We realize that this information is lengthy but we ask that all of our customers and their graphic designers and artists take some time to read and understand the guidelines and directions and provide us with digital artwork made to our specifications in order to help us alleviate some of the unnecessary time and charges to you for “fixing” artwork.

Submitting one of these file types will make it the most efficient for all of us. These will be files that, when properly designed, will require less time on our end to make them fit into our workflow. The less we have to manipulate your files the less chance there is of an error happening and less comp charges for you.

With all the guidelines and suggestions you are about to read it would benefit you to know our workflow so as to better understand why we need the files we need.

• Our email system is, for the most part, automated and unattended. When emails come in the file is automatically printed and the attachments are saved to our downloads directory. When you FTP your artwork in you are actually storing your files on our in-house FTP server. If you send us an email with a link to the artwork you should be sending us it will delay your order.
• When we receive your artwork, either on disk, through email, or uploaded to our FTP site, an employee will take your file and attempt to open it. All of our design workstations have Adobe's Creative Suite on them so, depending on the file you've sent us, we may or may not be able to open it.
• If you've sent us a “Preferred File” we will open your file in either Illustrator or PhotoShop, depending on whether it's a vector or raster file.
• If your file is vector artwork...
  • The first thing we will check is to make sure that the type has been converted to outlines. If not we will see if the type is properly embedded by opening the file in Acrobat Reader.
  • If the type is converted to outlines we will check the colors to ensure that you are using Spot colors. We will then merge your swatches with our BCT swatches so that your colors will print on our color plates.
  • If the type is not converted to outlines but properly embedded we will try to convert it to outlines by saving it as an EPS from within Acrobat (with the convert type to outlines option on) and reopening the file.
  • If the type will not convert to outlines we do one of two things:
    1. We will drop your file into InDesign and use the ink manager to make your Spot inks aliases of our BCT inks and then export the page as a PDF.
    2. We will open your file in PhotoShop to rasterize it.
  • If you have not converted your type to outlines and are not using Spot inks you have limited our ability to make your file work.
• If your file is raster artwork...
  • We will open your file in PhotoShop and make sure it has a high enough resolution for offset printing.
  • For full color work your files should be 800 d.p.i. at-size, in CMYK color mode. 300 d.p.i. is usable for images only, if there is text, then 800 d.p.i. is suggested.
  • For spot color work your files should be 800 d.p.i.
  • If your job is two or more colors and you did not send us individual files for each color plate we will attempt to make the separations but it is not always possible and will usually incur an art charge.
• MS Word and Publisher are not usable file formats.
• Art charges will apply anytime we have to work on the file. If you wish to avoid art charges we will work with you and your work flow so that you are sending Press Ready files and that you are receiving press ready files from your customers. We understand that you may not have control over what your customers bring to you, however, you should be forewarned that there will be additional charges to be passed along.
• If you’ve sent us a native application in QuarkXPress your order may be delayed for several reasons, not the least of which is that we do not have licenses on all of our workstations for the programs we only use to convert files into a usable format.
• We will attempt to open your native appliation file and substitute what we feel are the correct fonts from our font library to match your layout. We will then attempt to turn your file into a PDF.
• If we can make that PDF we will then open the file in Illustrator and convert all the type to outlines and attempt to merge your Spot colors with our BCT colors.
• If you have not used Spot colors or we are unable to merge the color swatches we will have to open your converted PDF in PhotoShop to try to make the separations there. Again, it is not always possible.
• If everything has gone as planned and we finally have a good PDF with the type converted to outlines, or at least properly embedded, and colors that match our BCT swatches we will take your file and drop it into a 1up grid in InDesign.
• This PDF will then be ganged onto a 4up or 12up grid in InDesign according to stock & color and plates will be produced.

Hopefully, you can see how much work can potentially go into making your artwork fit seamlessly through our workflow. This is why we need your help in reducing the amount of time we spend “fixing” artwork by making it correctly to our specifications.

Artwork Files

• Do not send us native application files. Native application files like PageMaker and QuarkXPress have problems going from platform to platform and from machine to machine. Font substitution & image embedding problems are just the beginning. Native formats often have hidden problems that can result in delays in production, additional comp charges, and errors in the final product.
• MS Word and Publisher are not acceptable file formats. Publisher, ironically, is unsuitable for print publishing. Generating a PDF from either of those programs can sometimes produce an acceptable file, but more often than not will required art charges to make the file Press Ready.
• Convert your type to outlines... do not provide fonts. Whenever possible you should always convert your type to outlines before submitting.
• Send the correct file type for your media. If you are working in PhotoShop you should be sending us TIFFs, not PDFs and most certainly not PhotoShop EPSes. If you are working in Illustrator, CorelDRAW, InDesign, QuarkXPress, PageMaker, or any other layout application you should be sending us EPSes or PDFs.
• Always use spot colors. Download the BCT Swatches and install them into Illustrator or InDesign. You can also place the BCT Swatches file into InDesign, PageMaker, or QuarkXPress and it will add the BCT Swatches to the color palette. If you are still unable to utilize our swatches you should be using spot colors referred to as Pantone Spot or Pantone Solid. Do not use Pantone Process color swatches.
• Provide your artwork 1-up at 100% size. We will do any ganging on our end if necessary.
• Provide one piece of artwork for each name or item. If you send us an EPS with 10 business cards on it we have to take each card and place it in a new file and save it. Please do not gang or otherwise combine artwork into a single file.
• Create your artwork on the correct page size. Do not use the standard letter-sized page and make all kinds of crop marks & guidelines (all of which need to be removed) to indicate your artwork's size. We will always have to resize the page and remove all extraneous information.
• Create the proper bleeds. If your artwork bleeds those objects that bleed must extend 1/8" beyond the edge of the card; no more, no less. If you can not accomodate the bleed while saving your file (like the bleed options when saving an Illustrator PDF) you will need to enlarge your page by 1/8" all the way around in order to hold the bleeds.
• Do not put anything on the artwork that does not print. No old information with a white box over it, no crop marks, no bleed marks, no file or order information. Unless specifically instructed to by BCT Des Moines put nothing but artwork in your artwork.
• Register your colors correctly. If your two or more color job has inks that touch you need to correctly trap the affected colors. If your colors do not register on press and you have not properly trapped the art we will charge you for the redo.
• Be conscious of your file sizes. A full-color business card should not be much larger than 2-4 megs. If your file sizes are enormous there could be a few reasons why:
  • You scaled a photograph in Illustrator instead of properly scaling it in PhotoShop before you placed it into Illustrator.
  • Single Spot color tiff files should be bitmapped at 800 d.p.i.
• Send us the file as a composite with named Pantone Spot/Solid colors. Do not physically color separate the artwork into two pages or two files. This requires us to put the files/pages back together into one file which is exactly what you started with. Each additional file manipulation is an addditional charge, and an additional chance for error.
• Don't ask for a proof if you don't need one. If you've followed the instructions within this tutorial you will have sent us a file that does not need to be altered and will look exactly like the file you sent us. All we'll do is slap a “Proof” box on it and resend it back to you.
• Give your files a unique name. We get many hundreds of emails each day and invariably several customers send us a file called "bc.pdf". Our email server is setup to automatically download attachments so every time we get a file named the same as a file we previously had in our downloads directory it gets overwritten. We then have to find the original and redownload it. Please name your files using the following structure: company name - first initial last name; "jon doe plumbing - j doe.pdf" is a perfect filename.
• Rename files when resubmitting revised files. Adding a ver1 or ver2 at the end of the file name (before the extension) will differenciate the newest files from previous versions in our archives.

Full Color exceptions to the rules

• Color Mode. All full color files should be in CMYK Color mode. We can convert to CMYK color mode, but there will be Art charges and the color may shift, you will be taking responsibility for the color.
• Spot Colors. Pantone Spot colors should have CMYK color builds. PLEASE NOTE: Not all Pantone Spot colors convert identically or even well to Process Color. If you require an exact color match please contact a BCT customer service representative and we can determine the suitability of the conversion.
• Bitmap Resolution. A resolution of 300 DPI is suitable for images. 800 d.p.i. native resolution is recommended for text, especially if there is small or fine text, or text that is reversed out of a background color.

Emailing/Uploading

• Email us an actual file. Do not email us a link to your artwork or directions to an FTP site with your artwork. As indicated earlier our email system is automated and mostly unattended so orders that come in without an attachment are usually placed in our hold tray while we wait for you to send us an actual file. Please just attach your artwork and send it so our system can work to it's fullest potential.
• Do not email files over 10 megs. Files larger than 10 megs, and in many cases files only approaching 10 megs, will be rejected by the mail server. For larger files use our FTP upload. If your files are that large it is usually a good indication that you have not properly saved & compressed your artwork.
• Do not FTP files over 25 mb. Although all files combined may total more than 25 mb, individual files over 25 mb will be rejected by the FTP server. If your files are that large it is usually a good indication that you have not properly saved & compressed your artwork.
• You may Zip or Stuff your files. Please do not create self-extracting archives. For security reasons, we CANNOT run any executable (EXE) files.
• Make sure all files being uploaded have the proper extension: PDF, EPS, TIF, ZIP, SIT. Files sent without an extension may be unusable.
• Remember to put all jobs into their own specific folder. First you must create the folder but you must also manually navigate to the folder you just created to drop your files into it.
• Do not close the browser window during the upload process. Large files may take an extended period of time to upload depending on connection speed, Internet congestion, etc.
• Verify that all files necessary have been uploaded and that they are contained within the proper folder.

Order Form

• Be sure that all files have been uploaded to our server before submitting the order form.
• Fill out the order form completely and accurately.
• Do not group unrelated jobs or jobs that require different print methods (one flat job & one raised job) or ink colors (one Reflex Blue job & one Burgundy job) on the same order form.

While we use a number of today's popular illustration and layout programs we prefer files to be saved in one of three formats: PDF, EPS, or TIFF format. Portable Document Format (PDF) files are preferred because of the ability to embed all fonts and images into the file, greatly minimizing the primary cause of problems with digital artwork.

Please click on the program of your choice for directions on converting your files to a preferred format. Again, please note that we do not want native files. If you follow the directions below you should be giving us the file exactly as we need it with very little need for adjustments on our end.

If you are using software that is not listed above your options are relatively limited. Publisher will allow you to save your file as PostScript but Publisher is not designed for the printing industry and this method fails on occasion. We regularly get Microsoft Word files as well. If Word is your design package then you will have to print to your Acrobat Printer using the “Press Quality” settings, cross your fingers, and hope that it works.

In any event do not hesitate to email us and ask what you should do with your software. We will be glad to help you establish a procedure that will insure the best quality, least cost way to send Press Ready files.

IOWA • NEBRASKA • KANSAS • MISSOURI • SOUTHERN ILLINOIS
800-548-1223 • FAX 800-610-6645 • info@bct-midwest.com