Answers

Printing

Q: Can I just print the piece you design at home?
A: We don't recommend printing at home. Ink Jet and Laser Jet printers designed for home and office use are not comparable to the print quality acheived with a printing press. Color accuracy and positioning cannot be guaranteed and bindry and specialty services are not available.
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Q: Can I take the printing job to a local copy center?
A: We don't recommend printing most jobs with a local copy center. Ink Jet and Laser Jet printers designed for office use and short-run printing are not comparable to the print quality acheived with a printing press. Color accuracy and positioning cannot be guaranteed and some bindry and specialty services are not available. If your project requires no specialty services and you are printing less than 500 copies of your piece, or if you need an emergency short-run on a piece prior to going to press; a local copy center can be a good option.
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Q: What programs do you use?
A: We work with the industry standard Adobe Creative Suite. Adobe CS includes PhotoShop CS, Illustrator CS, InDesign CS, and Acrobat Professional.
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Q: What kind of files can you accept?
A: We can accept most standard image files,including; .tif, .psd, .png, and .bmp. We do not recommend .jpg or .gif image files, or any other files with a resolution less than 300 dpi as they will compromise the quality of your printed piece. Layout and text file types that we accept include Illustrator (.ai), Encapsulated PostScript (.eps), InDesign (.ind), Macromedia Freehand (.fh8, .fh9, .fh10, .fh11), Rich Text (.rtf), and Plain Text (.txt). We can also accept some Adobe PageMaker and MS Word Documents, although formatting may be lost.
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Q: What images are okay to use?
A: Photos and other bitmap images used for printing purposes should be at least 300 dpi and dimensions should meet or exceed those desired for final output. Scalable vector art is also acceptable. Flight 19 can create or procure images as needed for your project, or you may supply them yourself. Flight 19 cannot accept images of any kind if they are under copyright, trademark or other legal or proprietary protection, or images that require royalties paid; unless, you hold the copyright or trademark, or have already paid necessary royalties and/or you can provide written documentation showing consent given for use of the images. Flight 19 may require that additional documentation be on file before we use an image. If you have questions about whether an image is okay to use for your project, please ask us!
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Q: What are the requirements for copy, or text?
A: For printed pieces, copy should be spell-checked, grammar-checked, finalized and provided to Flight 19 before work begins on the layout and design. Separations in content (ie: titles or headings, subheadings, paragraphs, citations etc.) should be clearly indicated. In creating a layout and design for your printed piece, it is important that we be able to take the amount of text and any other formatting necessities into consideration. Major changes to copy can effect the amount of time required to complete your project, and may necessitate re-design if the change in content will effect the overall layout. Flight 19 can author or edit your verbiage if you request copywriting services be included in your quote. Flight 19 cannot accept text material if it is under copyright, trademark or other legal, intellectual, or proprietary protection.
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Q: What is CMYK?
A: CMYK is an abbreviation for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and blacK; the primary colors of a printer's pallette.
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Q: What is a spot color?
A: A spot color is a single color of ink, pure or blended. Pantone is the most common spot color matching system used in the U.S.A.
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Q: What is the standard size of a business card?
A: The standard size for a business card is 2 inches x 3.5 inches. We also design for custom sizes, shapes, and folds.
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Q: What is the standard size of a postcard?
A: 4.25 inches x 5.5 inches, 4 inches x 6 inches, 5 inches x 7 inches, and 5.5 inches x 8.5 inches are all considered to be standard postcard sizes. Rack cards, 4 inches x 9 inches, are increasing in popularity as they can be mailed as postcards as well as fit in brochure racks. We also design for custom sizes, shapes, and folds.
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Q: What if I want a design that is not a standard size?
A: Projects designed and printed to a custom size are usually not a problem; however, there can be additional costs associated with cutting, or any specialized services for which additional concessions were made. At times, the size of the final printed piece, or available specialty services, may be limited by the availability of equipment able to accomodate it.
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Q: What is a UV coating?
A: A UV coating is a glossy coating applied to a printed piece and then bonded using ultra-violet light. The coating adds shine, as well as providing some protection from wear.
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Q: What is a spot varnish?
A: A spot varnish is applied only to specific parts of a printed piece, to highlight those areas or add to the overall visual impact.
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Q: What is a die?
A: A die is a tool used for custom cutting, embossing, debossing, or foiling. Dies are crafted by specialized machinists from zinc, magnesium, or copper (depending on the purpose and level of detail required for the piece).
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Q: What is embossing?
A: Embossing is a process used to add a raised, three-dimensional aspect to a printed piece. The process usually involves a die and complementing counter-die. Heat and pressure are applied to the paper, or stock, to raise the image or design from the paper's surface. Blind Embossing (without ink), Color Register or Ink Embossing (with ink), and Combination Stamping (embossing with a foil) are some of the options available to enhance your printed piece.
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Q: What is debossing?
A: Debossing is a process used to add a depressed, three-dimensional aspect to a printed piece. The process usually involves a die and complementing counter-die. Heat and pressure are applied to the paper, or stock, to press the image or design lower than the paper's surface.
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Q: What is a foil?
A: Foil is a thin sheet of material applied to the surface of the paper, or stock, using heat and a die. Foils come in many colors, can be metallic, and can include specialty textures or images.
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Q: What is thermography?
A: Thermography, or Thermographic Printing, is a process by which tiny micro-beads of plastic (resin) are melted on to the surface of the paper, or stock, to create a raised image or text, or add accents to a printed design. The resin comes in a variety of colors, as well as specialty resins that can include metallic, pearlescent, and glitter. This process requires a special thermography machine and is a service separate from printing. Thermography should not be used for any text at less than a six point font or large solid areas with with small type. Paper size limitations apply, and there may be an increased cost for cutting as not all equipment can accomodate the raised surface.
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Q: What is bleed?
A: "Bleed" is the term used to describe printing the image or fill beyond the final border of the piece. When the piece is then trimmed or cut, the image or fill cleanly meets the edge of the piece.
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Q: What do bindery services entail?
A: Bindery services follow printing, and can include binding, collating, cutting or slitting, die cutting, stamping, drilling or punching, folding, packaging, stitching, trimming, tabbing, numbering, and wrapping.
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Q: What is "Gang Printing"?
A: "Gang Printing," and "Gang Run Printing," are terms printers use for printing multiple projects on a common printing sheet. Some commercial printers, and many internet-based printers, who operate full presses utilize this method as it is very economical for them. Benefits to using this method include reduced waste and paper loss, reduced press set-up and clean-up time, and reduced labor. These benefits to the printer often translate to a lower cost to the client as well; but, this process is not without it's disadvantages. Because multiple projects are being printed together, they must all be on the same kind of paper stock. This reduces the selection of stock available for your project. Color quality may also be compromised as all of the projects on the sheet have different colors and different fill weights for solid colors. A good printer will combat this problem by placing jobs with similar colors as close together as possible on the sheet; however, color inaccuracies and ghosting may still occur. "Gang Run" Printers are less likely to offer custom quantities, less likely to accomodate non-CMYK spot colors, may be unable to provide individual attention to your project, and are usually unable to provide specialty services such as embossing, spot varnish, or foil. In short, although this process can reduce cost, it is not appropriate for all projects.
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Q: Can we use images or logos from my web site for a printed piece?
A: We strongly recommend against this. Images created for screen display are significantly lower in resolution than is standard for print, and it will greatly compromise the quality of your finished piece.
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Q: What is DPI?
A: The resolution of printed text and images is measured in dots per inch, or DPI. The print resolution for a piece can range from 300 DPI to 1200 DPI, and sometimes more, depending on the level of detail required.
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Q: Can I scan an image at home and give it to you to use?
A: It is best to have an image professionally scanned to ensure image quality and resolution. We would be happy to provide this service for you.
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Q: Can I have the source files when you are finished?
A: Absolutely! The pieces that we create for you belong to you, and we will gladly provide you with copies of any files pertaining to your projects.
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Q: What is the benefit of Flight 19 arranging printing services for me?
A: Unless you already have a printer that you work closely with, finding the right printer for the job can be a daunting task. Having spent years in the art and graphic design communities, including 6 years in the printing and digital pre-press industry, we have had the opportunity to establish connections with high-quality printers. We know the machinery and it's capabilities. We know the hallmarks of good trapping and printing. We know the questions to ask and the services to expect in order to get your job done right. We talk with the printers one on one, walk through the facilities to see the presses and other machinery, and look at samples of their work to make sure they possess the quality and capability we expect. When we arrange printing services for your piece, we obtain quotes from multiple qualified printers and select the most competitive offer for services. We check your job at every step. We can even arrange delivery upon completion. Let us put our expertise to work for you.
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Q: What schedule should I assume for a project going to press?
A: Printers typically have a fairly tight schedule for press operation, and while they strive to accommodate, it is best to plan your project with a time-buffer-zone. For optimum results on most basic printing jobs, we recommend submitting the job to the selected printer 2 weeks prior to the date on which you need the finished product, and having all copy and image files relevant to your job to Flight 19 a minimum of 3 weeks prior to the date on which you need the finished product. For optimum results on a project involving specialty services such as foiling or embossing, we recommend submitting the job to the selected printer 3 weeks prior to the date on which you need the finished product, and having all copy and image files relevant to your job to Flight 19 a minimum of 4 weeks prior to the date on which you need the finished product. We want your job done right, and right on time.
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Web Design

Q: How do I register a domain name?
A: There are many domain registration services available online. Some are stand-alone registration services that charge a registration fee; however, many reasonable hosting services will offer free registration for one or more domains when you sign up for one of their hosting packages. Since most businesses and individuals will require third party hosting for their site, we recommend opting for one of these packages.
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Q: Where do I host my site?
A: There are many hosting services available online, all offering a variety of service packages to meet your unique needs. We are pleased to recommend our own host, IX Webhosting. We have been extremely satisfied with the quality of their hosting plan options, security, stability, service and support. Please click the IX link for more information.
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Q: What programs do you use?
A: In addition to hand-coding, we work with the industry standard Adobe Creative Suite and Macromedia StudioMX 2004. Adobe CS includes PhotoShop CS, Illustrator CS, ImageReady CS, and GoLive CS. Macromedia StudioMX 2004 includes Dreamweaver, Flash, Fireworks and Freehand.
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Q: What is resolution?
A: The word "resolution" has multiple applications. In terms of an image for web, resolution describes the level of detail and can be expressed as the total number of pixels contained within an image, or a ratio of pixels per inch (PPI). 72 PPI is the standard level of detail for web images. In terms of a monitor, or display, resolution is the number of pixels that can be displayed on screen, usually given as a ratio of columns to rows (ie: 800x600, or 1024x768).
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Q: What images are okay to use?
A: Photos and other bitmap images used for printing purposes should be at least 72 dpi and dimensions should meet or exceed those desired for final output. Scalable vector art is also acceptable. Flight 19 can create or procure images as needed for your website or online advertisement, or you may supply them yourself. Flight 19 cannot accept images of any kind if they are under copyright, trademark or other legal or proprietary protection, or images that require royalties paid; unless, you hold the copyright or trademark, or have already paid necessary royalties and/or you can provide written documentation showing consent given for use of the images. Flight 19 may require that additional documentation be on file before we use an image. If you have questions about whether an image is okay to use for your project, please ask us! br/>back to the top

Q: What are the requirements for copy, or text?
A: Copy should be spell-checked, grammar-checked, finalized before it is provided to Flight 19. Separations in content (ie: titles or headings, subheadings, paragraphs, citations, text to be linked etc.) should be clearly indicated. Copy added or modified after completion of your website, or in excess of the time or content specified in your service contract, may require a new or modified quote for maintenance or updates. Flight 19 can author or edit your verbiage if you request copywriting services be included in your quote. Flight 19 cannot accept text material if it is under copyright, trademark or other legal, intellectual, or proprietary protection.
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Q:What is RGB?
A: RGB is an abbreviation for Red, Green, and Blue. In the RGB color model, red, green, and blue light are combined at varying levels to produce other colors. Monitors and other display devices use the RGB color model, although color values can be interpreted slightly differently from display to display.
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Q: What does "web safe color" mean?
A: "Web Safe" is the term used to describe a pallette of 216 colors determined to register consistently on color monitors with less that 24-bit display capability.
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Q: What does optimization mean?
A: Optimization means taking steps to reduce the bandwidth and memory requirements of a web site, as well as improving search engine ratings.
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Q: What does it mean to be W3C compliant?
A: W3C compliant means that the web site has been designed and coded to meet W3C's standards and has passed their validation. We strive to meet these standards when we design your site.
Read more about W3C.
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Q: Can you put HTML (web content) in my email?
A: Yes, however we recommend against it. With the multitude of email clients in use, it's difficult to ensure that the design elements and HTML content will be interpretted properly. Each program parses the information differently, sometimes slicing or replacing important code. Some email clients impose their own stylesheet which overwrites the original design information. This can destroy the design, and result in missing images and broken links.
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Q: How big can my web site be?
A: The size of your web site is limited to the amount of server space available to you. If you purchase a hosting package with 500MB of space, then 500MB will be the maximum size of your web site. Typical hosting package offers are for 500MB to 10000MB of space, although some hosts offer packages with unlimited space.
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Q: What is CSS?
A: Cascading Style Sheets, or CSS, is a stylesheet language used to separate the presentational information (ie: background color, fonts, image positioning) from document structure (HTML, XHTML, etc.). This serves to reduce the complexity of the structural document while increasing the level of flexibility and control over the presentational aspects of the web page. Prior to CSS, nearly all attributes were described in the structure, resulting in a bulky and repetitive HTML document.
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Q: Are the sites you design multi-platform and cross-browser compatible?
A: We work in both OSX and Windows XP platforms. Our sites are tested to insure correct operation in all recent versions of Firefox, Safari, Netscape Navigator, Opera, and MS Internet Explorer.
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Q: Can I scan an image at home and give it to you to use?
A: It is best to have an image professionally scanned to ensure image quality and resolution. We would be happy to provide this service for you.
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Q: Can you update or edit an existing site not of your design?
A: Yes, as long as we are provided with the necessary administrative access.
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