PAPER SLAM PROCESS

Within a few hours of receiving your files,we will have a printed proof ready and we will contact you. (More complicated jobs, such as booklets or custom sized folding projects, can take up to 24hrs for a proof)

Please note: Designs should be finalized and approved by your client before submitting them to Paper Slam. Proofs are expressly for approving paper and colors before the start of a run. Resubmitting new files after a proof has been produced will delay printing of your job. If you discover a problem with your proof, please check with us before resubmitting files – often it is much easier for us to make the correction in the files that are already set up for print.

If you are unable to visit our office to see a proof, we have a messenger service that can deliver the proof to you within 2 hours for an additional $12 (in Manhattan). If you are not in a rush, we can mail the proof to you for no extra charge.

Carefully proof the copy, colors, and layout as we will begin printing your job immediately upon approval. Any changes after you have approved your proof will double the cost of your job because we will have to re-run it.

Payment can be made in cash or with a credit card on approval of the proof.

Please discuss any deadlines you have with us as early as possible.

FILE PREP

•For postcards and business cards, create at least a 1/8" bleed, and a 1/8" safety. You can indicate where the edges are by either setting the document size, using crop marks, or drawing an invisible box. Here are some examples of correct and incorrect bleed set-up. If these concepts are new to you, give us a call and we can walk you through it before you submit your file.

•Postcards and business cards with a white background and nothing going to the edge of the design do not need bleed. Please size them the exact size you want them trimmed.

•Illustrator, Photoshop and Indesign are our preferred applications. If you are working in one of these applications, please send us the native .ai, .psd, or .indd file.

•If using Illustrator or Indesign, make sure the copy of the file that you send to us has the fonts turned to outline (Select all, then Type>Create Outlines). Keep a copy for yourself from before the fonts are turned to outline in case you need to edit the text later.

•For images in your Illustrator or Indesign document, the best approach is to link them, and provide them separately to us. This makes it possible for us to tweak your photos for optimum print quality.

•For sharper printing, size your photos in photoshop first to 300ppi at the size they will print, then link them into your Illustrator or Indesign document. This also keeps your document to a reasonable size. If you place an image and then shrink it down in your document, it will print softer and bloat your document.

•For Quark, please save as a PDF. Please do not include crop marks or other printers marks in the file, but do set the document size to be a quarter inch larger than the finished trim size and make sure that everything bleeds to this edge.

•If you are submitting a PDF, please provide each side in a seperate file.

•We also accept TIFF or Jpeg files.

•Always save Jpegs at a high quality setting.

•Create your file in the CMYK color space (as opposed to RGB) otherwise unexpected color shifts can occur. Please convert any Pantone spot colors to CMYK before submitting your document. We can adjust the color for you as desired after you see the printed proof.

•Make sure you start with a high resolution (300ppi) image. Upsampling a low resolution image will result in a soft or jagged print.

•Please don't lock any layers in your document.

DESIGNING FOR DIGITAL TIPS

•Solid colors are a weakness for digital printing. They tend to highlight imperfections when printed in large unbroken blocks. If you must use a solid fill over an extended area, your best choices are red, magenta, cyan, yellow, or dark blue. Your worst choices are taupes, pastels, and greys.

•Photographs and brightly colored patterns are a strength of digital printing – they tend to look great.

•Solid black prints the best on a smooth matte paper, but will have a tendency to chip slightly at the edges of the card. If printed on glossy paper, you will be able to see roller marks, and the finished piece will be very susceptible to fingerprinting.

•For gradients, if you use them at all, make sure and allow plenty of room for whatever color spread you are trying to accomplish, or you will see pronounced banding.

•Thin borders will tend to appear uneven. Avoid borders that are thinner than 1/4 inch. On booklets, it is better to avoid borders altogether, as there is more cutting variation on a booklet than a postcard. On a business card, borders are almost guaranteed to be a little bit off. Double-sided borders are especially problematic.

•When using transparency, keep the percentages above 20%. Below 20% and the images tend to disappear.