Professional Graphic Design & Print File Preparation
Not every printing project starts with a professionally prepared file. You may have an idea, an existing design, a logo, photographs, text, or artwork created using another software program. Discount Printing Service can help turn those materials into professional, high-quality, print-ready artwork prepared specifically for your printing project.
With more than 30 years of graphic design experience, including marketing and advertising, we understand that effective printed materials need to do more than simply look good. They need to communicate your message, represent your business professionally, and help you reach your customers. Our experience can be especially valuable to small businesses and mom-and-pop shops that need professional marketing and advertising materials without the expense of maintaining a full-time design department.
We provide personalized graphic design services based on your specific project, goals, and ideas. Whether you need a new design created from the ground up or need help preparing artwork you already have, we can work with you to produce a finished file that is properly prepared for high-quality commercial printing.
We can print your existing artwork or help you create a professional, press-ready design from your ideas.
Personalized Graphic Design for Your Business
Good graphic design starts with understanding what you are trying to accomplish.
We can work with you to develop artwork for business cards, brochures, flyers, postcards, newsletters, letterhead, forms, envelopes, announcements, invitations, and other printed materials. Your existing logo, colors, photographs, text, branding, and ideas can all be incorporated into the design.
Our experience in marketing and advertising also allows us to look beyond the design itself. We can help you create printed materials that present your business clearly and professionally while supporting your marketing goals.
For a small business, a professionally designed postcard, flyer, brochure, business card, or other printed piece can be an important part of attracting new customers and building a consistent professional image.
We can help you take an idea from the planning stage through copywriting, graphic design, print file preparation, and final production.
Copywriting & Content Development
The words on your printed materials are just as important as the design. As part of our graphic design services, we can provide copywriting and content development for an additional fee. If you have existing copy that needs improvement, we can refine it for clearer, more effective communication. If you are starting with an idea but do not have the right words, we can also help develop the copy for your project.
We focus on creating written content that is clear, professional, engaging, and appropriate for your intended audience, with attention to correct grammar, spelling, punctuation, readability, and overall communication. We can help develop headlines, marketing messages, product or service descriptions, calls to action, and other written content needed for your printed materials.
With more than 30 years of experience in graphic design, marketing, advertising, and printing, we understand how the written message and visual design need to work together. Whether you are creating a postcard, flyer, brochure, newsletter, advertisement, business card, or other marketing piece, we can help bring the copy and design together into a cohesive, professional finished product.
We can also use modern writing and AI-assisted tools when appropriate as part of the creative process. The final content is reviewed and refined for accuracy, clarity, grammar, spelling, and suitability for your project and audience.
Professional Graphic Design Software & Tools
We use industry-standard professional graphic design software and creative tools through the Adobe Creative Cloud platform. Our design capabilities include applications such as:
- Adobe InDesign
- Adobe Photoshop
- Adobe Illustrator
- Adobe Firefly
- Adobe Express
- Adobe Acrobat
- And other professional design and production tools
We also use licensed Adobe Fonts, providing access to a broad selection of professionally designed typefaces that can help create polished, consistent, and professional printed materials.
Using professional design and production software allows us to do much more than simply create an attractive image. We can build properly sized documents, work with professional typography, prepare images and graphics, manage color and layouts, create PDFs, and make the technical adjustments necessary for commercial printing.
We Can Work With Artwork Created in Other Software
You do not necessarily have to recreate your artwork in Adobe software for us to help you.
We can work with customer files created using Canva, Scribus, Microsoft Publisher, Microsoft Word, and other software platforms. Depending on how the original file was created, we may be able to make adjustments directly or use the supplied artwork as the starting point for preparing a professional print-ready file.
This can be particularly helpful if you have already spent time creating your design but are not sure whether the file meets commercial printing requirements.
Our goal is to help you get the most from the artwork you already have whenever possible, while making sure the final file is properly prepared for printing.
If you use Microsoft Publisher, see our Microsoft Publisher Files: Printing & End-of-Life Information page for additional information.
Design Your Own Printing Projects
If you enjoy creating your own artwork, today's design software provides more options than ever.
Modern applications can help you create business cards, flyers, brochures, postcards, newsletters, menus, signs, invitations and many other printed products.
Popular design tools include:
- Adobe Express — An easy-to-use design application for creating graphics, marketing materials and other visual content without the complexity of professional desktop publishing software.
- Adobe Firefly — Adobe's generative AI technology can help create and modify images and other creative content using AI-assisted tools.
- Adobe InDesign — Professional page-layout software widely used for brochures, newsletters, catalogs and other multi-page printed materials.
- Adobe Photoshop — Professional image-editing software useful for photographs and raster-based graphics.
- Adobe Illustrator — Professional vector-graphics software useful for logos, illustrations, charts, maps and other artwork that benefits from scalable vector graphics.
- Microsoft Word — While primarily a word-processing application, Word can be used to create many simple printing projects.
- Microsoft Publisher — A desktop-publishing application historically used to create brochures, flyers, newsletters and other printed materials. (Microsoft Publisher is reaching end of life in October 2026.)
- Scribus — Free, open-source desktop-publishing software that provides many professional page-layout features without the cost of commercial publishing software.
The important thing isn't necessarily which software you use. What matters is that the finished artwork is properly prepared and exported as a suitable file for commercial printing.
If you would like to explore additional software options for creating your own artwork, see our Free DIY Graphic Design Software for Printing guide.
Preparing a Print-Ready PDF
We recommend submitting your finished artwork as a PDF file whenever possible. However, simply saving a document as a PDF does not necessarily make it print-ready. For the most predictable color results, we recommend using a CMYK color workflow when preparing artwork for commercial printing. RGB artwork can be converted during the production process and may result in color shifts, particularly with colors that cannot be reproduced accurately within the CMYK printing gamut.
A properly prepared PDF may need to include the appropriate:
- Finished document size
- Margins and safe areas
- Bleed
- Image resolution
- Color settings
- Fonts
- Correct page orientation
- Folding guides when applicable
- Properly placed graphics and images
- Other product-specific requirements
The exact requirements can vary depending on the product you are ordering. Always check the file requirements listed on the individual product page before preparing your artwork.
Our goal is to make sure your artwork is prepared correctly for the specific product you are ordering. For more detailed information about preparing files for commercial printing, see our File Preparation for Commercial Printing guide.
Print Design Layout & Document Setup
Proper document setup is an important part of creating professional print-ready artwork. Document dimensions, orientation, bleed, safe areas, folding, color, and other production considerations can affect the final printed piece.
Our Print Design Layout & Document Setup guide provides additional information to help you prepare your artwork correctly before beginning your design.
Printing Templates
Many of our product pages include specifications for the finished product size and artwork requirements.
We also offer PDF layout templates for many products that can help you create your artwork correctly.
Depending on the product, a template may show:
- Finished size
- Margins
- Bleed area
- Safe areas
- Folding guides
- Other important layout information
If you need a template for a specific product, contact us and we can provide the appropriate template when available.
Don't Have Artwork? We Can Help.
If you have an idea for a business card, flyer, brochure, postcard, newsletter, menu, advertisement, or another printed product but do not have finished artwork, contact us about our graphic design services.
You can provide us with your ideas, text, photographs, logos, examples, existing artwork, or other information about what you want your finished piece to look like.
We can help determine the best approach for creating the artwork, developing or refining the copy, and preparing the finished file for commercial printing.
Professional Design Can Save Time and Improve Your Results
Professional graphic design involves more than making something look attractive. It requires an understanding of layout, typography, images, color, communication, marketing, and the technical requirements of commercial printing.
Our experience in graphic design, marketing, advertising, and printing allows us to look at the complete project rather than simply creating artwork. We can help determine how the design, written message, images, and final printed product should work together.
Modern creative tools can also help make certain design projects more efficient. When appropriate, we can use these tools as part of the creative process while applying professional design judgment and careful print preparation.
AI Tools as Part of the Design Process
Artificial intelligence has introduced new tools that can be useful during the graphic design process. We may use AI-assisted tools, including Adobe Firefly, when they are appropriate for a particular project.
AI tools can be useful for generating ideas, exploring visual concepts, creating certain graphic elements, making image adjustments, or helping develop a design from an initial idea. They can also be useful during the creative and copywriting process.
However, AI is only one of the tools available to us. AI-generated artwork is not automatically a finished, print-ready commercial printing file. Professional design decisions, editing, layout, typography, color management, and file preparation may still be required.
AI-Generated Artwork vs. Print-Ready Artwork
AI image generators can produce impressive artwork, but an image created by an AI tool may still require additional work before it is suitable for commercial printing.
For example, an image may need to be resized to the correct dimensions, adjusted for resolution, extended to accommodate bleed, corrected for color, or incorporated into a properly constructed print layout. Text and other design elements may also need to be recreated or refined.
We can help take an idea or AI-generated element and incorporate it into a professionally designed, print-ready file when appropriate.
The objective is not simply to generate an image. The objective is to create a finished printed piece that communicates effectively, looks professional, and is properly prepared for production.
Traditional Graphic Design Software Still Works
You do not have to use AI to create your artwork.
If you already know how to use traditional graphic design or desktop-publishing software, you can continue using the tools you are comfortable with. We can work with suitable print-ready files created using applications such as Adobe InDesign, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Publisher, Scribus, Canva, and other applications capable of producing an appropriate PDF for commercial printing.
The important thing isn't necessarily which software you use. What matters is that the finished artwork is properly prepared and exported as a suitable file for commercial printing.
If you have created your own artwork but are unsure whether it is ready for printing, we can help review and prepare the file as needed.
Microsoft Publisher Is Being Retired
If you currently use Microsoft Publisher, you should be aware that Microsoft is retiring Publisher in October 2026. If you have existing Publisher files that you will need in the future, consider converting important projects to PDF or another appropriate format before Publisher is retired.
For more information, see our Microsoft Publisher Files: Printing & End-of-Life Information page.
Need Help Preparing Your Artwork?
Whether you create your own artwork, already have a design that needs to be prepared for printing, or need a professional design created from your ideas, Discount Printing Service can help.
We can provide personalized graphic design, copywriting and content development, artwork refinement, file preparation, and other design services for an additional fee as appropriate for your project.
Our goal is to combine experienced graphic design, effective communication, professional software, modern creative tools, and commercial printing knowledge to create a finished piece that represents your business professionally.
From your ideas to the finished printed piece, we can help bring your project together.
Ready to Print?
Once your artwork is complete, find the product you want to order in our online store. The product page will provide the specifications, pricing, and ordering options for that product.
When artwork upload is available, you can upload your completed PDF directly through the product page and attach it to your order.
If you are not sure whether your artwork is ready for printing, contact Discount Printing Service before placing your order. We can help you determine what is needed to prepare your file for production.
Need professional artwork created? Contact us for information about our affordable graphic design and copywriting services.