WHAT IS ACCEPTABLE ART?

Artwork is the most important component of a promotional product order. No matter what item you select; no matter how many you order; and no matter how much the item costs, nothing can be imprinted until the supplier has acceptable artwork.

Unacceptable artwork stops the order process and creates additional costs, such as artwork charges to fix problems, rush production charges and expedited shipping charges to meet your in-hands date.

So what is acceptable artwork? Spartan accepts artwork created in the following programs:

• Adobe Illustrator CS2 or lower
• Adobe InDesign CS2
• Adobe PhotoShop CS2 or lower
• Quark XPress v.6
• Macromedia Freehand v. 10.0
• Adobe Pagemaker v. 6.5
• Corel Draw v. 13 or lower

The preferred file format is Vector Art .eps (Freehand, Illustrator and Corel Draw) because of its scale-ability and smaller file size.
Why do we prefer Illustrator and Freehand .eps file types?

• They are versatile and considered camera ready
• Colors can be changed
• Size can be manipulated and the file type can be altered to accommodate your needs.

To ensure a quality art file make sure you convert fonts to outlines and create your graphics as vector art. Please note that a graphic imported into Illustrator or Freehand .eps is not considered a vector .eps file.

Bitmap.eps,.tif,.pict, .jpeg, .gif (Photoshop, Photopaint, etc.) may be sent at a reasonably high resolution. All bitmap line artwork should be at least 1000 dpi, while 300 maximum dpi can be used for color halftones or grayscale artwork. The artwork should be at exact size and the dpi should be double the final line screen.

If you are scanning your artwork, the Photograph and Image resolutions containing half-tones should be scanned no less than 300 dpi. Line Art (black and white) resolutions should be scanned no less than 800 dpi.

The following files are too abstract and not efficient:

• Microsoft Word Documents
• Power Point Documents
• .jpeg files
• Black and white .tif files scanned at less than 800 dpi
• Multi-color .tif files
• Files that are not camera ready
• Files sent with missing fonts (If fonts are not converted to outlines and the sender does not include a printer and screen font, the art will not print properly.)

It is often possible to print a hard copy of files sent in a less preferable format. The hard copy is then scanned or saved as a template in Illustrator or Freehand .eps and the art is then redrawn. This time consuming, incurs an art charge, and possibly necessitates rush and increased shipping charges.

The best scenario? Create your graphics as Illustrator or Freehand .eps files. If all of this sounds confusing (you are not alone!), the Graphics Glossary on this website will help you understand the terminology.