How do I send my discs to my printer or bureau

Sending your discs and files to your printer or service bureau

Try and make it as easy as possible for your printer to understand your instructions for your discs. Remember you have maybe been working on creating your masterpiece for weeks or even months - this will be the first time your printer has seen your files.

His first impression may perhaps be totally at odds with what you require. I would suggest that
you only place on the disc those files for the job that you want to print now. Make sure that all the files that are required are there as well. If there are some missing this will cause delays and if there are extra files you may end up paying extra for things you do not want.

Always provide a hard copy of the job which explains each file. Help your printer or bureau by including things like file names, images, fonts, operating system and any other information that will facilitate the easy output of your files - they'll love you for it and may be prepared to do you some extra favours. If you make it really difficult to follow your instructions they certainly will not do you any extra favours and may have to charge more or put your job to the end of the queue.

I would also suggest that you provide a hard copy of your artwork as well so that the bureau staff can see at once what you would like. Remember all these people will be visually based so will understand pictures a lot better than a wordy explanations.

Remember as well to provide a folded dummy of your work if there is bindery work involved. Have you made sure there is enough room on the printed sheet to allow for folding or creasing.
Have you checked any imposed sections for your work and are all the pages in the correct orientation.

I would also encourage you to send programmes that do not embed any of your files. Some microsoft products embed graphic images and fonts. This can cause resolution problems for the images and can cause pagination issues with the fonts.

Be sure to stick with a bureau who is willing to help - a little extra on the quoted price can work out a lot cheaper in the long run than taking the lowest quote. Check our Flavell A to Z of print to see what is possible

Good luck with your printing


Gordon Flavell

www.flavell.com

What's the difference between promotional posters and flyers

The main difference between promotional posters and flyers is their size and quantity.

There are also some more subtle differences between these similar advertising mediums - so who do you need to tell - and what do you need to tell them?

Posters are usaully bigger than A4 (approx 12"x8") and are typically on thick paper 150gm. They tend to be made in small quantities, sometimes only 10 but rarely over 200 and are posted on display boards, on outside venues, noticeboards, etc.

Flyers on the other hand tend to be smaller than A4 and produced in thousands to hand out, mail, distribute door to door, include with magazines, etc.

Posters and Flyers can often contain exactly the same information with the posters being much larger. This is the ideal situation if you are promoting an event and are displaying your poster outside or on a large display board.

However if you are displaying your poster on a local club or office noticeboard a large poster can be too big for the board or worse still it is covered with other small adverts so the copy on your poster cannot be seen.

In this case it is better to use a smaller size similar to a flyer

Promotional Poster and Flyers are one of the most popular mediums for creating greater awareness of your events, products or services.

Make sure you have done your research before arranging your advertising - and remeber the cost of distribution can often exceed the cost of your design and printing. Expert advice can often be the most cost effective route for your promotional posters and flyers


Good Luck with your project

Gordon Flavell

www.flavell.com