How
many times have you received an email, fax, or voice message from your
Supplier that the art you supplied is not "camera-ready" and
that they can fix it for an additional charge, and add another day or
two (or more?) to production?
You
repeatedly explain to your customer that you must have "camera-ready"
art, only to receive a low resolution scan of their logo, business card,
or better yet, a URL to their website, where you can download their
logo?
These
scenarios are arguably the most common dilemnas in the promotional products
industry, causing undue stress, frustration and wasted time and money.
The graphics world has been revolutionized by the computer in recent
years.
Today,
most graphics applications for imprinting are based on outputing a high-resolution
image, to size, on a Level 1 or Level 2 PostScript printer or image-setting
device. It's kind of like printing a document from your own PC, except
the printing device is professional grade. Of course, a high resolution
image is required for optimum printing, and that's where the industry
is moving towards the graphics standard of vectored EPS images.
Gone
are the days of the Graphics camera and, in many cases, the film positive.
The computer has made it very simple and cost effective to output art
for printing. When it's this easy for your supplier, why would they
want to be bothered wtih an ad slick or a stat that needs to be scanned,
and retouched?
By
the way, the term "camera-ready" is a misnomer, the actual
term should be "digital art." Of course, jargon takes generations
to change, so expect the term to be used for quite some time. In actuality,
today's "camera-ready" really refers to vectored digital art.