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desktop publishing / prepress

 

What is "Prepress"?

Prepress is the preparation of files, such as those for a brochure, business card, etc., that will be commercially printed by a printing house. While some printers will recreate your files done in Word or other software to professional software that the printer can use, it makes a lot more sense and saves a lot of time if the files are prepared correctly before they are delivered to the printer.

How is Prepress different from Desktop Publishing?

Desktop Publishing typically refers to creating files in the kinds of programs many folks have on their home computers, files which can be printed out on a personal printer. Microsoft Publisher is one such program. Most times these Desktop Publishing files cannot be printed by a commercial printer without a lot of work on the printer's part. Images are the most problematic, as these must be at a higher resolution (dpi, also known as "dots per inch") and most images used in desktop publishing are only 72dpi, rather than the 225 dpi — 300 dpi a printer requires.

How can you help me with my brochures and other documents?

We can handle your desktop publishing and prepress needs for a lot less than the average printing house charges for the same work because of our low overhead. We can take your documents produced in Microsoft Word and convert them into a format a printing house can use. We have even converted Microsoft PowerPoint documents for this same purpose, something that many printing houses won't even bother to convert. Because we work on PCs, we often can work with you more easily than a printing house.

We have years of experience converting Word, Excel and other Microsoft Office documents for use in printed materials, and are able to import these documents into professional prepress software when many graphic designers don't have the in-depth knowledge to work with this software. We can often accomplish this task a lot faster just because we have so much experience and knowledge in this line, saving you money. nd if we are also working on your website, you save even more because the images and other materials are all created and ready to move to one medium or the other.

Because of the time we've been in the business and the contacts we've developed over the years, we also can guide you to the best printing house for your needs.

Why should I use you for Desktop Publishing? My secretary can do it.

If your secretary has design and marketing experience this makes some sense, but too often a secretary or office assistant has many other tasks to accomplish and can't do the best job for you. Most do not have the design skills, and struggle along trying to create something that ends up not representing your company as well as it might. If you're trying to save money by printing out your own copies, we certainly understand and can help you produce a document you an print out on your home printer. In the end, it is often more cost-effective, and you end up with a better product, by working with a professional designer.