Have a favorite picture, a business card or a drawing on a napkin that you want created into a sign? Whatever the case you need a proper file format. Usually this requires a graphic designer getting involved to bridge the gap of your idea/concept and setting it up in the right type of file, so it is usable by the sign company you choose. Luckily here in the area of Laguna Hills/Lake Forest/ Irvine/ Mission Viejo/Aliso Viejo, our sign company offers an in house graphic design department to help set up different file formats for your artwork. Some people do not understand that without a proper file, their artwork will not come out as intended or your file is rejected by your print shop or Sign Company because the file set up is incorrect for their machines to read and produce.
A good rule of thumb for getting proper file formats, ideas and concepts together is to call up your local sign shop and talk to their graphic department. Ask them what their requirements are for file uploading. Also if you are creating something yourself or if you have a graphic designer you are paying to design work for you, always keep a digital master of your artwork, so you can always go back to it and make changes to layout or file formatting specifications.
An important thing to keep in mind for files that you are trying to have made or reproduced on a larger scale are: what type of materials are you trying to have it constructed out of, maybe foam and Plexiglass/acrylic/metal, what colors, indoor/outdoor, and sizing all play a big factor in sign making. For example if you want to take text from a business card and blow it up to a 25 foot banner, you should probably set up your text in a vector file format, like Adobe illustrator .Ai or .eps, so your sign shop can take the small text and make it whatever size is needed without losing clarity and resolution. Or maybe you want to do the same thing with a full color image; this is where having a higher resolution photo comes in to play, because unlike vector based files, Photos such as .jpg, .tiff or .psd files are all pixel based, meaning there is a maximum size you can enlarge a photo to before you start to lose clarity and resolution. Most of the time your file will be a mixture of the two, and that’s were talking with your shop/designer really is important because most sign shop machines like Routers, Plotters, Cutters, and CNC machines all need a path for the machine to cut, form, and create and that’s were having a vector based file really excels as opposed to a pixel based file that the shop can manipulate and alter in order for them to create your product, which can cause loss of time and costing you the customer more money.
