FREE ONLINE DESIGN - Web 2 Print
Preparing DIY Artwork for Commercial Printing with Discount Printing Service
A digital art file of your printing project is necessary when placing your order with a print shop whether it is online at www.discountprintingservice.com, over the phone, by email or in person at a sales counter. There are several choices of how to obtain that digital print ready file. The first and easiest option is to have it designed by professional graphic designers. With this option you will receive a PDF proof for you to review and approve for print or make corrections and see another proof. Contact us to get your quote for graphic design for any of our printed products.
The second option is to do the graphic design yourself using DTP (desk top publishing) software for file preparation for print. This can save you the out of pocket expense of a professional graphic design if you have the time to invest in your own designs as well as taking the time to learn the DTP software. Anyone can do basic graphic design projects with todays current DTP software but it helps if you have artistic creativity and attention to detail. For graphic design of advertising items like brochures, post cards, and catalogs we recommend having knowledge and experience with print marketing to ensure your design receives the attention of the target audience.
Adobe is the industry standard for high end commercial desktop publishing and graphics software and is available by Adobe's Creative Cloud subscription service. Acrobat is Adobe's PDF software, which we strongly recommend for the best results when submitting PDF files to us for commercial printing. InDesign is Adobe's very sophisticated page layout program that works seamlessly with other Adobe products such as Photoshop. Photoshop is in our opinion the best photo editing software on the market today for preparing files for commercial printing. Illustrator by Adobe is great for vector illustrations and drawings such a logos, charts and maps. Adobe Express is another popular design anything app.
We can accept graphic design files in PDF file format. Nearly all modern dest top publishing and cloud apps allow for saving or exporting your file as a PDF. Choose the PDF option for high quality printing or printing press when saving your PDF file.
Microsoft Publisher is a poplular program to design in as well but Microsoft as announced its end of life is October 2026.
FREE DTP (DESK TOP PUBLISHING) SOFTWARE
If you are looking for free professional grade DTP (desk top publishing) software we recommend Scribus which is open source (project based and FREE) and supports many feature usually found only in expensive high end graphic design software. Scribus is more complicated to learn but has more advanced graphic design capabilities than other free graphic design software found online.
Template Designs
Our product pages include specifications in the description for the product size. We also offer layout templates in PDF file format that include the layout size, margins, print bleed area and folding guide lines. Contact us for a specific template.
PDF files must be saved using a CMYK color space profile, we recommend US Sheetfed Coated or US Sheetfed Uncoated. RGB color space files will be automatically converted and could result in undesirable color shifts. In some instances may not be able to print your file if you do not have it setup correctly and it may require additional steps by our graphic design team to fix it possibly resulting in additional charges.
Once you have your completed graphic design PDF file, find the product you wish to purchase in our online store. On the product page you will find a file upload button for that product where you can upload your design and it will be attached to your shopping cart purchase.