FASTSIGNS® Artwork Requirements

At FASTSIGNS® we take pride in every job we produce, no matter the size, cost or use. In order for us to produce the best results we might ask you for a certain type of digital art. This sheet will explain to you what we need, and why it’s important to the outcome of your new investment!

FILE TYPES and COLOR MODE

When working out of Adobe Photoshop, design your artwork in RGB Color Mode and save as either a TIFF or PSD file type.

When working out of Adobe Illustrator, design your artwork in CMYK Color Mode and save as either a PDF or AI file type. For all other design programs, we prefer that you save your artwork as a PDF file type, or EPS if PDF is unavailable.

ARTWORK DIMENSIONS AND RESOLUTION

We prefer that you design your artwork at the full intended finished size, and at a resolution that factors in the viewing distance of your intended viewing audience. Here is our general rule of resolution:

• Viewing Distance of 1-5 feet = 150 ppi
• Viewing Distance of 5-10 feet = 100 ppi
• Viewing Distance of 10+ feet = 50-72 ppi

COLOR MATCHING

We rely on the Pantone Color Matching system when color matching during printing. If your artwork needs color matching, simply choose a spot color swatch from the PANTONE+ Solid Coated color book library available in all Adobe design programs. Apply these Pantone color swatches where necessary in your design, and then let us know the Pantone numbers we need to match when placing your order.

FONTS

Unless you would like us to spellcheck or edit any of the textual content in your design, we recommend that you convert all text to outlines prior to supplying the file to us.

Pro Tip: If using Adobe programs to design your graphic, consider using fonts.adobe.com when choosing a font. Adobe fonts are available through the cloud to all Adobe users, eliminating the need for outlining fonts when sharing your graphics.

LINKED VS EMBEDDED ARTWORK

As you design your artwork, you can add your logo, clip art, or image assets by linking or embedding them into the design itself. Since Linked artwork requires access to the original file location it is saved in, we prefer that you Embed all of your artwork assets. This will help us avoid missing assets in the artwork files you send us. If your design has already been completed using linked assets, then you will need to send us all of the linked assets separately so that we can relink them to your artwork design on our end.

BLEEDS

Although most of the signage products we produce do not require bleeds, we can let you know when bleeds may be necessary upon placing an order.

RASTER VS VECTOR SIMPLIFIED

There are two primary types of digital files we work with; raster-based and vector-based. Raster-based files are created using pixels, while vector-based files are made up of mathematically generated paths and polygons. The key difference that you need to be aware of is that raster-based graphics have a finite size—meaning whatever size you send us is likely the largest we can make it, while vector-based graphics are infinite, and we can make them whatever size you need.