This page contains specific information to help insure that your job moves quickly and smoothly through our prepress department. Please go over this list before sending in your job.

GENERAL INFORMATION

• Fill out the Electronic Prepress (EP) form, provided by your sales contact, completely.
• Send hard copies of your documents.
• Include a list of all files used.
• Only send files that are needed for the job.
• Don't send non-TAR DATs unless you use Retrospect to catalog them and can include the Retrospect catalog file on disk.

TYPE

• Type 1 Postscript Fonts will generally give better results than True Type Fonts.
• If we are setting type for your job, or matching a job previously printed, please include font information if known.

GRAPHICS

• Size, scale, and rotate your graphics before placing them in your page layout program.
• Use a resolution of 300 dpi for graphics printing at 150 line and 350 dpi for 175 line printing.
• Minimize nesting graphics - for example, don't place one EPS file into another EPS file and then place that into Quark Xpress.
• Don't give us DCS (Desktop Color Separation) files - we will have to merge them.
• Photoshop gradients print smoother than gradients from page layout programs.

APPLICATIONS

• Use your printed page size as your document setup size and print with registration on - this works better than using a larger page size and placing your own trim marks.
• Include all linked graphics, along with application files used to create EPS files.
• Use the same color names and definitions in graphic applications that you use in the layout applications they are placed in.
• Use "Save As..." to save your final print file - this will force your layout program to do a complete rewrite and thereby remove any temporary files many programs add.
• Don't apply type attributes from the Control Palette. Select a font which includes a "bold italic" style if that is what you need; don't create it from within PageMaker by highlighting the type in the Control Palette and clicking "B" and "I".
• Avoid using "white" picture or type boxes as erasers-this will increase the processing time.
• Delete unused type and graphics from the pasteboard area of your page layout program.
• Don't apply trapping to elements. We perform trapping on our SGI workstation.

PAGEMAKER USERS:

• Please link graphics instead of embedding them. This will save a lot of time and confusion.
• If you modify your copy from a word-processing program after you close PageMaker, please reopen and update before you send in your job. Embed text files instead of linking (the opposite of graphics).

COLOR

• If your originals are marred in any way, please specify necessary editing/cloning when you send in a job.
• Please be careful with your prints and slides. Even fingerprints on a black and white original will be picked up by the scanner.
• Include printed samples of work for critical color matching.
• If your job is critical color, you should have a loose laminated WATERPROOF made before your job is output.
• If you want beautiful color but aren't concerned with matching exact colors, select "Pleasing Color" on the EP form.
• If you want to match exact colors, select "Critical Color".

POSTSCRIPT

• See the Instructions for saving PostScript if you intend to give us PostScript files for output.
• If you are not sure how to write your PostScript files, please ask your Lynx salesperson to arrange for you to speak to one of our EP people who can answer your questions. If you are still unsure, send in your application files.
• If you can't print your file to your printer, we won't be able to print to ours.