Northwest Mail

Prepress Requirements

Prepress Requirements

These are Northwest's General Guidelines for sending documents to be professionally printed. This document was prepared by Northwest's prepress departments: Digital and Traditional. As always, there may be: special circumstance, issues not covered, and items that may require further clarifications. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.

Native Files

For the best results, send native files.

  • Adobe InDesign
  • Quark Xpress
  • Adobe Illustrator
  • Adobe PhotoShop

Layout

  • Design to Flat Sizes.
  • When Sending Native files, do not provide as spreads
  • Always include a 1/8" (.125) bleed on any side that bleeds
  • Include Die-lines in separate layer and set not to print
  • Allow 1/8" for inside folds (like a double-gate fold)
  • Provide separate versions or pieces as separate documents
  • Try to keep all type 1/8" away from all cut lines.
  • Use solid colors (Pantone or 100% K, for example) for small type for Digital

Fonts

  • Place fonts in a separate folder (ie. in a directory named "Fonts").
  • Include all families (screen & printer) for the job
  • OpenType (.otf) fonts preferred
  • No Fake styles (bolding, italic, etc) use the correct font from the family version

Colors

Some understanding of the printing process will help with color preparation.

  • Use Pantone Matching System names from swatch books
  • When using Pantone Colors, remember the substrate the piece is being printed on (ie 'C' for coated, 'U' for uncoated.)
  • Always include a 1/8" (.125) bleed on any side that bleeds
  • When not spot color, do not send RGB images, convert these to CMYK
  • onsider using Rich Blacks when doing large solid areas of black for Offset (NOTE: use 100% K for Digital)
  • If possible, use black grays (levels of K) for solid panels
  • When using color profiles be sure to embed them.

Graphics

  • Send all linked graphics separately in their own folder (ie collect to directory named "Art")
  • Should be sized 100% and with the dpi around 250-350 dpi, default 300dpi
  • Use .TIFF, .JPG or .EPS formats
  • No RGB
  • Flatten effects like transparency and drop-shadows for Digital

Print Ready Files

  • Use PDF formats that are transparency friendly: PDF/X-1a, PDF 1.3 (Acrobat 4)
  • Include a 1/8" bleed where appropriate
  • Fully Embed all fonts
  • Run the document through an Acrobat Preflight: Advanced -> Print Production -> Preflight -> (Sheet fed offset or Digital Printing Color)
  • Produce Spreads, where appropriate

Sending/Collecting/Packaging

  • Use OS independent friendly names: shorter than 128 characters, ASCII alpha-numerics, use file extensions, and no special characters
  • In In-Design and Quark, use the built-in Package/Collect facilities and collect into a seperate folder
  • Fully Embed all fonts
  • Compress all files into a .zip file, per document. For example, if collected a document into Folder "Collected" compress that into "Collected.zip"
  • Send hard Media as read only DVD and CD
  • No email messages larger than 20meg allowed
  • Send hard copy composites or low res PDF to Customer Service
  • Send folding/finishing diagram, mock up
  • Include all Preflight, Collection, and README reports as plain text