Free Online Design - Web 2 Print

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.

Acceptable Printing Design File Types
While there is large array of desk top publishing (DTP) software available for consumer purchase or subscription we require that your digital files be compatible with our internal print systems.  We accept the following file types:
PDF (.pdf)*
Adobe InDesign (.ind)
Adobe Photoshop (.psd)
Adobe Illustrator (.ai)
Microsoft Publisher (.pub)
Microsoft Word (.doc)
EPS (.eps)
JPEG (.jpg)
TIFF (.tiff)
*PDF is recommended for all graphic design files, most desk top publishing (DTP) software allows you to save or export to a PDF file.

The is a number of different PDF (portable document format) software options available including some that are free.  Many of the popular desk top publishing software titles come with build it ability to save or export your graphic design to PDF format so check your DTP software first before buying or downloading a free dedicated PDF program.

Adobe is the industry standard for high end commercial desktop publishing and graphics software and is now 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 worksseamlessly 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.

We also accept Quark graphic design files that have been converted to a PDF file format.

Microsoft Publisher is an inexpensive desktop publisher which has the features that support commercial printing for both spot color and full color.  We have many customers who use this software to design and print Microsoft Publisher files.  Publisher has an easy to use feature to pack your files to take to a commercial printer.  This software is now available through the Microsoft 365 subscription along with other titles such as Word and Excel

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 capabilites than other free graphic design software found online.

If you are looking for a more simple, easy to use free DTP (desk top publishing) software take a look at Lucidpress considered to be a great alternative to Microsoft Publisher and Microsoft Office.  It features a free version with templates and drag and drop tools.  You can upgrade to paid versions with advanced features and Lucidpress has over 800 templates. 

Template Designs
Our product pages include specifications in the description for the product size.  We also offer FREE blank 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 or see our blank layout templates page.  For some select products we offer free templates of pre-made graphic designs that can be customized with your information for quick and easy online ordering.

Unacceptable File Formats
File formats from other software such as PrintShop, PowerPoint, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Works, Microsoft Excell, and most consumer grade desktop publishing software must be saved as, exported to or converted to PDF file format before you upload the file to us for printing.  If you have one of these files, convert it to a PDF file.  PrimoPDF and CutePDF offer FREE software for creating PDF files from almost any application.  We can accept PDF files generated from almost all native programs, however please be aware that due to PDF settings, or limitations from the native program there may be additional charges to correct any issues that may arise from the PDF files during the file check before printing your job.

PDF files must be saved correctly as either Spot Color or CMYK files depending on the number of colors you used in your design.  RGB color space files will not print correctly on our CMYK color equipment.  We 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.