Art Guidelines

Print-Ready File Formats

Print ready art should be submitted in one or more of these formats:

Vector Files – .ai .pdf .eps .svg
Raster Files – .psd .png .jpg
Raster Files should be 300ppi at print size or larger

If your art isn’t print ready

Our creative department can typically re-create and prepare art for production at our hourly art rate. If you aren’t sure if your art is print-ready, feel free to send it over to us. We can take a look and give you an art time estimate if applicable.

Raster vs Vector

Raster files are made up of pixels which can not be increased in size without degrading quality, which is why we prefer vector files. Vector files are made up of equations making them infinitely scalable without losing quality. Raster/Bitmap artwork is acceptable as long as it is 300ppi or larger at print size.

Outline Fonts

Make sure to outline all fonts that are live text within your files. This ensures the fonts will print how they were intended. Simply right click the text and hit outline, expand your file in the object menu, or create outlines in the type menu. If any edits are needed to text, please send the font file in .OTF or .TTF along with your art files.

Minimum Font & Line Size

For the best results check your fonts are no smaller than 8pt, and lines no thinner than 1 pt. Inverse art and negative space text need even larger sizes to print well. It is helpful to print your design out to size to make sure any small text and elements will look good when printed and remain legible from a distance.

Creative Services

OSI has a full graphic design department. If you don’t have artwork, or your art is not print-ready, we can create or re-create it for you on an hourly basis. From a sketch on a napkin, to editing a photo for screen print, OSI can bring your creative vision to life.

Process Color Separations

To reproduce photo-realistic or very complex images, we create Simulated Process color separations. Sim Process and CMYK Process utilize halftone dots to simulate a wide range of colors while still utilizing a specific number of spot colors. These separations usually take more time and skill and may be subject to an art time charge.