Kenwel Printers

We have developed a checklist of items to help you prepare your files properly before sending them to us. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact us.

Get Ready to Send: Print Design Checklist

Each item includes more detailed explanation or links to more help from our site. Just open a drop down window if you need more information.

You have checked our list of supported file formats.

We support a variety of file formats for print and work our hardest to help each and every customer. Access our Prepress Help Topic entitled File Formats Supported for our list and greater detail. Do not hesitate to contact us in Prepress at 614.261.1011 if you have any concerns or questions.

Your item is created to size.

The document size should represent the final trim size of the document. This page size will be used to automatically set trim and registration marks.

Be aware of folding panels. Do your work at 100% size of the printed piece and allow for proper margins where you want it to fold.

If creating a book, insert blank pages where they would appear in the finished book to keep all ODD numbered pages as right-handed pages and EVEN numbered pages as left-hand pages in the book. The book will be bound in the center, you will need more margin on the inside of the pages where they are to be bound.

You have declared and included bleeds, if required.

Bleeds are areas where an object extends beyond the edge of the printed page. Make sure items needing to print to the edge of the paper extend or “bleed” 1/8” (0.125″) beyond the edge of the page to accommodate for variances when the printed piece is trimmed down. Read Using and Defining Bleeds for more information.

You have linked your graphics, and not embedded them.

Graphics used in the document should always be linked to — not stored in —the publication. This reduces the file size, allows for faster saves, and reduces the chance of the graphics getting corrupted. Also, if there are problems with the graphic, it allows our prepress staff a better chance of fixing the problem if you also include your graphics in their native format when you send your file.

You are sending all the fonts used in the design.

All fonts used to build the document, including those used in graphics, should be submitted along with the application files. All fonts used should be embedded in any PDF file sent for proof or final output. If fonts are not included, substitution will occur and even fonts with the same name, but created by different foundries, may produce undesirable results. Read All About Fonts for more information.

You did not use style attributes to boldface or italicize your fonts.

Never use the “style” commands in your layout file to make fonts bold or italic. ALWAYS use the actual bold or italic font. What this means is: when you are formatting your type, and you want something to appear bold or italic, DO NOT click that little “B” or “I” button! Go to your font menu and choose the bold or italic version of the font. Rule of thumb: If it’s not there, you probably don’t have it… and we will not be able to print it. Read All About Fonts for more information.

Your line art and halftone images (photographs) have been scanned at proper resolution for quality output.

Line art should be scanned at 100% of the finished size at a MINIMUM of 600 dpi; halftones (photographs) at 300 dpi. When working with four-color images, remember to convert all graphics to CMYK from their native RGB state. Save your graphics as Photoshop EPS or TIF. Do not use file compression when saving your scans.

You have verified that your design does not have nested graphics.

Do not place an EPS graphic within another EPS graphic. Graphics should ONLY be “placed” in the final layout program. PostScript errors are almost guaranteed to happen when nesting is done. You can learn more about EPS files in our article, All EPS Files Are Not Created Equal: Vector vs. Raster Images.

You have included a proof.

If you’re supplying a finished file, please send a complete set of currently edited lasers (or pdf) at full size (100%), 600 DPI (minimum) of the files you are providing, including any blank pages in the finished copy, showing registration marks, trim marks, and document information to ensure our output matches your expectations.

You have pre-flighted and packaged your files.

Most professional layout programs have a Save for Service Provider or a Preflight/Package option available from their program menus. Use it! Not only does this option gather EVERYTHING we need to print your job in one easy to transport folder (including fonts, updating linked graphics, photos, and native files); pre-flighting your own job will allow your program to catch problems that these instructions may have missed. Fixing problems at the designer level saves you billable time at the prepress level!

You are enclosing your contact information.

Please provide us with your contact information so we can reach you if there is a problem. If you can’t be reached, you may find this problem area has incurred correction charges on your final bill… or worse: your job will be put on hold and will not make deadline! A simple text file enclosed with your documents will insure that we have all the information we need. Adobe InDesign actually creates this text file for you when you use its Preflight option.

You've verified that your media for transfer is supported.

The most common types of media supported are CDs and DVDs. Be sure that you burn them as SINGLE SESSION disks. We also accept USB 2.0 Flash drives.

You have compressed your file and named your file to help us identify it among many.

Place your document and all support files into one folder and using a file compression program, zip (or compress) them. Compressed files sized 10Mb or less can normally be e-mailed. If your compressed file is more than 10Mb, you can use our file transfer service below.

When naming your compressed file, it is customary to use your company name followed immediately by the project name, so we can readily identify it in our file system. For example, company Client Name is sending us a trifold brochure. Using this naming protocol, the file will be named ClientName3foldbrochure.zip.

Please e-mail your zipped files to files@kenwelprinters.com or phone 614.261.1011 right after you finish uploading so we can confirm that they have received it.

Our Goal is to Exceed Your Expectations.

Serving the Central Ohio Community with Printing Expertise Since 1952.