Tuesday, March 19th, 2024


Tips & Tools

Making the Most of Your Visual Communications

Developing Attractive, Effective Design:

  • Know your audience. With this information, your designer can make your materials more relevant and powerful. Maintain the same color scheme, fonts and other design elements throughout all of your materials for a consistent, professional look.
  • Make sure your Web site shares the same design elements as your printed materials.
  • Complete your design by using professional printing, finishing and binding services.
Tips to Guarantee Great Copies:
  • Make copies from digital files to get the best results.
  • If not on disk, always begin with the best, cleanest paper copy you have.
  • Explore your options. The right paper, finishing and binding will help your proposal or project really stand out.
  • Archive artwork digitally for fast and easy revisions and reordering.
Get the Most Out of Your Printing:
  • Capture audience attention and message retention with liberal color usage.
  • Work with Peterson Printing & Graphics' certified print specialists to determine the best paper, finishing and binding for your project.
  • Customize your communications to your audience. Tailor as much or as little as you want to create highly memorable, targeted materials using digital printing technology.
  • Keep unit costs low through volume printing of materials you use frequently, or selecting short-run digital color copies as a quick, economical alternative.
Two Tips for Just-In-Time Printing:
  • Use print-on-demand capabilities to print only what you need, when you need it, while controlling costs and saving storage space.
  • Convert both existing and new documents into digital files for easy inventory management.
How to Make Your Oversized Projects Look Better, and Bigger, Than Life:
  • Make sure that your project is designed in the size it will be produced.
  • Scan all artwork at the proper resolution (at least 150 dpi) and at the final size it will be printed.
  • Use "display" typefaces, such as Lithos, Copperplate, Futura, etc., for the clearest readability.
  • Have UV (ultraviolet) coating or lamination applied to your project if it will be displayed outside.
Tips for Using Color:
  • Remember that color options include choice of inks as well as papers.
  • Consider short-run digital color copying—it's a fast, economical alternative to full-color printing.
  • Use professional designers to help you choose the right colors—and the right use of those colors—to achieve the best results.
Have questions or need help? Click here to contact an expert at Peterson Printing & Graphics.



Useful Links
Production Tools
Application Color Setup
Adobe Creative Suite ZIP
Quark Color ZIP
PDF Creation Settings Files:
Adobe Creative Suite CS2: Windows Mac OS X
QuarkXPress 7: Windows Mac OS X
Acrobat Distiller: Windows Mac OS X
Print Utilities:
Adobe Acrobat Reader: Windows Mac OS X
Adobe Print Drivers: Windows Mac OS X
AG PDF Express: Windows Mac OS X
Compression Utilities:
WinZip: Windows
Stuffit Expander: Mac OS X
WinRar: Windows Mac OS X
Internet Tools
Browser Downloads:
Microsoft IE: Windows
Safari: Mac OS X
FireFox: Windows Mac OS X
Mozilla: Windows Mac OS X
Netscape: Windows
Browser Plug-Ins:
Macromedia Flash Real Player
FTP Clients:
WS FTP: Windows
Fetch: Mac OS X