Your sign business is important to us and we know that the quality of the sign and the final price is important to you. Behind the scenes a lot of time and effort goes into preparing artwork for sign production and this preparation requires a good understanding of computer generated vector graphics and the sign production work flow. We will gladly work with artwork provided by you, the customer, but there are a few things to keep in mind if your artwork was submitted in an effort to keep your costs down or to maintain a common look and feel to your company brand or corporate identity.

The Difference Between Bitmap and Vector Graphics

When it comes to computer graphics the distinction between the various formats can get quite confusing. Basically there are two main categories of graphics files, vector graphics and bitmap graphics. Bitmap graphics are created by digital cameras, scanners and paint or photo editing programs like Adobe Photoshop, Paintshop Pro, or Corel Photo Paint. Common file extensions for bitmap files include:

• .jpg
• .bmp
• .gif
• .tif
• .png
• .pix

Bitmaps are great when photo quality is called for but they can be problematic when scaled to large sizes or sizes suitable for signage. When scaled up, bitmap graphics files can get very large requiring a large amount of disk space and lots of RAM which can bring lower end computers to a virtual standstill. Picture quality also suffers when bitmaps are scaled up with the most notable deficiency being a pronounced definition of the individual pixels giving an overall blocky appearance to the image. Pixels representing lines can produce a noticeable stair-stepped look to curves which may not be desirable if the sign is to viewed from relatively short distances. Viewed from a further distance, this deficiency is not as noticeable.

Signs produced from bitmap graphics files are generally output to large format inkjet or thermal foil printers. Color fastness is the biggest downside to signs produced this way although there have been big advances in this technology over the last few years.

Our sign production work flow makes strong use of computer generated vector graphics that are output to a vinyl cutting plotter. Vector graphics provide a mathematically defined line that the plotter knife can follow thereby making them indispensable in a modern sign shop. Because the lines in a vector graphic are mathematically defined the computer has no problem scaling them up or down to a very wide degree with absolutely no loss in quality and very little change in the file size. Vector graphics are the ideal format for everything from business cards to billboards and the preferred format for sign design professionals.

Vector graphic computer files are generally quite small in comparison to bitmap graphics files. They can contain embedded bitmaps in the form of fills and textures used to color the shapes and when they do the saved file can be large. When we encounter shapes filled with shading or similar effects we recreate the effect, in paint, on the finished sign. Common extensions for vector files are:

• .cdr
• .ai
• .eps
• .wmf

Computer File Preparation Guide

Fonts can be a problem if your file includes a font we don't have. Although we have thousands of dollars worth of fonts it's an all too common occurrence to have a customer provided file contain a font we don't have. For this reason we ask that you have your vector graphics application convert the font to curves. It's also a good idea provide the name of the font in the event you would like us to change any of the copy or text appearing in your sign. This can save a lot of time if we need to match up a font to make changes or additions.

Color can be problematic for the simple reason that computers vary widely in their ability to accurately reproduce color. The system used to get around this deficiency is the Pantone® Matching System. When you specify a Pantone® Solid Coated color number we can use our Pantone® Solid Coated swatch book to accurately match the color.

Another area of confusion is the difference between the way the printing industry creates color. They use the four color process in concert with various screen densities to simulate the Pantone® Solid Coated spot colors. In many cases the conversion is a relatively straight forward process and the results completely acceptable but there are also many cases where the conversion is noticeably different. For a good explanation of the difference between spot and process colors I highly recommend the Pantone® page covering the subject. If the color of your logo or artwork is important to you then we ask you to provide Pantone® Solid Coated color numbers to maintain that integrity. We have found this to be the most effective way to avoid any misunderstanding or disappointment with the final results.

In many cases customer provided artwork will still need to be tweaked a bit to make it acceptable to the vinyl cutting plotter. This is mainly due to the way the a plotter handles a vector graphic as opposed to the way a printer would handle the same file. A plotter will want to cut every line even if it's hidden behind another shape or otherwise invisible. We are used to preparing vector graphic files for output to the plotter so this generally isn't much of a problem and usually only adds a small amount of time to the overall production of the sign.

Sending Us Your Vector Graphics File

Probably the single easiest way of providing your file is to send it as an e-mail attachment. Vector graphics files are rarely over a megabyte or two so they generally come through without a problem. When the files approach five megabytes many e-mail programs will balk at handling them. In that case you would have to contact us so that we can provide you with proper credentials to authenticate to our FTP Server.

If you have any questions not covered here don't hesitate to contact us. We look forward to working with you as we strive to provide you with a quality sign you can be proud of for years to come.