Film + Plates

Posted on July 19th, 2007 by admin.


Film

We provide film and plate production services for letterpress printing, offered twice a week in our shop on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

We ship finished film and plates via Priority Mail, FedEx Ground or FedEx overnight to your front door.

Film and plates may also be picked up at Logos Graphics during our business hours (Monday - Friday, between 10 am - 6 pm).

Below are our file submission and pricing guidelines:

File Preparation for Film and Plates
File Submission
Film Pricing
Photopolymer Plates, Plastic (BoxCar style) + Steelback Plates

File Preparation for Film and Plates

Below are tips for preparing your digital files for film/plates.

  • File formats accepted: Adobe Illustrator (.ai), InDesign (.indd) and Acrobat PDF (.pdf) files are preferred.
    • All files, including images, should be submitted at 100% scale.
  • Text in digital files:
    • Refrain from using text in Photoshop, which often leads to blurriness in the printed piece. Instead, set text using Illustrator or InDesign for greater printing acuity.
    • We recommend using text size at least (if not greater than) 3 pt size for sans serif fonts/4 pt size for serif fonts.
  • Images and image acquisition for digital files: Please see our article on this topic, which covers scanning, cleaning up edges and using Adobe Illustrator’s Live Trace tool.
  • Maximum print size: Your files must be no larger than 14 x 23 inches (maximum film size).
  • Margins: Add at least a 1/2 inch margin to all sides of your digital file. If you include crop marks in your file, add 1/2 inch margin beyond the crop marks, not the image or text area.
  • Ganging: When ganging or composing several pieces onto a single sheet of film or plate material, be sure to arrange the pieces in rows or columns for easy cutting. Add at least 1 inch between pieces for trim allowance.
  • Line weight: We recommend using a minimum line weight of .25 pt for all line art. Line art with a finer weight may result in broken lines.

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File Submission

Email your digital file(s) to film@logosgraphics.net, including your name, email address, phone number, final print size dimensions, any special instructions as well as a PDF proof (if available). For larger files, we recommend using yousendit.com.

Please note that files submitted past 10:30 am on Tuesdays and Thursdays may not be plated until the following production day.

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Film Pricing

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Boxcar-Style + Steelback Plates

We offer photopolymer plates for letterpress in two styles: Boxcar-style (see image below) and steelback plates. Our pricing is per square inch of plate material, in the sizes specified below. When ordering, choose the plate size that best meets your needs.

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