How To

Guides from the bench

Short, practical walk-throughs for the jobs that eat your day, written from the prepress chair, not a manual.

Price a big run in minutes, not an hour

Quote signs and wide-format by the square foot in Illustrator, with no calculator, using the Area Price Calculator.

Pack signs and panels tight onto your sheet or roll with the Nesting Auto-Packer, so you buy less and cut less.

The four things that bounce a print file at a sign shop, and how to clear every one before you hit send.

Clean hems and evenly spaced grommets in Illustrator, so the banner hangs flat and holds up outside.

Turn a color reading into the exact CMYK move with Drawdown, so your print matches the swatch instead of chasing it.

Place corner marks in Illustrator so your cutter or router finds the art and cuts exactly where it should.