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Adobe Illustrator
Graphics
  • TIFF and EPS are the preferred file formats for graphics. Please — no gifs, jpegs, bmps, wmfs or picts.
  • Create all EPS files with a TIFF preview.
  • All colors must be in CMYK format, including logos and artwork.
  • Take dot gain into consideration when preparing your ad. Images in the newspaper will appear 20%-30% darker than a laser proof or the image on your screen.
  • When using gradients and tints, a good rule of thumb is to avoid surprints.
  • Surprints often "plug" or fill in when printed. You'll get better results going from 10% to 75% instead of 0 to 100%.
  • Ensure all colors are prepared for process-color (CMYK) separations. Newspaper color separations are always combinations of CMYK inks.
  • Don't use hairline rules — these may look good on your laser printer, but may be invisible when produced on an imagesetter. If you want a thin line, use a .5 point rule instead.
  • Don't do page layout in a word processor. Word processors don't handle page layout and font changes very well. They often have trouble printing consistently to PostScript printers.
  • Don't use the "none" background color on picture boxes in Quark XPress that have TIFF pictures in them. Doing so will cause jagged edges on the picture in the final printed job.
  • Don't create complex clipping paths in Adobe Photoshop or complex paths n Adobe Illustrator. Doing so will make your job hard or sometimes impossible to image. A complex path is one that has many control points.
  • Don't convert large blocks of text to outlines in illustration programs. Doing so will make the file unnecessarily large, take longer to print, produce substandard looking text and makes the document uneditable. It is much better to include the font used in the job than to convert the text to outlines, especially if there is a lot of text involved.
  • Ensure that the pasteboards surrounding your document are empty and make sure there are no non-printable items in the ad document.
  • Double check your ad for correct dimensions and zero margins.
  • Make sure you can print your final ad document. Chances are, if you can't print it, we won't be able to either.
Text
  • Use PostScript Type 1 fonts only. Do not use TrueType or bitmap fonts.
  • Avoid type sizes below 8 points. If it is difficult for you to read this laser-printed 6-point type, imagine what might happen with the variables of newsprint and ink.
  • Don't set white type to "overprint" — this is a very hard error to catch, because a laser printer will still show the white text. However, white text set to overprint will be missing (invisible) on the job sent to the imagesetter.
  • Reverse type smaller than 12 points may not reproduce well. Serif and non-bold fonts smaller than 10 points may disappear into reverse areas.
  • Most typefaces named after cities (Geneva, New York, Chicago, Monaco, etc.) are screen fonts that are not made for imagesetter output. Avoid them.
  • Delete all unused style sheets and colors when you're finished with your document.
  • Don't use too many fonts in a single job. Not only is it bad design, but it will also make your job difficult or impossible to print properly.
  • Always supply the fonts you've used in your document, even if they are included in the EPS file.
  • Spacing between sentences: Instead of putting two spaces after a period in a sentence,use only one. It's a standard in the industry.