UAF Printing
Services' Frequently Asked Questions
| |
Services? | |
Do-It-Myself? |
| |
Who? | |
Paste-Ups? |
| |
Students? | |
IBM PCs? |
| |
Sizes? | |
Color vs. Budget? |
| |
Designers? | |
Estimate? |
Q: What kind of
services does Printing Services offer?
A: As the name implies, Printing
Services offers all kinds of graphic reproduction, from simple copies to
full color offset printing. While ON-LINE please go to our
General Information page for further descriptions.
Q: Who can use Printing Services?
A: Students, faculty and staff of the University of Alaska statewide system are all eligible users. State of Alaska departments can also use our services. Call our front desk 474-7316, or E-Mail Printing Services with your questions if you are unsure.
Q: I'm a student
at UAF but have a business on the side. Can you print me business cards
for my business?
A: No we cannot. Only Official University of Alaska business. SEE question (2) above.
Q: What is the largest
or the smallest you can print?
A: We can print as large as 29" X 20", or as small as needed- trimming required.
Q: I would like a classy brochure designed to promote my department.
Who does this kind of work on campus.
A: As far as design your best bet is to seek advise from University Relations and Advancement. They can be reached at 474-7581. The staff there can offer advice concerning all manners of publications, from simple promotional brochures to complete and complex recruitment packages. They can steer you in the right direction to keep your design consistent with university regulations concerning publications. Any photographs you may want to use should also be approved through their department to insure there are no copyright snags. There are several competent graphic artists on the university campus that are available to do the actual design work including University Relations and Advancement, and Impact Graphics. Impact Graphics of The Rasmusen Library can be reached at 474-6345. Both of these departments do a lot of publication design and if their schedules are too busy to accommodate your particular project, they can most likely direct you to other graphic artists who can do the work.
Q: Can I design
my departments printed material myself?
A: If you are comfortable using your computer, and are versed in one of several Desktop Publishing page layout programs that are widely used around campus, there should be no reason you couldn't. If you are doing so to save your department extra cost, please be advised that any problems we may encounter producing your job from your files will have to be: 1) fixed by you, or: 2) fixed by us at an additional cost, before we are able to print them. Both of which will probably delay the production of your job. If you are ready to start to prepare your "job", we suggest you contact University Relations and Advancement and ask for a copy of The Graphic Standards informational packet for the University of Alaska Fairbanks. In it there are many pages of information on preparing printed materials for the university, including templates, logo usage and information regarding the use of photographs. And last but not least, contact Printing Services BEFORE you start work on your job, for mechanical specifications we may require to reproduce your job as specified, and at the lowest cost possible.
Q: I don't have
a digital or electronic file, can you print from my paste-up originals?
A: Yes we can! Even though these days we are geared toward all electronic imaging and scanned images, we are able to work with the conventional means of paste-ups and stripping.
Q: My department
uses all IBM compatible PCs. Are my files going to be usable by Printing
Services?
A: There are several different programs available for PCs that are "compatible" with the Macintosh. BEFORE you spend many hours of your time designing your printed material please contact our Pre-Press Image Setting department, 474-5203, and check to see if we are able use your graphics, fonts and files. Fonts are always a major concern. Generally we must have you choose similar Macintosh fonts before we output your job.
Q: I want my department's
brochure to have lots of color, but I'm on a tight budget. What can I do
to save money and still get a colorful publication?
A: To keep the cost down on color printing here are a couple of tips that may help. One is to use color "builds" to create an effect of various hues or shades without adding to the product's cost by additional press runs. For instance by choosing a red and blue as your base colors, you can create purple, in essence a third color without the press run. Furthermore by creative use of screen tints in either of the two colors one can create a variety of hues ranging from pastels to bright saturated color. Another cost saving measure is to keep the color on one side of the publication only. An example of this can be illustrated with an ordinary letter size brochure that folds in thirds, creating six one sided panels. Panels one, five, and six are common to one side, and panels two, three, and four common to the other. By keeping multiple color runs on a common side and single color on the other side saves a substantial amount of production cost. Your designer will be able to help with these choices and help find you the most cost effective way to achieve your objective.
Q: Can I find out how much a job will cost before I place
an order?
A: Yes you can! There are a couple of ways of doing just that. First and easiest way would be to use Printing Services On-Line Printing Estimate form. Fairly simple, this form allows you to just fill-in the blanks, and send. Response back to you is usually quick. Second you may want to actually speak to a real person while filling out the information required to do an estimate, so you would come on down to Printing Services office and speak with our friendly receptionist who will direct you through the printed form.
If none of these topics covered your question(s), please feel free to call Printing Services at 474-7316 or you may E-Mail your question and we'll respond as quickly as we can.
Thank you for your interest in Printing Services!
Please select HERE to go to the top of this page.
