Design & Prepress
Turning Ideas Into Print That Works
Great print starts with a great file. Our design and prepress team helps take your ideas, artwork, and existing files and prepare them for successful production. Whether you need help developing a design or simply need to make sure a file is ready for press, we work through the details before production begins. Proper sizing, color, images, bleeds, and other technical requirements all matter, and our team makes sure they are addressed before your project hits the floor.
Customer-supplied files are checked for size, bleed, image resolution, fonts and color setup before anything is proofed, and we fix what we can instead of sending files back. How to prepare print-ready files explains what we look for, and how to set up label artwork covers dielines and barcodes. When a job needs new artwork, our designers build it for the process it runs on, whether that is labels, commercial print or signage.
What We Do
Graphic Design
Layout and production art for print, labels, mail and signage.
File Preparation
Bleed, trim, imposition and file checks before anything goes to plate.
Color Management
Profiled proofs and color targets kept on file so reprints match.
Die & Template Setup
Label shapes, folds and cut lines built to the exact die.
Variable Data Setup
Merge fields, data cleanup and sequencing for personalized jobs.
Logo & Artwork Cleanup
Vectorizing low-resolution or legacy files so they hold at any size.
Built to Print Right
Most press problems are file problems. Four things we check on everything that comes in.
Bleed & Trim
Artwork extended past the trim, with live copy held safely inside it.
Fonts
Embedded or outlined, so nothing is substituted on output.
Color Space
Converted for print, with spot colors named and matched.
Resolution
Images sized for the finished piece, not pulled from a website.
Artwork for Every Kind of Job
- Labels
- Commercial Print
- Direct Mail
- Signage & Displays
- Promotional
- Logos & Branding
More Than a Printer
The people preparing your files work beside the presses, so a question about color or die lines is answered by someone who knows how the job will run. Questions about files? Start with our FAQ.
- Family owned since 1965
- Experienced production team
- Multiple printing capabilities
- One-stop shop
Common Questions
What file types do you accept?
Print-ready PDF is best, and we also work from native design files. Our prepress team checks every file before it is proofed. The full list is on our FAQ page.
What are your bleed requirements?
An eighth of an inch on every edge that prints to the trim. If your file does not have it, we can usually extend the artwork for you. More detail is on our FAQ page.
Can you help prepare my artwork?
Yes. We check everything that comes in, and we can build production art from a brief, a sketch or a sample.
Can I send Canva files?
Yes. Download a print PDF with bleed and crop marks, and we check color and resolution before proofing. Export settings are on our FAQ page.
Do you provide proofs?
Yes. Digital proofs as standard, and hard-copy proofs on your actual stock when color is critical.
I do not have a logo file. Can you help?
Yes. We vectorize low-resolution or legacy logos so they hold up at banner scale as well as on a business card.
What do you need from me to get started?
Whatever you have now: finished files, a logo, a sketch or an old printed piece, plus the finished size and where it will be printed or used. Talk to our team.
Need Artwork Prepared?
Tell us what you are working on and we will help you figure out the best way to produce it.