Prepress & Graphic Design
Service Printers, Inc. offers a full range of digital prepress services: graphic design, photo retouching and color correction, as well as pre-flighting and troubleshooting. With our staff’s extensive knowledge of all major professional layout, illustration and photo software, you can rest assured that your project is being handled by the very best. We are also committed to staying current with the latest software updates, so you never have to worry about file compatibility issues. Let us show you what we can do!
- Layout and design
- Small product photography
- Photo color correction and retouching
- Pre-flighting and troubleshooting
- Software expertise for technical support
Digital Proofing & Direct to Plate
Once your files are ready for output, they are sent to our digital proofing and direct-to-plate department. Our press-calibrated, digital proofing devices produce color-accurate proofs, ensuring that what you see is what you get. In addition, every job is proofread in house as a value-added service to all of our clients. Once your proof is approved, our prepress professionals set up your job for the press using ApogeeX software, Sublima hybrid screening and Agfa plate-setter. All jobs run at 240 line screen, using the advanced screening technology developed by Agfa to give a nearly continuous-tone appearance to your literature.
- In-line imposition and trapping
- Proofs calibrated to match our presses
- 240 dpi Sublima line screening
- Direct-to-plate imaging
Service Printer PDF preset
One of the most important steps in the design process is making sure what you’ve made on-screen will look the way you want when it’s printed. One of the best ways to ensure your document stays the same is to send Service Printers a high-res PDF of your piece. Although we love working with native files in InDesign, especially if there are any last minute changes needed right before it prints, sending us a PDF can eliminate the risk of unwanted errors that can happen when files are opened on multiple computers. Issues like font reflow problems are nonexistent when printing from a PDF, and you won’t have to worry about packaging all of your fonts and links when you send us the file.
Which PDF format is best for sending to Service Printers? There are a few factors you want to consider when converting your file. First, your document should contain bleed. .125″ is a good rule of thumb for documents, regardless of size. Second, you want to make sure that the preset you are using saves your document in a print-ready resolution. Going through and choosing all of your output settings can be a very time-consuming and sometimes confusing task -but luckily we’ve done all the hard work for you! Service Printers has a PDF preset we’ve developed and used for years. This is the same preset we use in our prepress department to prep files for print and will work for either digital or conventional printing. Just install your preset and select “Service Printers” from the list of options when you convert a file to PDF. Your file is ready to send to us with no further action needed on your part.
If you’ve never installed a PDF preset before, it’s a pretty simple process. On a Mac, you just drop the file into Library/Application Support/Adobe/Adobe PDF/Settings. On a Windows computer, navigate to ProgramData/Adobe/Adobe/Adobe PDF. You can also easily add a preset in InDesign by going to File>Adobe PDF Presets>Define>Load. You preset will be available to use in all of your Adobe programs.