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Design Tips

Supported Programs & Media

The University Print Shop supports most popular page layout and graphics applications for both Windows and Macintosh platforms. Please use only the programs listed below when laying out your document. If you produce a document using software not listed here, it may require additional work or will be unusable.

Windows

  • Adobe Acrobat PDF Documents
  • Adobe InDesign CS3
  • Adobe Illustrator CS3
  • Adobe Photoshop CS3
  • Adobe PageMaker 6.5
  • Microsoft Word 2003
  • Microsoft Publisher 2003

Macintosh

  • Adobe Acrobat PDF Documents
  • Adobe InDesign CS3
  • Adobe Illustrator CS3
  • Adobe Photoshop CS3
  • Quark Xpress 5.0 and 6.5
  • Adobe PageMaker 6.5

We accept files on CD-ROM, DVD, and floppy disks. When submitting your job on disk, please include a composite laser printout of each page. These hard copies allow us to compare the printed versus the digital information on your disk, verifying that no elements in your document have shifted or that no fonts have been replaced. If we find something out of order, we have your printouts to go by and can more easily troubleshoot the problem.

Including Your Fonts

Please be sure to include all fonts used in your publication within a separate folder entitled "fonts" on your supplied disk. When using Adobe Illustrator to create your EPS files, it is best to "create outlines" of your text to avoid any missing font issues. If you decide to "create outlines," remember that no further text corrections can be made to that EPS file. Always save an ".ai" Adobe Illustrator copy of the file for your records before you have created text outlines.

There are three types of fonts: open type, postscript, and true type. Open type fonts are cross platform and they work best among the rest. Postscript fonts are comprised of two files: the screen font and the printer font. We need both files in order to read and image your document. True type fonts are just one file. The fonts installed on your computer can be found in the fonts control panel (Windows), or in the fonts folder in the system folder (Macintosh). If you have any questions regarding font issues within your files, please call our customer service staff at 985-4501.

Placed Graphics

For scanned photos, please use the Tagged Image File (TIF) format. Make sure that they are scanned in Adobe Photoshop at 300 dots per inch (dpi), and that they are set to grayscale or CMYK mode. You can change the mode of an image by using the 'Image’ menu, 'Mode' sub-menu. Do not submit color images for CMYK separation in RGB mode. When scanning line art, set the resolution to 1200 dots per inch. Scanned line art should be set to 'Bitmap’ mode and saved as either a TIF or an encapsulated postscript (EPS). Do not convert your line art scans to grayscale. Please avoid using any other image formats in your documents. The JPEG, GIF and PICT image formats are not acceptable for printing.

Do not use images that you have downloaded from a web site in your publications. Images developed for the web are designed to be viewed on screen, and thus are at a much lower resolution. When these images are sent to a high-resolution image setter, they will not produce the desired results.

Make sure that you include all supporting image files and fonts on your supplied zip disk or CD. If your files are inadequate for printing, keep in mind that additional design charges may apply and will also delay the job.

How to Create a PDF

Using Abobe Acrobat

To convert your Windows document (such as an MS Word document) into a pdf file you need Adobe Acrobat.

NOTE: When Acrobat 7 is installed on your computer, part of the installation process includes menus and a toolbar that are also installed in Microsoft Office programs, including Word. These menus and toolbar are called PDFMaker.

If you wish to use PDFMaker for MS Word to create a pdf file from your Word document then follow these steps:

  1. Open your document in Word.
  2. From the Adobe PDF pull down menu, select Change conversion settings menu item.
  3. In Select conversion settings pull-down arrow, choose High Quality Print from the list.
  4. Click OK to close the dialog.
  5. Click Convert to PDF on the PDFMaker toolbar and save the file.

Using Adobe Distiller

To use Adobe Distiller follow these steps:

  1. Open your document in the appropriate Windows application (such as MS Word).
  2. Select the File/Print menu item.
  3. Select Adobe PDF from the list of printers.
  4. Click on the button "Properties", and choose the Adobe PDF settings tab.
  5. In Select conversion settings pull-down arrow, choose High Quality Print from the list.
  6. Click the "Do not send fonts to 'Adobe PDF'" check box to deselect it.
  7. Click OK to close the dialog and return to the print dialog.
  8. Click Ok to print the document. Alter the filename as needed, and make sure to note which folder the file is written.

If you have any questions regarding PDF issues within your files, please call our customer service staff at (562) 985-4501.