WHAT IS CYMK?
RGB refers to the primary colors of light, Red, Green and Blue, that are used in monitors, television screens, digital cameras and scanners. CMYK refers to the primary colors of pigment: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black. These are the inks used on the press in "4-color process printing", commonly referred to as "full color printing". The combination of RGB light creates white, while the combination of CMYK inks creates black. Therefore, it is physically impossible for the printing press to exactly reproduce colors as we see them on our monitors. Many programs such as photoshop and illustrator have the capability to convert the layout/images from the RGB color space to the CMYK color space. We request that you convert your colors from RGB to CMYK if your tools allow you to. By doing it yourself, you have maximum control over the results.

You may notice a shift in color when converting from RGB to CMYK. If you do not like the appearance in CMYK, we recommend that you make adjustments while working in CMYK. Be sure to check out our FILE REQUIREMENTS.

WHAT ARE HIGH-RESOLUTION GRAPHICS?
All files for printing need to be scanned or drawn at 300 dpi. What looks great on screen at 72 dpi would look pretty bad when printed. Increasing the resolution from 72 to 300 dpi in a paint program (such as Photoshop , Paint Shop Pro, etc.) does not work as this just interpolates the image ( i.e. adds pixels to the image), which in turn can increase the image size but makes for a more 'blurry' effect.

To learn more about printing, be sure to check out our article section on PRINTING 101.

HOW SHOULD I MAKE BLACK?
We recommend that you use a CYMK black in order to create a RICH black. To do this, you need to use all the colors. Remember not all blacks are alike and if you want your black to stand out use this formula.

To learn more, be sure to check out our PRINTING 101.

WHAT ARE BLEEDS?
If you want a background color or image to extend to the edge of the sheet so no white paper is showing you must extend the background or image past the trim edges of the layout. The part that extends past the trim edges is referred to as bleed. We prefer you extend the bleed edges 1/8 th or .125 past the trim. This allows for a small margin of error in the cutting tolerance and prevents a white thin edge showing around the paper.

If you use our FREE TEMPLATES, they account for bleed

WHAT IS NEEDED FOR MAKING SPOT UV?
Spot UV is the option of having selected areas of your job high gloss UV coated and other areas of your job without UV coating. To set up files for spot UV , an additional file must be created for every spot UV side. This file must be black and white with the area to be UV- SOLID black 100% (no gradients) and the rest that will not be UVed must be white.

WHAT IS GANG RUN PRINTING?
Gang run printing describes a method for printing multiple jobs on a standard size full sheet of paper,which is up to 28 X 40. This size sheet can accomodate thirty-two(32) 4" X 6" postcards or eight(8) 8.5" X 11 flyers and four(4) 11X17 4 page brochures printed on both sides. By ganging multiple jobs together, the costs of prepress, material and labor can be shared by all those participating in the run. In order to provide this inexpensive service printer must have a high volume of jobs to meet fast turn a round time.. Due to this high volume we are able to provide our customers with choices quantity of paper weights and finishes but cannot alter those options on gang runs. If your specifications do not meet these requirements, we will quote your job as a custom printed job. But remember, a huge advantage of gang run printing is that they are the most economical way to print business cards, postcards, flyers, catalog sheets, brochures, and all small size jobs.

WHAT CAUSES BITMAPPING?
Many people are confused as to why something may look great onscreen but won't print without bitmapping. Basically, a standard computer monitor has a resolution of 72 dpi. Websites are designed at 72 dpi for this reason. For print we need 300 dpi that it why web graphics or any low-res file will give poor results when outputted on a hi-res postscript device. If the only image you have is at low resolution, then it will need to be redrawn or photographed at a higher resolution. To learn more, be sure to check out our PRINTING 101.

WHY DOES TYPE LOOK DIFFERENT?
It is also best to steer clear of using the bold and italic buttons for boldening or italicizing your text. Say you are typing some body text in Times New Roman Regular. You then decide to bolden/italicize some words. If the file you are working on is going to be output from an imagesetter then this machine, when it comes across the first instance of the bold setting, will look for Times New Roman Bold on the system. In this case there should be no problem as the Times family of typefaces has a bold version and an italic version in place. A problem will arise where a single typeface has been selected such as Mistral. Normally, there is no bold equivalent on the system and the imagesetter would default to the plain version of Mistral. Of course, this doesn't affect what you see onscreen and what would print out to your deskjet/laser printer as these are designed to utilize all True-Type fonts. It's only a problem when trying to output to a high-resolution Postscript device. It is best to avoid any problems by using the correct typeface without using settings bold and italic. To learn more, be sure to check out our PRINTING 101.

CAN YOU MATCH COLORS TO OUR PRODUCTS?
Colors on your monitor or proofs from your printer will probably never match a sheet printed on a printing press. If you require critical color matching you must contact us prior to submitting your job and we can discuss the options available to you for critical color matching. You may want to read the article on color in our PRINTING 101 section on our menu.

WHAT IS PLEASING COLOR?
Pleasing Color is a term used by printers to describe the standard they use to evaluate the color quality of the printed sheet. It is a subjective evaluation. Different commercial printers make there own rules about pleasing color. At Color Printing Pros we have a very high standard for pleasing color. Our standard is that the colors be brilliantly bright within the limits of the process. That they are color natural, meaning they have no overall off color cast, they have good contrast with detail in both with highlight and shadow areas and they are clean and free from dust and artifacts. Keep in mind that if the file you submit is not created optimizing the color reproduction we cannot be expected to improve or correct your error. If you send files that are not created by a professional designer, you may want to take advantage of our FREE FILE REVIEW SERVICE.

WHAT ARE PAPER WEIGHTS?
The weight or thickness of paper stock is determined by the weight in pounds. of a ream (500 sheets) of the paper of a specified size. Points are measurement of the thickness of the paper. 1 point equals 1/1000 of an inch. The thickness of 10 pt. stock would equal 10/1000 or 0.010 in. many printers have their standard point stock as 12 point. Our standard stock is 14 point with a FREE option of upgrading to 16 point on most products. To get more explanation on your choices of paper weights, go toSTOCKS.

HOW DO I MAKE SURE MY FILES ARE ORIENTED CORRECTLY?

WHAT IS THE PROPER USE OF CROPMARKS?

WHY USE A SPOT UV COATING TO ADD A WOW FACTOR TO YOUR PRINTING?
As the name suggests, a Spot UV is applied to chosen areas of a printed card. This has the affect of highlighting and drawing attention to that part of the design, but it also provides the additional visual stimulus of having varied textures on a single printed surface. The Spot UV technique is achieved by applying a UV gloss spot varnish on top of clay coated paper. This achieves maximum contrast between the highly reflective shiny UV coating and the more light-absorbing clay coated finish, which creates a striking first impression. To set up files for spot UV,
an additional file (mask) must be created for every spot UV side. This mask must be black and white with the area to be UV- SOLID black 100% (no gradients) and the rest which will not have spot UV must be white. Send your grey scale mask file with your CYMK file to your printer. Spot UV can add a lot of interest, and can identify the printing as a premium piece of sales and marketing literature in the perception of the reader.

HOW DO I MAKE A SILVER METALLICS MASK?
New design elements have been created with the addition of Metallic Silver ink in addition to the standard four color printing process. This 5 color process can make cards really stand out when printed on 14Pt and 16 Pt card stock. What is achieved is a unique look and can give your sales and marketing literature the Wow Factor edge you need to get noticed. Metallic Silver (PMS 877) is available for business cards, postcards, rack cards, club cards, bookmarks and trading cards.
To create your files using metallic silver,
you will need to work in a vector program, like illustrator or indesign. Using the vector format, you need to call out the objects you want in silver ink. You need to apply the color of the object as a spot Pantone 877C. Any other color will not be accepted as silver nor will labeling the item as /silver/ or /silver mask/ work.

HOW DO I SET UP A COLORED METALLIC PRINTING FILE?
Step one:
Working in Photoshop, select the area(s) you would like to be metallic with the magic wand or selection tool. Make sure when you make your selection, you only select the area that you want metallic. This system MAY NOT WORK ON GRADIENTS so do not include them in your selection.
Step two:
After your selection is made, go to the Window at the top and scroll down to Channels. In the channels menu select "NEW SPOT CHANNEL". When the "NEW SPOT CHANNEL" window shows up, make sure your settings show SPOT CHANNEL OPTIONS (give name you want to call it such as "colored metallic channel"). Under "ink characteristics", color should be set to: cyan (C) 0%, magenta (M) 0%, yellow (Y) 0%, black (K) 100%. Solidity should be set to 100%.
Step three:
Once your channel has been set and saved, you will have black parts indicating what will be metallic and white parts will be printed as a normal CYMK. Save your file as a "Photoshop DCS 2.0" file. Make sure format options are Preview: Macintosh (8 bits/pixel), Single file DCS, no composite, Encoding: Binary and Include halftone screen checked. The extension for this file will be .EPS.
Be aware that COLORED METALLICS WORK BETTER WITH LIGHTER COLORS.