• Wrong or missing fonts
• Incomplete or corrupt files
• RGB files not converted to CMYK
• Inconsistent use of spot colors
• Excessive sizing of EPS and TIF files in a page layout program
• Nesting files ( EPS into EPS)
• Bleeds not set
• Bad disks

•A final hard copy printout of what your job is supposed to look like. Make a final separated black-and-white proof of your files on a laser printer to ensure that your file is separating correctly.
•All of the supporting files (EPS's TIF's, etc.) that are used.
•All of the fonts used in your job, including fonts not converted to outlines in imported EPS files.

A spot color is a custom color that is not made up of the process colors (for example, pantone reflex blue).

Technically a layout program is supposed to be able to modify a font. The safest way to specify fonts is to only use those instances that are actually in the font you have loaded.

Always set the page dimensions in your layout program to match the final trimmed dimensions of your document. This allows the layout program to provide crop marks and lets you create bleeds properly.

An element is said to "bleed" off the page when it prints right off the edge of the sheet. To achieve this effect you drag the element off the page by the specified amount (usually 1/8").

For most printing jobs 300 dpi.

As a general rule you should not scale anything in your layout program. Instead place all elements into your document at 100%. If you take a 2 inch x 2 inch scan that has a resolution of 300 dpi and blow it up to 4 inches x 4 inches the final dpi of the image will be reduced to 150 dpi which is too low for high quality output of your job.

Scans should be saved as TIF's. Scans that have clipping paths or other vector elements should be saved as EPS's. Vector based drawings (created in Illustrator, CorelDraw or Freehand) should be saved as EPS files. Avoid using JPEG for high end output.

Do not use LZW or JPEG compression (or any kind of compression). Do not use halftone screens or transfer functions.

We need to be provided with all the fonts used in your file. Our version of a particular font may be different from yours, and text will reflow if the fonts don't match. Remember that not all fonts are text. Did you use dingbat fonts to create bullets or end-markers? Include these fonts too.

There are two possible reasons - either you didn't supply us with a support graphic (i.e. picture, logo, etc.) needed for the file to print properly, or the image you supplied is low resolution and prints poorly, even though it might look good on screen. Each image file needs to have a resolution of at least 300 dots per inch (DPI) to print well.

Monitors use red, green and blue (RGB) to create color. Printed materials, on the other hand, use cyan, magenta, yellow and black (CMYK) to create color. In order to ensure the closest possible color match, all image files must be converted from RGB to CMYK.

You can create a PDF file of your layout. You need to create a high resolution PDF, with all fonts embedded. Don't forget to add bleeds before creating your pdf file.