• Suggested Links
• Photoshop Tutorials
• Graphic Design Resources
• Graphic Designers
• Tutorials Outpost
• Creative Public
• The Print Guide
• Creative Track
• Digital Dreamer
• Logomarket
• Desktop Publishing
• Blue Sfear
• Web Design Templates
• More Graphic Design Links
• Design Directory
• Photoshop, Flash Tutorials
• Web Designers & Developers
• Photoshop Tutorial Man
• Tutorial Guide
• Webmaster Tutorials
• Web Designers
• Web Design Portfolios
• All Work at Home Ideas
• Unlimited Website Templates
• Other Sites We Own
• AllFreelance
• Artists Helping Children
• All Freelance Work & Portfolios
• Graphic Design Community

home > Graphic Design Articles > Commercial Printing - Prepress - Preflighting Articles for Graphic Designers

Commercial Printing - Prepress - Preflighting Articles for Graphic Designers

Colored Paper Stock and Printing and How it Affects the Printing Process - If you are a graphic designer, then you need to be concerned with the way your designs turn out on paper. Do you know whether or not the color of paper stock changes the way your print job will turn out? This article will discuss the topic of paper color and the way it will affect your print job.

Commercial Color Printing is an Illusion - Isn't Fully Color Printed Items beautiful to see? Well those beautiful shiny brochures and full-color catalogs are an illusion of beautiful color. Color within these printed items are actually an optical illusion of blending built on halftoning, spot colors, or process colors.

SPOTLIGHT GRAPHIC DESIGNERS FROM OUR DESIGN COMMUNITY

A Colorful Way to Low Budget Printed Designs - Money Saving Graphic Designs - Do you have a low budget for a current graphic design project and your budget is at the bare minimum. This article deals with money-saving tips for your graphic design projects. One item that costs a pretty penny is color and you might try to save money by reducing the number of colors you use to print out your projects. Try making one or two colors look like many colors or use some of the other tips included in this article.

Evaluating Printing Companies:Choosing a Commercial Printer for Graphic Designers - As a graphic designer, knowing how to choose the right commercial printing company is very important. Not choosing the right commercial printer can cost you a lot of money, time, and even your clients. Learning how to effectively choose printers that will meet your demands, such as budget-constraints, time, and other aspects of your graphic design needs...is essential to running your graphic design business efficiently. Read this article to find out how you should evaluate Commercial Printing Companies.

Graphic Designers - What Makes a Good Commercial Printer / Printing Company? - What makes a good printing company? There are many answers to this short question, however, this article will make it more clear as to what to look for in a good commercial printer. A short answer is that a good printer will know how to accommodate your printing demands...find out the long answer within this article.

Impact of Large Format Poster Printing - This article deals with the remarkable affect the large format poster printing companies have had on the printing industry. Large Format Printers offers a wide variety of choices and therefore they yield economical large format posters. Find out more by reading this article.

Know the Features and Benefits of Effective Poster Printing - Most graphic designers use their local printing bureau, however, before you go running to your nearest poster printing company, stop and consider your routine first. You could save a lot of money on your poster printing costs by designing an effective poster first. Read this article on effective poster printing first.

Online Printing Madness : Digital Printers Online - As a graphic designer, finding an online printing company is essential to find quick and inexpensive printing alternatives. The Internet is your leading source for inexpensive, quality, and speedy commercial printers. However, you will need to be cautious when choosing the correct online printer for your business use.

Pictureque Framework of Large Format Printers - Large Format Graphics Printing is very alien and scary to many graphic designers. However, large format printing is very effecting marketing and can be a very powerful advertising item.

Promotional Printing Services Wanted - Digital & Offset Printing - There are no limits to what promotional printing services can do and print. Increasingly wholesale promotional printing services have become more heavily relied upon, including the digital and offset printing methods.

Tips to Choosing Right Printing Company : Right Commercial Printer - As a graphic designer, you will need to choose a good printing company to use for your graphic design clients. It is important to consider some important tips when choosing a printing company that matches your goals. Use this article as a guide to choosing the right commercial printer for your graphic design business.

Shy Away From 4-Color Matching Problems in Graphic Design and Printing - Try to avoid the problems that arise when colors are mismatched in files' assigned colors. Color matching is a common problem that arises when printing out digital files. However, If you were to know the problems that could arise from color matching, you would be more likely to solve them. This is why it is important for you to read this informative article about color matching. For example, being aware of the differences between RGB and 4-color CMYK.

Short Run Digital Printing Process Innovations and Affordable Results - Are you looking for a short-run, quality printing service with quality and affordable output? Then short-run digital printing services are ideal for you. This just leaves you with costs of paper and ink and have many advantages over more expensive printing services.

Whats The Mystery Behind Large Format Posters Printing - There is a certain mystery behind large format poster printing...but why are large format posters swarming all over the Internet? This article lists some factors in the large poster printing industry.

What Makes Full Color Format Poster Printing Services Unique? - As a graphic designer, have you ever had to design and print a full-color oversize poster? You might not have ever designed this, however, it is a good subject to know if you want to grow in your career. This is just a basic article regarding full-color format over-sized poster printing ... however, it is very useful and informative.

When Good Color Goes Bad - Even with the popularity of digital technology, and the availability of equipment and software associated with it, many printing firms are still slow to make the changes needed to upgrade their business. More so when it comes to digital photography.

MORE PRINTING AND PREPARING FILES FOR PRINTERS ARTICLES

Logo Design Creation Process from Start to Finish by Expert Graphic Designer - Mark Misenheimer
This article was written by the very talented, Mark Misenheimer of Misenheimer Creative, Inc. Mark is an expert freelance graphic designer who has been in the design business for years. He has documented the design of a logo from start to finish in order to help other graphic designers. I know that you will learn something from this tremendous logo design article.

---

Jul 17

Getting a Handle on the Creative Process for Graphic Designers
The Graphic Design industry is very competitive, and trust me, it can certainly get stressful and frustrating at times. However, it doesn?t always have to be that way. Here, I have broken down my design process. This is how I create my design layouts from start to finish. Basically, with some focus, structure, and a little bit of talent, creating rewarding and professional design work can be produced more efficiently and with less stress.

---

Jul 5

20 Ways to Avoid Graphic Designer?s Block
As a designer everyone has experienced a point where they just can no longer think of anything worth while. It?s in these situations when you have to reevaluate your perception of what works and what doesn?t. Use the following 20 tips to avoid and get through a tough designer's block.

---

Jun 18

Free Online Font Tools - Mega List of Web Based Font, Text, & Type Tools
Graphic Design and Typography are deeply connected. For that reason, I figure that most of you are going to love these free online font and type tools. Most, if not all, of these are very useful and I recommend that you use them when you have a chance. Below you will find the huge list of free browser-based font and type tools.

---

Jun 13

List of Graphic Design Podcasts on Topics Graphic Design, Web Design, Typography and More
I have found a load of design related podcasts that I am sure will peak your interests. Just think of it as radio shows geared towards you and your love of design. You will even find Podcasts on Photoshop, Illustrator, Typography, Freelancing, as well as Web Design and Graphic Design.

---

Jun 7

List of Vector Conversion Software - 30+ Tools to Turn Photos into Line Art and Illustrations
I love Vector Magic, a free online vectorization tool. It is a really cool browser-based tool that can be used to turn a photograph into an illustration. It doesn't always succeed in getting that look that you might be looking for, but it does a pretty good job. I usually just use it to play around with photos to see what Vector Magic can do with it, but it also can be very useful if you want to convert a photo into an illustration. I started to wonder how many other vectorization tools and software packages there were out there and I was surprised to find out that there are a ton o them. Basically, most of these tools turn Raster / Bitmap / Photo Images into Line Art / Illustrations / Vector Art.

---

May 28

Free Photoshop Shapes Downloads - Mega List of Free Custom Vector Shapes for Adobe Photoshop - Part I
I am in love with vector shapes right now. I think they are so handy to have around when you are building a site. The way that you can stretch vectors without creating jaggy edges, makes them incredibly useful. Most of the time I just land up breaking them apart to use a curve that I like. I also love using them for as badges or buttons on web sites. I have collected a huge selection of free custom Photoshop shapes. If you download every single one of these, there are probably close to 15,000 free Adobe Photoshop shapes. There are more to come in Part II. Enjoy.

---

May 27

A New and More Accurate Search Engine for Finding Free Clipart
As graphic designers, we are always on the hunt for quality free clipart images to use in our designs. The problem is that often searching for clipart often brings back very inaccurate search results. Well, thanks to one of my friends, I have found a new site called Find Free Clipart which will make my life much easier the next time I search for clipart online.

---

May 20

Become a Graphic Designer - Design Careers & Design Education Advice from Professional Designer
Whether you?re right out of high school, a Mom looking for a career she can do from home, recently out of the Military or simply someone who feels they have a knack for design and is ready for a career change, consider that you have a few options on how to gain the skills you will need to pursue your dream job. But first, ask yourself some questions

---

May 16

Online Drawing Tools & Free Online Painting & Sketching Tools
As Graphic Designers, we are all creative individuals. I thought that most of you would love to know about all of the fantastic online drawing and painting tools that are available online. Not only are they fun, but they are also quite useful for sketching out some of our ideas. Some of these tools can also be used as design collaboration tools to use with your co-workers, clients, friends, teachers, and family. Enjoy and don't hesitate to send me links to online drawing tools that I might have missed.

---