Not only can we archive them, but using our online ordering system, you’ll be able to access your own documents and reorder them as you need. We do this for many of our clients because it makes it that much easier to reprint or update documents, and it saves you time and money.
We’ll do the best we can to match the color you need. If you’re using a PMS Pantone spot color, we can absolutely match it. But some process colors are more difficult to match than others, especially certain shades of reds and blues.
Some things to consider that do affect color match include screen calibration, substrate (what it’s printed on), output device (where it’s been printed from), the light source, and, believe it or not, the age and sex of the person viewing the document. Men and women see colors differently.
On simple work, yes, we can approximate what something will cost. However, most of our jobs are customized products requiring less than standard methods of production. In these instances, we’ll provide you with a customized solution and pricing to fit your production requirements.
If you can picture it, we can definitely help you design it. Our graphic designers can create anything from a simple direct mail piece or newsletter to complex product brochures. And we’ll continue to help you during every phase of the project, helping you to select everything from paper stock, ink colors, graphics and typefaces to help you create a piece that will make you stand out from your competition.
The best way for you to get a quick, accurate quote from us is to use the online quote request application at the bottom of this paragraph. When we receive your request, we’ll take a look at your specifications and either e-mail or phone you with a quote.
Or, if you prefer, you can call us 604.875.1919. We can work with you over the phone, you can stop in to our center, or one of our representatives will come to see you–whatever you prefer.
It really depends on the work involved in completing it. Once we receive the job, discuss the specifics such as whether or not design work is involved and you approve the artwork, we can give you a more accurate completion date.
If a job comes in a file we will review it, preflight it and make it print ready, and then contact you with an estimated completion date. However, if we are missing any element, we will need to contact you or someone at your organization as soon as possible to get the missing information, so please be sure to provide accurate contact information with your job.
We recommend that you simply order what you really need. Because more and more products have shorter life cycles, obsolescence and spoilage can be as much as 30 percent of what you’ve printed, so what may appear to be cost effective in the short run may prove to be costly in the long run.
That’s why it’s important to consult with us. So we can learn more about you, your product, its life cycle, and the end user, to recommend more accurate and effective solutions. What type of computer platforms/software programs do you support?
Please refer to the section Tips for Designers.
Yes, if you supply a file in a layout program such as Adobe InDesign, Quark Xpress, Microsoft Publisher. Include Postscript or open type printer and screen fonts.
Bleed is a term that refers to printing that goes beyond the edge of the sheet after trimming. The image should be extended 1/8” outside of the print area to ensure no white is visible when trimmed. When saving a PDF file bleeds and trim marks must be added.
Anything you don’t want trimmed off should be inset at least 1/8” from the trim edge.
Always supply single page (1-up) files.
All files supplied should be on the correct page size required. Please DO NOT impose your files in any way, this applies especially to business cards. If your artwork requires ‘bleed’ see notes above.
Images for press or digital print should be at 300dpi at final size. Wide format prints (posters, signs etc) can be min 100dpi at final size.
Save the image as a PNG file. PNG supports transparency, whereas JPEG does not.
In most cases, No. We prefer that you send your documents as single pages (1up). We have software that automates the imposition process and it gives us the flexibility to change page setups for varying press conditions. It’s faster for us to do the imposing, and it’s one less thing for you to worry about so you can focus on the design.
- Set “High Quality Print” as your preset.
- If your document has bleeds (artwork that extends off the edge of the page), be sure to turn them on in the “Marks and Bleed” section of the Export dialog box.
- Set the bleed amount to at least 0.125” on all 4 sides.
- Turn on “Crop Marks”.
- Offset (crop mark distance from page) should be at least 6pt. (0.0833”, the default).
- Do NOT set the Offset to zero.
Adobe InDesign: Choose “Package…” from the File menu. Turn on the check boxes to include linked images and fonts. This will save a copy of your layout and supporting files in a new folder (you specify). If you’re uploading the files to us via the internet, please compress the resulting folder into a single ZIP file.
Quark XPress: Choose “Collect for Output…” from the File menu. Turn on the checkboxes
to include linked images and fonts. This will save a copy of your layout and supporting files in a new folder (you specify). If you’re uploading the files to us via the internet, please compress the resulting folder into a single ZIP file.
Microsoft Publisher:
Choose “Pack and Go > Take to a Commercial Printing Service…” from the File menu. The Wizard will walk you through the process of gathering and compressing your files, which you’ll then send to us.
Press-ready PDFs, InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, Quark Xpress, Microsoft Office – Word, Excel & Publisher. PC and MAC platforms. Links and fonts must also be provided.
Step 1: Gather the files you need to send into a single compressed archive (.zip) file. Recent versions of Mac OS X and Windows can do this for you. Select the files/folders you want to ZIP, right click and choose “Send to compressed (zipped) folder” (Windows) or “Create archive of [file names]” (Mac OS X).
(The wording of the “compress” commands may vary depending on your version of Windows or Mac OS X.)
Step 2: Go to our website (www.allegra.ca) and click the File Transfer button.
Step 3: Fill out the form as required, then click the “Choose File” button near the end of the page. Select the ZIP file you created in Step 1.
Step 4: Click the green “Send” button. A progress bar should appear so you can monitor the upload progress. (If a progress bar does NOT appear, you may need to turn off your web browser’s pop-up blocker, but this is VERY rare.) Once the upload is finished, the system will send you (and us) a confirmation email. If necessary you can send us either CD ROM, DVD, USB drives or upload the files to our ftp site.
There is no set size limit. There is, however, a TIME limit of 3 hours. After 1 hour of uploading, the system will send you (and us) a warning message that your file hasn’t finished transferring. You can ignore this message if your file is still sending and you’re sure it will finish before the 3 hour limit expires. Connection speeds vary widely.
We’ve had customers with extremely fast internet connections send hundreds of megabytes in mere minutes. A conservative estimate for most cable or DSL connections is 100MB upload per hour. Thus, the web-upload method should be fine for files up to 300MB or so. If you need to upload larger files, we also have an FTP site. Please contact us for login information.
No… What you see on your screen and what you can print are totally different things. Your monitor is showing colours in the form of light, and print is showing colours in the form of physical ink on paper. Monitors use the RGB (red, green, blue) colour model, which usually supports a wider spectrum of colours. Printers use the CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) colour model, which can reproduce most, but not all, of the colours in the RGB colour model.
Short Answer: Never trust your computer screen!
Long Answer: Your computer screen shows 72 dots per inch. Printers print at 600 dots per inch. If you reduce your images to anything around 72 dots per inch they will look fine on your computer screen. They will, however, look awful when printed. Scan your photos at 150 – 300 dpi.
We cannot guarantee that your printed graphics will match the colour from our own printers. This is due to widely variable elements such as monitors, inkjet, laser, thermal, etc.
No. The digital printing software will convert your PMS colour to CMYK and try to match it as close as possible.
Please provide images created at at least 300 pixels per inch or 300dpi. If you have incorporated any text we suggest 400-600dpi. Images pulled from the internet are often low resolution, typically 72 dpi or 96 dpi. Avoid these images, as they will appear pixelated and blocky when printed.
