The Designer's Guide has been created to assist you with submitting
the necessary materials and accurately prepare your electronic files
for print production. Following these guidelines will help ensure the
successful, timely completion of your project.

• PAGE LAYOUT FILES.
• LIVE ART FILES and SCANNED IMAGES.
• SCREEN AND PRINTER FONTS.
• DISK DIRECTORY.
• LASER PROOFS. Either a composite laser proof complete with color break information noted, or a laser proof with individual lasers of each color separation plate. Whichever option you choose, please forward it to us at 100 percent of the actual size.

PAGE LAYOUT FILES:

• Define page size as a final size.
• Check to see that all bleeds measure .125".
• Independent will provide all trap.
• Clipping paths need to be created in Photoshop; avoid Quark clipping paths.
• Page/panel sizes should be correct for the style of fold, if final piece requires folding.

TYPE/FONT ISSUES:

• Avoid style options or buttons as they may result in incorrect output.
  Choose a font from the font menu.
• Avoid specifying a rule weight of hairline (define it as a .25 pt. rule).

COLOR: 

• Define color names exactly the same between graphics software and page layout programs (CV,CVC,CVU,...).
• Define all colors appropriately as spot or CMYK colors in both the graphics and page layout programs.
• Output a laser copy of all separate color plates to verify accurate color break.
• Add 60% cyan to large solid black areas. The addition of cyan will help achieve a richer black on your finished piece (60C,100K).

IMAGE CONSIDERATIONS:

• Don't forget those embedded art files! And, by the way, there's no need to send FPO files because they just take up additional disk space.
• Convert all live color bitmap files from RGB to CMYK. 
• For best results, we suggest you limit black ink to 95 percent coverage, and total ink density to 340 percent coverage.
• Avoid placing PICT files. Convert them to EPS or TIFF format.
• Always embed your profile when saving images.
• If QuarkXPress pages are saved as EPS files and placed in another document, send the original QuarkXPress page and any placed files
  required for the page.
• Include the Freehand document when exporting graphics from Macromedia Freehand.
• Set picture box background color to none in QuarkXPress whenever possible.
• Create blends (or gradients) in Adobe Photoshop adding a gaussian noise of 2. This step will help reduce banding.
• Avoid saving any EPS Options (halftone screening information or transfer functions) with Adobe Photoshop images.
• Clipping Paths created in Photoshop need to be one full pixel into the image.

 SCANNED IMAGES

• Scan line work at 800 dpi (dots per inch) or above. This will ensure optimum quality.
• Provide live color bitmap images at scan resolutions of 300 dpi.
• DI work is output at 175 lpi (lines per inch).
• Place all scans at 100 percent size or smaller in page layout. Enlargements could compromise quality.
• Always embed your profile when saving images.

AVAILABLE MEDIA

• 100, 250 and 750 mb Iomega Zip Drives
• Imation Superdisk
• 1 GB Iomega Jaz Drive
• Recordable CD
• 3.5" floppy disk formatted for Macintosh or PC
• If the media you use is not listed above, just give us a call and we'll access the drive needed to receive your files.

TELECOMMUNICATION OPTIONS

• Internet email access: indcom@independentinc.com
• FTP Internet site:
  Host: ftp.independentinc.com 
  User ID: ipcuser
  Password: indftp

SOFTWARE APPLICATIONS

• Adobe Illustrator
• Adobe Pagemaker
• Adobe Photoshop
• InDesign
• Macromedia Freehand
• QuarkXPress

SCANNING
All scanning is completed with our Linotype-Hell Chromagraph S3400 Scanner. We accept transparency, reflective, color, black/white, line art, and positive and negative copy formats.  Original images are accepted up to a maximum size of 19.7" x 25.6". It may be helpful to note that our minimum reduction size is 10 percent, and our maximum enlargement size is 3000 percent.

IMAGE MANAGEMENT
We have the capabilities to catalog, archive and retrieve your images.

ELECTRONIC PROOFING
Electronic proofs are completed on our Fuji Pictro Proofing System.
The maximum image area on these proofs is 12" x 18".
Laser Matchprints are also available.