Art Info

Due to variances in computer monitor and printer settings, display colors on proofs may not fully represent the final ink colors.

When providing art services, we will also provide a finished art proof via email or fax. We will do our very best to meet your expectations based on design information provided to us. However, once we have done so, art approval by you relieves Blue Chip of any liability for errors within the design.

Standard turnaround for art time is normally 3 business days. If less than 3 days are needed, we are happy to accommodate and an "Art Rush" charge will be applied at $10 per rush day.

Production begins once a signed Art Approval Form, phone approval or emailed consent is received by Blue Chip. Approvals received after noon will considered the next day's business.

Artwork not approved for production within 3 weeks will be billed at our hourly rate of $40.00.

Digital vectored artwork is originally created using a graphics software program and can be edited, resized and color separated to produce the highest quality of imprint possible. We prefer PC or Mac files originally created in one of the following drawing programs:

• Macromedia Freehand (convert text to paths)
• CorelDRAW (convert text to curves)
• Adobe Illustrator (convert text to outlines)

Vector files that meet the above criteria are considered "100% Imprint Ready" and will not require any additional art charge. Please use spot colors only (no process: CMYK or RGB colors) and make sure nothing is set to overprint. Artwork should be set up at actual size.

Digital full color or one-color artwork sent in a bitmapped file format such as jpeg, gif, bmp, tiff*, psd, etc. cannot be spot color separated or adjusted in any way, is not considered acceptable and must be recreated using a professional drawing software application that is listed above. Other unusable digital files are Microsoft Word, Powerpoint, or paint programs. Blue Chip will be happy to provide you with an art quote if you need us. If sending exported bitmapped artwork to be recreated, please use only resolutions high enough that the details of the graphic can be easily viewed when zoomed in very close.

Artwork that is supplied on paper should be crisp, clean black & white line art that is as large as possible with printing colors clearly designated but not interfering with the design. Print-ready line art can not have any colors or halftones in it (unless a 60 lines per inch or less halftone of a single spot color is intended) and output at a resolution of 300 dots per inch or more with 600 dpi recommended. Resolutions of less than 300 dpi at actual size will reproduce poorly. We occasionally accept single color tiff files under the same guidelines as B&W line art listed above. However, these files will be printed "as is" unless customer requests otherwise and art time is billed. Blue Chip will not be responsible for inferior printing due to poor quality artwork supplied by the customer.

Specify the dimensions of the design and whether or not the attached artwork is already actual size or requires resizing.

Specify print colors. Please keep in mind we have dozens of different shades of blue, red, green, etc. so please be as specific as possible. Due to variances in computer monitor and printer settings, "use colors as they appear" is unacceptable.

When needing a perfect color match, we recommend using Pantone Matching System (PMS) color values.