FAQ

If you are building a page in color, be sure that all your images are CMYK and any colors on your palette are CMYK-base and not RGB- or LAB-based. If you are building a page in black and white, be sure that all your images are grayscale (8-bit) or black-only line art (1-bit).

Always check the levels or curves of your photographs (particularly if changing from RGB to grayscale) and adjust the shadows, midtones, and highlights. Scanned images should be set to a resolution of 300 dpi at 100%. Rules should be kept above .35-inch and not set to “hairline.”

Use type that can be embedded in PDF files; some fonts cannot be embedded and will therefore default to Courier. If you need to use a font that cannot be embedded, sometimes setting the type in Photoshop and saving as a bitmap tif will solve the problem.

Do not italicize script fonts; they are already "italicized." Do not bold or italicize fonts that do not have a bold or italic font available.

Remember to keep a half-inch or three-eights in margin around all pages that do not bleed (check with us to see which publications use which margins). This includes page numbers and running heads or footers. Unless you are bleeding your pages, nothing should appear within the margins. The single exception is the inside margin of a centerspread.

If you place art to inset in a column of type and force the type to run around the image, be sure that your art doesn't take up more than half of the column width. Doing so can create ugly letter-spacing.

In distilling a PDF, be sure that your color management tab is set either to “Leave color unchanged” or to "CMYK." Be sure never to let your distiller default to RGB.

Do not download gif images from the Internet. If you copy any images from the Internet, be sure to change the color to CMYK or grayscale and ensure that the resolution will be adequate.