Software and File Types

When preparing your graphic design to go to print, you should find out what software your print company uses, and what types of computer they use. 

Graphic design and printing industries have historically used Apple Macintosh computer almost to the exclusion of all else, but today the PC is also found in virtually all offices. 

Contact your print company to find out what computer programmes they use, and what they can accept, generally you will find that it is one of the following programmes.
 
  • Adobe Illustrator
  • Adobe Photoshop
  • Corel Draw
  • Macromedia Freehand
  • Quark Express

Apple Mac's and PC's can read files made by each other, but in earlier versions there were numerous compatibility problems. 

Often you can email or send your files on CD.  For particularly large files, you can use WinZip (PC)  or StuffIt (Mac) to compress them before transit.

Please note that digital photographs (Bitmaps) can be compressed greatly, but are prone to image deterioration.  Before compressing your files, to avoid disappointment please evaluate to what degree you should compress.