobat 4 or 5. Uncheck all boxes except Embed Fonts. Click OK
   
   
   
   

4. Name the file and hit Save

PageMaker

This guide will walk you through PDF creation from Adobe PageMaker 6.5x and 7.x. The steps are the same for Mac and Windows users.

1. With your file open select File > Export > Adobe PDF

2. Choose an option that most closely matches your desired output from the Job Name pop-up menu (PageMaker 7.x) or the PDF Style pop-up menu (PageMaker 6.5x) in the PDF Options dialog box.

3. If you want to further customize the PDF file, change the options on the remaining tabs.

4. Click Export (PageMaker 7.x) or Save As (PageMaker 6.5x).

5. From the Save In pop-up menu, choose the location to which you want to save the file. Enter a name for the PDF file.

6. Click Save.

InDesign

This guide will walk you through PDF creation from InDesign 2.0 . The process is identical on both Mac and Windows platforms, so only one set of instructions is provided.

1. With your file open select File > Export > PDF

2. In the Save As dialog box, name the file with the pdf extension (ex. filename.pdf). Click the Save button. This will open the PDF options dialog box.

3. Make sure your settings match the settings in these images...
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

4. Click Export .