Technical Tips

Confused about how to order with us? 

Here are some quick and easy tips to remember when ordering.

At cup-a-round® you can be assured that we strive to provide you with the clearest and highest quality graphic possible, however, the starting point of this is up to you! 

• Always remember that receiving a file in the proper format will help ensure quality graphic reproductionl!  Poor quality graphic files will result  in result fuzzy edges and unclear details.

• Always try to supply the file in the original file format in which it was created . For example in Corel (.cdr), or Adobe Illustrator (.ai).  Just make sure that you send us the font files along with your graphic.  As well, include files for any graphics that are included.

• Avoid using graphic files that may have been created for proofing of other jobs.  Many times clients will supply us with a file that was created for another graphic job they commissioned.  Usually this is a "proof" supplied by another graphic company.  These files are intentionally low resolution and poor quality.  They will not reproduce well and are designed for proofing purposes only!

• Although original files are preferred, high resolution tiffs are also acceptable. Supplying us with a poor scanned copy will always produce jagged edges and fuzzy graphics!   Printing it to your ink jet or laser printer may not tell you the whole story on the quality of the file.

• Just for your information that files that you send us will be reproduced on film at 2400 dpi. Therefore, any little blur or jagged line will be reproduced ten fold.   This high of a dpi is not as forgiving as your printer may be.

• The size of the image should be no bigger than 2"x2".  Anything larger than this will be over the margins.

• One tip is to create your design and then print in "actual size".  This will allow you to view the size of the printing etc.

So thus an original file is best!  However if this is not possible a scanned image may work as well!  Below are some scanning tips that may help!

If you wish to scan the image and send in as a TIFF then here are some tips::

• Scan line art at 600 to 1200 dpi and save as a "bitmap tiff" to remove the screens around the edges of the image.

• Scan halftones at a dpi of 2 1/2 times the linescreen you want to print at. Save the file as a "grayscale tiff".

• Crop the image down to just what you need to send to us. Scanning a small piece of art on an 8 1/2 X 11 page will be a huge file because all of the empty page around the image will be part of the scan and will be represented by pixels. The more pixels, the bigger the file. Monstrous files go nowhere
  via e-mail.

• We will not accept JPEG's nor Gifs. They may view fine on your computer screen but are rarely high enough quality for reproducing.

If you are not able to provide a file that meets these criteria let us know as quickly as possible!  We offer full graphic design services and we will be able to work with you in creating a great graphic file.  Sometimes graphic work will not be as indepth and costly as you may think.  Our basic graphic rates start at $65/hour.  Sometimes one hour is all that it may take to redo an existing graphic file and make it "camera ready"!  

After reading all of our tech tips you are still in doubt then send us your file.   We can let you know, even before you place your order, what will work and what won't. 

info@cuparound.com