Art Services

Alta Graphics Art Services.PDF

What is Final Artwork:

Our standard pricing for artwork proofing, print proofing, or book proofing is based on you supplying your production ready PDF. Understanding of how to set up bleeds, safety margins, color profiles and resolution are important parts of your art. We check files before processing to advise you of problems. We will provide an estimate for us to make the suggested changes. It is important to ensure that before we start on creating final artwork that your file is final. Any later changes will require us to redo work that will incur additional charges.

When we check your files, it is impossible for us to analyze every aspect of how it was prepared. We can see errors in sizes, bleeds and margins but not color profiling or image preparation. If we provide an estimate to correct aspects of your file, we are not able to fix other unknown problems or color management issues in the files you created. By submitting your artwork, you as the designer are responsible for preparing proper files. We offer a full service artwork proofing department where we assume 100% of these responsibilities.

Proofing Process:

Alta Graphics will provide proofs for jobs produced using your files. Production will not begin until proofs have been approved. We are not able to schedule the production of your job until we have final approval. Estimated production times begin from the approval time, not when you submit your project. Alta Graphics is not responsible for errors in approved artwork. In the event you do not have time to proof your job, you can waive this step and assume all responsibilities for any errors that may be present in the final job. This means you will accept the job with any errors that may be present in your files or if you do not like the way your colors print.

Additional Changes & Proof Charges:

If you find errors in your file and need to make changes, there will be an additional charge to receive, process, impose, print and send the corrected file which start at a $30 minimum depending on complexity. To minimize additional charges make sure you submit final artwork that you have already checked.

Customer Expectations:

Alta Graphics uses printing equipment made by the leading manufacturers of Hardware and Software including; Adobe, Fiery, Heidelberg, Canon, Xerox, Microsoft, HP, Apple, Pantone among others. We have over 25 years of experience in digital printing with extremely knowledgeable operators. This combination allows us to produce high quality work within manufacturing specifications. When you produce artwork, you are responsible for understanding these limitations. We will try to identify errors in your files but we do not assume responsibilities for files you create. We offer a full service creative services department that can assist with design concept and art creation where we do assume full responsibility for our work.

File Processing Variances:

Be aware that all files formats can process differently than they display on your computer. This is caused by incompatibilities between the different manufacturers like Microsoft, Adobe, Fiery, Pantone and is not controlled by Alta Graphics. For this reason, it is recommended that you check a proof before approving your job.

Color Shifts and Variances:

Color variance occurs in the printing process. This is caused by many factors including; differences in papers or stocks, differences in file formats or profiles used and normal variance in colors printed at different times on the same printing device. For this reason we recommend that you view a hardcopy proof rather than an emailed proof which will only show if anything shifted or changed but will not permit seeing the final colors as they print on the actual paper or stock being used.

Image Shifting & Registration:

Print proofing equipment does not place everything in the exact position of a sheet of printing stock and different finishing processes add additional error to registration. This variance is unavoidable and professional graphic designers know how to create appealing designs that hide this variance. Expected variance in registration can range between 1/16" to 1/8" depending on the total number of processes involved. This is in no way a "defect" and is accepted as industry standard. If you need assistance in reviewing your design, contact customer service. As the designer, you are responsible for creating designs that look good given this expected variance.

Proofing Options:

1. You want to see a printed Proof – We Advise you when its ready
2. You want an emailed proof and understand that colors may not appear as they do on your computer screen. You agree to accept the job colors as printed.
3. You do not have time for a proof. We proceed with the job as is and You agree to accept the job as produced.

Book Printing

Business Cards

To avoid costs and delays in proofing you should submit business card artwork as a JPG or TIFF file. If properly prepared, these files will go directly into production. Other acceptable file formats including PDF, Adobe Illustrator or Adobe InDesign will require proof approval or waiver. If your file is in MS Word, Publisher, Corel Draw, you will need to order a basic business card layout service so we can recreate your artwork in an Adobe Illustrator or InDesign file.

Be careful to submit accurate and complete information as any changes will result in unnecessary additional charges.

General & Large Format Printing

Generally the preferred format is a PDF file. We will process the file and send a proof for your approval. To avoid this, you can submit a TIFF or JPG file which will go directly to production. We can also use files created in Adobe Illustrator, InDesign or Photoshop. Files created in Microsoft programs should be converted to PDFs to avoid file changes that will result in unnecessary additional charges.