Graphic Design & Prepress

The file is part of the print job

A press can only print the file it is given. Graphic design and prepress makes that file honest: the right size, bleed, type that survives the trim, images that stay sharp, and a proof that matches the piece. It sits in front of both offset printing and digital printing. Those pages are how the image reaches paper. This one is whether the image is ready.

You can arrive with a finished PDF or with a logo and a sentence. If the PDF is already press-ready, prepress checks it and the job moves to a proof. If it is a slide, a flattened picture, or a layout that ignores the fold, we rebuild it. Tell us the product on the quote request so the file is built for that piece.

What press-ready means

The file is a PDF, not a working document and not a screenshot. It is built to the finished size. Ink that should run off the edge extends past the trim. That extension is the bleed. Words and logos sit inside the trim so a small shift in the cut does not remove them. Fonts are embedded. Photographs stay sharp at the size they will appear. Color is prepared for print, not left as a screen color that will shift on paper.

The piece itself has to be in the file. A fold is on the flat sheet, with type out of the crease. A hole, a slit, or a perforation is its own cut path. A pocket folder follows a dieline. A booklet is one PDF in reading order, blanks included, so the pages can be imposed. That is not a style we force on the art. It is what makes a proof printable.

What we fix, and what stays yours

Prepress looks for missing bleed, type on the trim, fonts that did not travel with the PDF, images that will look soft, color that is not ready to print, and page order that will not fold or bind. We place variable fields when each piece changes, and we build a dieline when you do not have a cut path.

We do not invent the words. Offers, prices, and regulated copy stay yours. We set what you send and flag type that will not survive the trim. If a color has to match an older piece, send that reference and we will say whether a match can be confirmed. You approve a proof before we print. After that, the job ships anywhere in the United States.

The fix depends on the product

Business cards fail when a name sits on the trim. Envelopes and letterhead fail when the envelope is just the letterhead shrunk, or a window misses the block it should show. Postcards and mailers need a clear panel if you will mail them, and a template if each card changes. Door hangers need the hole and any tear-off drawn as cuts. Flyers need bleed on a single sheet. Brochures and menus need the flat size and the fold, not only a picture of the cover.

Presentation folders need a dieline so pockets and slits are real. Catalogs and booklets need pages that impose. Stickers need a cut path separate from the art. Labels need a dieline that fits the container, including a wrap if there is one. Send the logo, the copy, and the product name. The proof should show that product.