Design Guidelines

Tee Compressed - the home of the original compressed t-shirt for business, corporate promotional events and parties

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Keep these guidelines in mind. We want to the highest quality and quickest turnaround.

MECHANICAL ARTWORK

The traditional standard for acceptable mechanical artwork that is “camera-ready black and white” material.

VECTOR FILES

Sometimes called a geometric file, most images created with tools such as Adobe Illustrator are in the form of vector image files. Vector image files are easier to modify than raster image files. (which can, however, sometimes be reconverted to vector files for further refinement) Another way to look at it is that every pixel in the image has an X and a Y axis, this allows easy resizing without loss of quality.

BITMAP FILES

Images are exactly what their name says they are: a collection of bits that form an image. The image consists of a matrix of individual dots (or pixels) that all have their own color (described using bits, the smallest possible units of information for a computer). Unless these are in very large sized resolution (600 DPI or better), they are unusable in the printing process.

PAGE LAYOUT DOCUMENTS

The font files and document preferences that need to be supplied for use on the supplier’s end in case they do not have a rare or special font that you would like to use.

METAFILE

A collection of structures that store a picture in a device- independent format. Device independence is the one feature that sets metafiles apart from bitmaps. Unlike a bitmap, a metafile guarantees device independence. There is a drawback to metafiles, because they are generally drawn more slowly than bitmaps. Therefore, if an application requires fast drawing and device independence is not an issue, it should use bitmaps instead of metafiles.

(PDF) FILES

Adobe ® Portable Document Format: Preserves the visually rich content of original files, and are easier to read than HTML content that appears in a Web browser. Adobe PDF files print cleanly and quickly, and anyone can share Adobe PDF files, regardless of their platform or software application. This is good to show the end result you would like, but usually not good for sending artwork that needs to be printed.

TIFF – (ACCEPTED)

Tagged Image File Format: A file format for exchanging bitmapped images between different applications.

EPS – (ACCEPTED)

Encapsulated Postscript: An alternative picture file format that allows PostScript data to be stored and edited and is easy to transfer between Macintosh, Windows machines, and other systems.

AI – (ACCEPTED)

Adobe Illustrator: The very best in quality to recreate your artwork in the printing process.

JPG – (NOT ACCEPTED)

Commonly used on the web due to its excellent ability to compress the graphic in order to decrease webpage load time. This format will not work for use in the printing process.

GIF – (NOT ACCEPTED)

Commonly used on the web due to its ability to reduce the number of colors an image uses to be viewed in order to decrease webpage load time. This format will not work to use in the printing process.

BMP – (NOT ACCEPTED)

A generally low resolution image format. This format will not work to use in the printing process.

Doc – (USUALLY NOT USABLE)

Word doc files can only be used if you would like to display typeset text. Any images in a word doc will not be able to be printed correctly.

Web Pages – (NOT USABLE)

As a general rule, if it can be viewed on the web it will most likely be too low of quality for printing. Web graphics are made to load quickly, thereby cutting the quality of the image. The eye may not notice thsi on the web, but it will show up in printing.

COMMON PROBLEMS

Listed below are the most common challenges we have with customer artwork files.

FILE SIZE:

Images must be at least 600 dpi to be run through the image printing process. Small images must be recreated to be accepted by the printing process. Please send your size requirements and the image in the exact size you would like it printed.

COLOR SEPARATOINS:

Some printing processes require artwork to have different layers created so each color needed can be separated from the others. This is necessary when making several different color silk-screens.

COLOR CORRECTION:

Please follow standard Pantone conventions to avoid any extra charges. There is a Pantone color chart available on our site. Also review our Requirements for Color Separations.

FONT SUBSTITUTION:

For files that are submitted without compatible Macintosh fonts, “create outlines” or set text to” curves” on all text in your files.

MODE CHANGE IN PHOTOSHOP:

RGB to CMYK, Indexed Color to CMYK, etc. Please, DO NOT submit files in Indexed Color or files that have been compressed.

FONT STYLE PALETTE CORRECTIONS:

All fonts must be submitted to us in their “plain” form. Stylization within the palette does not hold through our image setter.

EXTENDING BLEEDS:

If “redrawing” is needed to make the graphic bleed properly, additional charges will need to be assessed at $45.00 per hour.

RESIZING GRAPHICS:

Please send all graphics sized at 100%.

TRAPPING:

If trapping is necessary to make the file compatible with our printing needs, additional charges may need to be assessed at $45.00 per hour.
If your files require special attention to change or correct any of the “obstacles” listed above, your dedicated Account Manager will contact you regarding recreation of your art at a cost of $45.00 per hour.

Promotional T-Shirts
Tradeshows, Product Launches, Promotional Giveaways
Business Parties, and More...

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