APPLICATIONS

Look Print accepts files created by any of the following applications:

• InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator up to CS3

• QuarkXPress up to 7

• Acrobat 8

• Freehand 10 PDF files are prefered.

We can ensure safe reproduction of content from a pdf file and can assure top quality colour management of pdf files, provided they are supplied as PDFX/3 and have profiles embedded. PDF job options are downloadable from our website.

 Look Print does not recommend large format output from any of Microsoft’s applications, including the Office suite. The Office suite including Word, Powerpoint and Excel, has not been designed for large format output and lacks important prepress functionality. As a result files created in these applications often encounter output problems such as low resolution, irregular colour and poor image quality when enlarged beyond A3. Accordingly, files created in any Office application may incur additional prepress charges.

FILE CREATION

Where possible artwork should be created at actual size. If scaling is required it should be at no less than 10% of final size. Although InDesign allows documents to be created in excess of 5m, it is generally advisable to adopt a scale for any document size greater than 2m, as preview and overall file size will be significantly reduced. We prefer to work at scales of 10, 25, 50 or %100

Bleed

To ensure accurate sizing, additional bleed must be added to the image area. Look Print uses the following standard bleeds:

Mounted = 10mm

Unmounted = 5mm

Banners = 40mm

Pockets + 75mm each

Templates

For many standard sizes including Display Stands, JC Decaux City Lights, AdShell Superlites and Metrolites, and 6 sheet, 24 sheet and Supersite billboards, Look Print has template documents available in InDesign CS2 format.

IMAGES

Ensure profiles are embedded when you create the pdf file you are supplying. If supplying Native Files, ensure to supply all linked image files with your layout application documents. To automate this task we recommend InDesign’s Package command, or QuarkXPress’ Collect for Output feature. When placing images in Illustrator always choose to link to the original, rather than embedding the image within the document.

Resolution

Look Print requires image resolution to be 150ppi at final output size. The following formula will allow you to determine the correct size for your image files:

 • Dimensions x Resolution x Colour Mode = File size

Eg. You require an image reproduced at 1m x 1m. To determine the required resolution, first open a new document window in Photoshop. Enter a Width of 1000mm and a Height of 1000mm. Then set the Resolution to 150ppi and the Colour Mode to CMYK. The Image Size of the new document should be133.1 Megabytes.

If an image is supplied with insufficient resolution it’s possible to increase the ppi. This process, called interpolation, adds new pixels based on the colour values of surrounding pixels. Whilst interpolation can be helpful it should be noted that image sharpness will be affected, and if the original resolution is too low, the interpolated file will remain poor quality. Look Print generally does not recommend image interpolation as part of a quality workflow.

COLOUR MANAGEMENT

 Look Print has established a colour managed workflow to achieve the best possible colour results. However due to the inherent differences between digital and offset printing, and the diversity of products we supply, certain PMS colours and effects such as duotones can sometimes be difficult to emulate. If colour is of particular concern speak to your salesperson, in some cases specific testing to match certain colours may be required.

Rich Black

For best results, black should be specified as: 50/25/25/100

FILE TRANSFER

Files can be emailed to sales@look.com.au

FTP (File Transfer Protocol) requires client software (such as Transmit for Mac OS) to be installed. In order to transfer files your client software will need to be configured with the following settings:

• Host: ftp.look.com.au

• Port: 21

• User: Your username

• Pass: Your password

Look Print also has a simulated FTP client that can be accessed via any web browser. Simply go to http://ftp.look. com.au and enter your username and password.

Click here to view the file specifications.

Click here to download job options for files set up at 10%

Click here to download job options for files set up at 25%

Click here to download job options for files set up at 50%

Click here to download job options for files set up at 100%