keep your eye on design

Design Resources

At Quality Quickprint, we provide hands-on service, so you never have to figure it out on your own. But we also know that lots of our customers like to feel informed during the printing process. Below are some of the common design themes our customers ask about.

Choosing fonts

Choosing the fonts for a particular project can be difficult for many people. There are a few general rules that many designers and layout artists follow to make the process a little easier and more attractive.

Limit the number of fonts used to two; one is even better.
Use point size, italics, and bold variations to add visual interest and appeal.
Keep the contrast between the type and the background as high as possible for easy readability.
Black type on a white background is best; reversing is second.
After black, red is the first color choice for readability and impact.
A more readable document will result from the use of traditional fonts such as Times, Times Roman, Futura, and Goudy.
A serif font, like Times, is generally easier to read than one without serifs (sanserif), like Arial.
White space (empty space) in a layout makes for an easier-to-read and often more effective document.
It is very important that clients provide all printer and screen fonts used in their document – even if they are commonly used fonts. Not providing the fonts used in the document is the most common reason for delays and additional costs in processing digital files.

Saving Photos and Graphics

The resolution should be set to 300 dpi. Pictures and graphics pulled from the internet are often low resolution, typically 72 dpi or 96 dpi. Avoid these graphics, as they will appear pixilated and blocky when printed. Also note that you should save all photos in CMYK mode, not RGB mode, when possible. Images saved in RGB mode may not print properly. If you are unable to save your image in CYMK mode, please let us know.

Using Colored Text

It’s okay to use colored text on large, headline type, or smaller sizes down to about 12-point size. Any smaller than that, and the words may be hard to read.

Setting-up Bleeds

If you create a document or illustration where the design is intended to “bleed” off the page, you’ll need to build the bleed into the graphic file. Any design program you use will have this function built in. Please provide crop marks to define the true page dimensions, so we know where the page will be trimmed.

Choosing paper

Paper may be defined in terms of its use. Each grade serves a purpose, usually suggested by its grade name. Some of the most common classifications of printing papers are bond, coated, text, cover, book, offset, index, label, tag, and newsprint.