If the price is the same for one-sided or two-sided cards why would anyone want a one-sided card?
Some car dealers like to put a price and notes for their clients on the back of their cards. Some retailers like to stamp the back of their card “10% off on your next visit”. Jot a quick thank you; write an appointment date, time and place and the list goes on. A blank back can be used to make your card very personal to the receiver and that is a memorable thing to do. We recommend that you think about how you would like to use your card and then develop what’s best for you. Please remember that there is a design fee for each side of the card the first time you order.

Are there any extra charges that I should be aware of?
We try very hard to make your piece as economical as possible. We want you to get very good value at a great price, however, to keep our prices for our basic products so low, there are additional fees for such items as scoring, folding or special requests. Additional design charges can also apply if designing your piece takes an unusual amount of time and we charge small additional fees for more than 5 pictures or logos. We make it a point to discuss all fees with you before your job goes to print. Please understand that once you have asked us to design your card, you are committing to pay the design fee even if you decide not to print the card.

What’s included at no additional charge?
Most printers will charge you extra for a full bleed. That’s color all the way to the edge of the paper or card. We don’t. We also want you to be happy with the end product so you’ll get a lot of personal attention, suggestions and ideas to help you make your card a very useful introduction and sales tool or if you get any other product from us we will help you to make it a memorable, powerful piece. We print on high quality paper or card stock with a gloss coated or mat finish depending on the look and feel you are trying to accomplish.

Will you do one color, or two color cards?
Yes. We want to meet your needs, whatever they are. We ask you to think seriously about using full color. Studies have proven that full color sells! You’re going to buy business cards anyway so we recommend that you make them as powerful a tool as possible. And full color is the same price as one color when you buy from us.

Tell us about PMS, RGB and CMYK colors.
We print in CMYK which refers to primary pigment colors of Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. Some clients have PMS (Pantone Matching System) colors which are inks of a specific color If we have the PMS number we will use the CMYK inks to get a process tint match, but we probably can’t get an exact match because the colors may “shift” when converting from PMS to CMYK. RGB refers to the primary colors of Red Green and Blue. These are the colors you see when you are looking at a monitor, television screen, digital camera screen or produced from a scanner. It is impossible to exactly reproduce colors as we see them on our monitors and we ask all of our clients to recognize that. Many programs can covert RGB to CMYK. If exact color is important to you we request that you convert your colors from RGB to CMYK and make the adjustments (usually lightening) to get the color that you want. Be sure to specify that you want a paper proof so you can check color and please recognize that will take a little more time.

Can I get an exact color match?
Generally pricing for guaranteed exact color matching requires much more time and money for the client; therefore we do not specialize in exact color matching. We have developed our product so that we can give our clients a great product at a very economical price.

Can I send you pictures for my business card, postcard or brochure taken from my digital camera?
Yes you can send us any pictures in jpg or pdf format. To get the best results, be sure that your camera is set to the highest possible setting. If increasing the setting allows you to take fewer pictures on your memory card instead of 128 then that is good. You want to take the best quality pictures that your camera can take. This will mean large file sizes and slow downloads from your camera, but it will get you the best possible result. Images from your camera may print darker than expected. Once downloaded on to your computer, check to see if you have a brightness option in your image editing program to lighten the picture. If you have a program that allows you to change the color from RBG to CMYK, then do it. It is always better for you to change the color than for us to do it. If you do not have the ability to do this with your software, don’t worry about it, we can do it for you. The sharper and crisper you can make your picture, the better the result.

Will you take a picture for us?
Yes. If you live in Southern Maine, we are happy to take a digital picture for you. We stress that we are not photographers, so what we can do has it limits. We do not charge for this service as long as we get a picture you like in the first shoot. If you live out of our area, we encourage you to ask a friend or relative who you know takes good pictures to assist you. We can also refer you to a reasonably priced photographer or help you to find a stock photo that expresses who you are and what you do. If you need any assistance, just ask.

How can I tell what resolution the picture from my digital camera is?
Images must be 300 dpi (dots per inch). Some digital cameras tell you what the image resolution is, while other tell you what the pixel dimensions are. If you know pixel dimensions rather than dpi, divide the numbers by 300 if the picture does not include text and 400 if it does include text. Example: An image with no text with pixel dimensions of 600 x 900 will convert to 2 x 3 when divided by 300. This means that picture can be no larger than 2 x 3 inches and still have a resolution of 300dpi. If you increase its size in the layout to 4 x 6 the new resolution is now 150dpi. So remember you can always shrink an image down in size because the resolution will increase, but increasing it in size may be difficult. 

Is it difficult to design a business card, postcard or brochure and does it require many revisions?
If you have thought about your piece and how you would like it to look and we have been able to capture that on paper before it goes to the designer, the first design is usually pretty close to what you want. If you’re vague about what you want, it could take several revisions to achieve a design your happy with. Our goal is to maximize results with the least amount of time and money because we understand how important both are to you. It is our job to prove that we can meet that goal.

How long will it take to get a proof and how will I receive it?
We do everything in our power to get a proof to you within 2 to 3 business days. If we can’t meet that schedule for some reason, we will notify you, but we want to stress that not meeting that schedule is very rare. We send the proof to you via a PDF file so you can view it and make sure that it meets your requirements. You can then approve it or request any changes that you feel are necessary.

How do I approve my order for printing?
We will e-mail you an approval form with your PDF file. It is your responsibility to check every aspect of the piece including spelling, correct phone numbers, completeness of text, etc. Remember, if color is an issue; be sure to ask for a paper proof before approving the job for print.

What is your turnaround time after the design is approved?
It differs by product, but 7-10 business days is a fair estimate. We will tell you how long it will take for your product to get to you before we send it to print. If you have to rush the order just tell us. We can speed up the design, the printing and/or the shipping. If you’re moved to the head of the line there is an additional charge. We can let you know how much the charge is to rush each part of the process. We find that most often speeding up just one of the three legs of the process gets the product to you in a timeframe that works. We also find that if a rush is required it will probably be on the first order.

What charges do I have when I reorder?
If you do not make any changes to the design, you only have to pay for the product. There is no design fee on reorders. If you’re using the same design for other employees, there is a $15 charge for picture change if you are using portraits of each employee or a $5.00 charge for text change if there is no picture, but again only for the first order for each additional employee.