Please provide a laserprint of your job with the disk. If your job is in more than one colour, provide both a composite print of the whole job and separations. 

ie. a two colour job should produce 2 separations only: 
 
and a full colour job should produce 4 separations only: 

 
Don't worry if your image is bigger than your own desktop printer size (just print as ëfit to pageí or use a % reduction to make it fit). But do make sure the actual file is at the size you want it to be printed. 

Avoid using White as a spot colour (ie. Pantone Trans. White), as this cannot be effectively reproduced and only leads to extra cost. 

Avoid using a mixture of process colours and spot colours. This increases the number of separations and adds extra cost, without any better results! 

If the job is to be printed in CMYK (full colour) but requires us to reproduce accurate Pantone colours (ie for a company logo or a ëhouse colourí), please call us to discuss this. It can be done, but has some limitations and sometimes requires the Pantone colour to be printed as well as the CMYK colours, which adds to the cost of the job. We'll be happy to advise after seeing a layout of what is required. 

Try to decide early on in your design/artwork how many colours you want the final job to be printed in. If it is just 3, ie. Black, Green & Purple, then pick out 3 full strength (100%) spot colours that you are happy with and use percentages of these to create tints rather than using similar lighter colours. 

If you are working in full colour (CMYK) you have much more freedom in choosing colours, but remember you only want to ultimately generate 4 separations: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow & Black with no extra spot colour separations (most applications allow you to choose the colours you want and automatically convert them to percentages of CMYK). 

Black text on a coloured background almost always looks better when set to ëoverprintí (use only one type of black!). 

f you want the final printed image to go right to the edge of the page or sheet, allow approx. 2mm ëbleedí on it, where your image is deliberately slightly larger than your final page. 
 
Please list all fonts (typefaces) used and check with us first as to whether we can match them. 

We generally use a 133 lpi (lines per inch) screen ruling and output films at 1626 dpi (dots per inch), which covers the majority of jobs we can go up to 200lpi. Please clearly indicate if you require different settings for your job. 

If your job contains scans/imported graphics (EPS, TIFF, PCX etc), ensure you supply copies of these files on your disk. Failure to do so may result in missing images from your job.  

Importing EPS, TIFF, PCX files etc into a publication and then trying to get them to print in spot colours can be very difficult. Check carefully against your laser printed separations that they give you exactly what you want. 

Do not expect what you see on screen, in terms of colours and their strengths, to match a printed job. At present, the limitations of the technology available means wide variations in how different monitors display colours. They are not a reliable guide. Nor are colour printers, whether laser, bubblejet, thermal etc. Our own Canon CLC800 colour laserprinter will only act as a guide, no more!  The only way to safely predict colour printing results is to get a ëchromaliní or ëmatchprintí style proof from the final film separations. They are expensive (A4s are £35, A3s are £50 & A2s are £70), but if accurate colour matching is needed they are highly recommended. 

If you are ëplanning upí a job, ie. 3 compliment slips on an A4 page, it is always better to leave a margin in between the images (approx. 2-4mm). 
This makes for more accurate trimming. ie: 
 
ìWork & Turnî is a cost effective way to plan double sided jobs. To supply a job like this, you must plan the same number of fronts as backs symmetrically on your page. Please ask if unsure. 

ìBookletsî If you are preparing a multi-page document please call to discuss the optimum way to plan or ìimposeî the booklet.