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Old Town Printing
Design and Layout Services
Old Town Printing can design your documents from scratch. Our design projects range from simple envelopes to multicolored brochures, office forms and even small books.
Many of our clients prefer to design their own documents and then bring them to us via the internet, on a CD or memory stick. We welcome your files but please check with us BEFORE you begin to create your document so that we can give you cost saving pointers to follow as you work. It is very easy to create a document on your computer which cannot be easily and economically reproduced by your commercial printer - so call us before your begin!
Old Town Printing is an Authorized Adobe Print Service Provider as well as an Authorized Microsoft Publisher Service Bureau. Both designations mean we have the most up-to-date software to handle their products. We have been recognized by Adobe and Microsoft for our skills in creating innovative documents. To learn more about the software we use, click here
We prefer to print directly from your original electronic files so that we can offer the highest quality printing. But, because this takes extra time and effort there are additional costs:
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PDF files |
$5 |
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Native formats: InDesign, Publisher, Word, Quark, Illustrator, CorelDraw, Photoshop, Pagemaker |
$10 |
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Graphic formats: jpg, tif, bmp, gif, eps |
$20 |
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Pack n Go
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The documents you create on your computer typically do not actually contain the graphic images you see. Rather, the document contains a low resolution version of the graphic AND and address for the actual image on the harddrive. When you bring the document to your printer the lo resolution image appears on the monitor but prints very poorly.
Your commercial printer may not have the same set of fonts that are on your computer. Even fonts with the same name, such at Times New Roman, come from many different sources and have different rules for spacing.
Desktop publish programs typically include Pack n Go routines which repackage the document on your harddrive just before you take it to your commercial printer. The package contains the actual document, the actual graphics used in the document, and copies of the fonts used in the document (if allowed).
It's extremely important to follow the Pack n Go routines in programs such at MS Publisher, InDesign and Quark.
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PDF
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Adobe System's "Portable Document Format" file structure. For many technical reasons, the document you see on your computer will probably appear differently on ours (different colors, fonts, text flowing, graphic shapes, etc.).
PDF files generally appear and print the same way on most computers and printers. They have become the industry standard for transporting files to commercial printers.
BUT, you must have the complete Acrobat system in order to create a PDF file. AND, there are many many hidden switches to be set in order to create an acceptable file.
Professional designers have access to Adobe's Acrobat and are used to using this format. If you don't have the program, then you should use the Pack n Go routine found in many desktop publishing programs. (see FAQ)
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Page Layout Programs, Desktop Publishing Programs
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It is very easy to create a document on your computer that is techinically impossible, or extremely expensive, to reproduce by commercial printers.
Desktop Publishing and Page Layout programs solve many technical issues IF THE USER TRULY UNDERSTANDS how to take advantage of their programs
Currently, the most popular Desktop Publishing programs are
MS Publisher
Adobe InDesign
Adobe PageMaker
Quark Express
CorelDraw
Programs such as MS Word and PowerPoint ARE NOT Desktop Publishing programs. They can be used as such be a skillful designer, but may lead to expensive printing, especially if more than one ink color is used.
These programs enable you to create SPOT COLORS or specify CMYK color space for making color separations.
These programs also include Pack n Go routines which should be used when taking your document to your commerical printer.
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JPG, TIF, GIF, BMP, PDF
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These acronyms describe different file formats used to save graphic files. As discussed elsewhere, PDF is often the prefered document format used to take documents to your commercial printer.
Within a document, say a newsletter, you may have grahpics such as photograhps and drawings. These graphics are usually saved in JPG or TIF format for commercial printers.
JPG format is generally more compact than the native files created in Photoshop and Illustrator. The downside is that each time you save a JPG file, it loses some of its quality as nearby colors are averaged together to make a smaller file.
TIF files do not lose their quality with repeated saving.
GIF files are generally used for internet webpages.
BMP files are generally used by low end drawing programs.
Our preference to is receive graphics in JPG or TIF format and documents in PDF format.
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RIP
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Electronic files must be converted into "raster" images prior to being printed onto paper. The process is called Raster Image Processing, or RIP.
Usually, electronic files print with higher quality color and resolution than making straight copies from a paper original. This is especially true for documents containing photographs and grayed out or tinted boxes, such as forms.
Obviously, it takes more time to open a file, check it for viruses and RIP it to our printers than simply laying an original on the glass platten. Therefor, we charge a small RIPPING fee each time we print from your electronic files.
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