General/Company
I pride ourselves on two things: 1) Quality of work I produce & 2) Quality of customer service. I handle first time clients with the same great service that I do my long term clients. I am eager to help you get the best quality and product to represent yourself, your business or organization. I will sit down with you from start to finish on your project. However, if you still need convincing, please see what my clients are saying! https://pfgprinting.com/testimonials/
PFG is a full service design and print shop, specializing in branding, marketing and all things print. I can print just about anything from business cards to invites to signs to banners and much more! Check out the online store for the most popular products I offer or our social media for completed customer orders.
Payment terms are specified on provided job quotations by PFG Creative Studio. ALL orders require payment before printing or design services are started.
All orders receive an emailed invoice. You can pay by clicking the link in the email or by logging in to your account. You can pay using a paypal account or by credit/debit card if you do not have a paypal account.
Design
I most certainly do! I can create a design from scratch or edit an existing design! Please fill out a form online or set up a virtual meeting to discuss your design needs.
You should always start and finish your designs in CMYK color mode. If you send a RGB file, there is a chance that a color shift may occur and you may not be satisfied with your order.
Bleed is a printing term for artwork that is going to, or bleeding to, the edge of the finished piece. I require a 1/8” bleed on all sides to ensure that when the finished piece is cut down to the final size, if the paper shifts slightly, the edge will still show color.
Safety Margin is the space between the design and the trim line. I require a 1/8” Safety Margin on all sides to ensure that when the finished piece is cut to the final size, your design will not end up too close to the edge of the finished piece.
Rich black is an ink mixture of solid black, 100% K, with additional CMY ink values. This results in a darker tone than black ink alone. If you print black alone as 100% K, the resulting black may not be as dark as you might like. I recommend using C 60 M 40 Y 40 K 100. This will give you a deep, dark, rich black.
Raster based artwork such as photos, or flattened artwork (from Adobe Photoshop) are made up of tiny squares (pixels) and depending on your resolution and/or final output size desired, the file could have a low quality end result. Any raster elements you wish to use should have a high enough resolution (DPI) before considering them for your large format product.
Vector based artwork such as illustrations or clip-art style elements (from Adobe Illustrator) is made with mathematical calculations, and can be scaled up to any size without losing quality. Keep in mind that any effects used in Adobe Illustrator are raster based and have transparency – this greatly adds to file size and you must have correct settings in your “Document Raster Effects Settings” to ensure best output for these effects. If you’re doing a photo-quality print on a 36″ x 48″ poster, and leave the raster effects settings at default 72 DPI – you may see tiny squares in your drop shadows, as opposed to a smooth shadow.
Quotes/Ordering
Requesting a quotation is easier than ever! You can start by filling out a quote or order form here.
If you have a sample that clearly represents the qualities of the product you are requesting, let me know. I will likely request to see the sample.
i) E-Mail: Send me an email with what you want and when and I will respond with either a confirmation, quote, or clarification questions.
ii) Online: This is brand new! You can place an order by clicking on the item in our online store. Here you will have to select your specifications and checkout online.
You can also fill out a contact form if you do not see your product in our shop.
I LOVE custom orders! If something you are looking for is not on the site, it is probably because I do not receive that product on a regular basis. The site offers the most popular products. To get a custom quote, please fill out our Quote Request Form and I will provide a custom quote for you!
I have several paper types available, depending on what product type you are ordering. The individual pricing pages show available standard options, and many other custom options are available.
a) There are many reasons why the pricing can fluctuate from year to year. Cost increases are expected from year to year. Please keep in mind that your job balances the following consumables and factors:
– Paper, Media, Laminates
– Toner & Ink
– Utilities and Labor Rate
– Shipping
– Third-Party vendor pricing
Depending on the service, I generally offer turnaround times for jobs at the time the order is placed.
Quoted turnarounds are based off approval of artwork by the client, by PFG and any third party involved in the process. Turnarounds are not guaranteed and are subject to change.
Most orders are handled in the same way:
– Estimate
– Design
– Proof
– Payment
– Print
– Finishing
– Delivery
It is best to ask me directly how long each process will take as it will change depending on your order specifications.
Yes. Be sure to provide all shipping information to us at the time the order is placed. Failure to do so may cause an increased shipping charge if your order needs to rerouted or reshipped.
I provide PDF proofs for almost all jobs submitted to us, the only time I do not is if it is a re-order! Unless a third-party is involved with the order, we generally try to provide proofs in 1-2 business days. There are instances when this timeframe is expanded due to the complexity of the artwork or if a PDF is not being generated properly and requires additional attention.
Hard proofs (or printed proofs) are available for an additional charge.
If your sign, banner, or flag will be outside, then you should first consult your county/town’s sign ordinance. In some cases, you may have to consult both.
Calvert County Sign Ordinance: http://www.co.cal.md.us/index.aspx?NID=1318
Due to the nature of our Computer-To-Print system I don’t accept cancellations, but please contact me if you have any problems with your order.
The following items can’t be returned or exchanged because of the nature of these items, unless they arrive damaged or defective, I can’t accept returns for:
- Custom or personalized orders
- Digital downloads
Conditions of return: Buyers are responsible for return shipping costs. If the item is not returned in its original condition, the buyer is responsible for any loss in value.
Files/File Transfer
You can email the file to us or upload the file to our website: https://pfgprinting.com/upload/
ADOBE CREATIVE SUITE FILES FROM THE FOLLOWING SOFTWARE: ADOBE PHOTOSHOP, INDESIGN, ILLUSTRATOR, ACROBAT
i) Photoshop files should be converted to a print-quality file type and resolution. Suggested/acceptable file formats are .jpg, .tiff, .eps, .pdf. If you want to submit a .psd file, please make sure the resolution is 300 dpi or above at 100% size for small format printing, 100 dpi or above at 100% size for large format printing. Text should be rasterized prior to file submission.
ii) Indesign Files should be submitted as a Packaged folder (Including the .indd layout file, a Fonts folder and a Links folder). Be sure to compress this folder prior to submitting your files using popular compression programs such as Winzip or Stuffit. Include a High Quality PDF w/ cropmarks and .125″ bleeds. Avoid drop shadows and transparencies.
iii) Illustrator files should be submitted as .eps files. Be sure to outline all fonts prior to file submission.
iv) Acrobat PDF files should be submitted either “High Quality” or Press Quality” PDFs. We preflight PDFs with Pitstop, an Acrobat plugin that determines whether your file is considered to be print-ready. You are encouraged to submit a printed hard copy of your PDF files so that we can determine that we are printing what you are expecting.
MICROSOFT WORD, EXCEL, POWERPOINT AND PUBLISHER FILES
Please note that files generated with the above Microsoft programs are not considered to be professional design programs in the printing industry. We accept these files for printing, but do not readily engage in editing these file types should a customer want us to make changes to their Microsoft files. Please output your Microsoft files as production ready, high quality PDF’s prior to submitting them with your native files.
If you are looking for professional, predictable results with printing, consider upgrading to the latest Adobe Creative Suite products.
Unless otherwise specified by our customers, I keep all submitted files on our servers. I have scheduled file backups that keep your files secure should you choose to place a reorder. Believe it or not, I have files dated back to 1986 in our database!
