Our first preference is Adobe Illustrator .ai or .eps files.

Illustrator files are vector files, meaning that the artwork in them is held in memory as mathematical code, rather than a pixel by  pixel accounting. Vector files, because they are  math based curves, can be shrunk or expanded to any size and maintain a crisp sharp edge and use minimum memory. Bitmap files, like .jpg, .psd, .tif, etc are files that, for our simple, 1-color purposes, use way too much memory and have inherent difficulties because of dpi setting, layers , and people wanting to send web based 72dpi artwork expecting the print to look like what they see on the screen.

If you have your artwork or graphic designed and saved as a bitmap file we can work with that too. Don’t open a bitmap file in illustrator and save it as an .ai file, it will just make it larger. If you have Illustrator CS2 or CS3, try the live trace option, which will convert the bitmapped images to Vector images, again to reduce your file size and to harden the edges of your artwork so that it will look good. You can also use Adobe Streamline to vectorize bitmap files. If you have an oversized file that you want to use to print a large image, other options for getting it through my script editor ( the editor I currently use has a combined file size limitation of 8 MB) are to simply  send it to my art email, and reference your job name as you filled it out on your order form, or you can compress your file and send it via the order form.

Send Camera Ready, black image on white background, sized artwork.

Your artwork should be in positive form, with the image represented in solid black on a white background. Solid black means no greys, we don’t print halftones at Cheap Fast Tees. Your artwork will be printed at the size you send it, so make a print out and hold it up to yourself in a mirror or on a friend and make sure you have it the size you want.

Other acceptable file formats are:  photoshop .psd files, .tiff files, .jpg files saved at highest resolution (300 dpi), and .bmp. .pdf files work fine, but limit artwork to 8.5 x 11.  .eps files are vector files and are also supported. All bitmap files need to be saved to size and at 300 dots per inch resolution. Oversize files will need to be compressed before they are sent via the order form as my script compiler will pass on only files with a combined size of 8 megabytes. If your artwork is over this, contact me, and we will make other arrangements.