Some customers have us create their labels and forms from the ground up, and some prefer to send us camera ready output. No matter which you choose, you might want to know a little about our production methods and our printing process. We are a flexographic printer, which means we print with raised rubber printing plates instead of paper or metal, and our cylinder sizes vary according to what die size we are running.
To those of you designing artwork to send direct to us, please keep in mind that rubber plates give better quality, and therefore a better product, but they do have some limitations. Our smallest point size we can hold is 4 point type (positive) and 6 point type (reverse). Rules should not be thinner than 1 point, as anything thinner will not hold and will take on a "wave-like" appearance when printed. We like to use anywhere from 75 to 85 line screens - no graduated screens.
If you choose to send us an electronic file, we use the following programs:
- Adobe Illustrator 7.0
- Adobe Photoshop 4.0
- Quark XPress 3.31
- Adobe PageMaker 6.5
We have a Power Macintosh G3 system that has CD ROM, 100 MB Iomega ZIP, and 1 MB 3.5" disc drives. You can also email us your art files. If you are on a PC and send us a file created in one of the above programs we should still be able to open it. We highly recommend that your files be created in Illustrator (or in Freehand saved as an EPS file). PageMaker and Quark XPress are excellent for page layout, but aren't the best for labels. If you created your file in Corel Draw please follow these instructions carefully: Export files as Illustrator 3.0 files - extension .ai. Use the "convert text to curves" option. Remove all bitmaps before exporting and send bitmap files separately, along with printouts showing correct positioning and scale.
Images and logos should be sent as vector art if possible (preferably in Illustrator), but if you are sending a TIFF line art image please make sure it is scanned in at a resolution of 1200 dpi. All the art must be done in spot colors, as we do no process (CMYK) printing. If you are using any fonts that haven't been changed to outlines - please include them! We have a large font library, but we may not have the exact one you desire. If your font is not included, we will have to make a substitution. Please include a print out of the art that is included on your electronic file in case there are any discrepancies about fonts, image placement, etc. We will take care of all the trapping in-house. If you have any further questions, please email us.
Our standard colors are as follows (target PMS colors shown in brackets for reference only): Gold (117; 872 on pressure sensitive only products), Dark Blue (Reflex), Medium Blue (Process), Light Blue (311), Yellow, Orange (021), Pink (182), Red (485), Burgundy (200), Maroon (201), Green (355), Gray (421), Black, Brown (4625), Purple (233), and Violet.
Our presses are all web-fed, meaning the material is sent through the press on a continuous roll instead of being single-sheet fed. This allows us to manufacture many of our forms and labels so they can be continuously fed through your dot matrix printer. We also have sheeting capabilities, and we pride ourselves on our ability to create quality forms for use in your laser printer as well.
- Up to 5 color printing, including 2 color back printing with choice of standard and PMS colors.
- Web widths up to 19".
- Die cutting, butt-cutting, EDP continuous pin-feed punching, sheeting, fan folding and rolls.
- Hundreds of die styles in-house.
- Laser forms, dual-web, pressure sensitive, piggy back, bond, and bond forms with a pressure-sensitive label available.
