Customer
Service
The personal touch -- so important in this day of impersonal
cyberspace and detached business relationships.
Personal service has been a hallmark of Eagle Graphics, Inc. for over
25 years. Your personal account executive will help you choose the right
look for your job, including paper, color, fonts, etc. We're committed
to being a source that helps you produce a finished product that you'll
be proud of.
We're here when you need us. Please contact us with any questions or
inquiries that you may have.
Frequently
Asked Questions
Isn't it annoying to need a piece of info, but be unable to locate
it? To provide you with some quick answers to common inquiries,
we've included the following FAQ section.
General Questions
Graphics Questions
Q. What
will be the completion time for my job?
A. Generally, from several minutes or a few hours (for simple jobs),
to a couple of weeks or longer for larger, more involved jobs. The time
frame is dependent upon the size and complexity of your print job.
To give you an accurate appraisal time, we have a procedure we follow
to deliver your job on time.
- First, we determine the necessary steps for the completion
of your project.
- Then, your job is put into our production schedule. We'll
set deadlines when your job will be due through each part of the process.
Time will vary depending upon the extent of work we'll need for each
phase of your job.
Your account representative will be able to inform you about the current
state of completion for your job.
Over 25 years of service has taught us how to deliver your jobs when
and where you'll need them. We have two shifts working from the early
morning into the late night hours.
Q.
I'm ready to submit a job. What do I need to do?
A. Please check our Design/Print Checklist
to make sure you have included everything you need. Lack of key elements
included with your job will inevitably delay the completion of your
job. If in doubt of any element, please contact your account executive.
It may help you save money by avoiding mistakes. The less we need to
fix or change, the lower your costs will be. You can either fill out
a Quote Request form, contact
an account executive to help you, or you can e-mail
a quote request.
Q. How
much will my job cost?
A. Cost depends upon how much we need to do. All of our prices are competitively
positioned. Please check our Design/Print
Checklist to help you save money by avoiding mistakes. The less
we need to fix or change, the lower your costs will be. You can either
fill out a Quote Request form to give you an
accurate quote, or you can contact Customer Service to help you.
Q.
Why do you send me a proof? Why don't you just go ahead and print my
job?
A. Jobs that you submit to us on a disk or over the internet may not
print the same way they look on your screen or from your printer.
Differences may come from the use of different styles of the same font
which may cause flowing differences, different parameters settings (e.g.
spacing) in the preference files or from entirely different systems.
We want to ensure that any differences are caught before the product
is printed, and so we ask you for a final approval before we print your
job.
Q. What
are AA's? Why do you charge for them?
A. AA's refer to author's alterations. These are changes that the author
has requested after the job is in house and has already received a quote.
Since the quote did not include the additional work requested, an additional
charge is usually added to the quote.
Q.
What factors go into giving me an estimate?
A. An estimate is based upon two basic factors:
1-How much time will it take to produce your job and
2-What are the cost of the materials used?
The time involved will depend upon how much we will have to do:
- Will there be typesetting, graphic design and/or prepress required,
or is it a camera ready job?
- Will we need to produce negatives, create an image or a layout?
- Will we need to set up your disk job so that it is compatible and
economical to our printing presses (ex. - 4 up for business cards,
a 5.5" x 8.5" paper size set 2 up for a 8.5" x 11"
press size, etc.)
- Is there more than one pass through our presses? If so, each pass
will add to the time needed to produce your job. Multiple colors may
require multiple passes.
The cost of the materials includes the quality of the paper and/or
the cover used. Also, will your job include anything special (e.g. gold
foil, special binding)?
Q.
What are some ways I can save money on my next job?
A. First, you will find that the quotes that we give are very competitive.
We would not be able to remain in business for over 25 years and have
as many accounts as we do if they were not.
Secondly, our sales representatives generally look for the most cost
effective ways to print your job in the first place.
Here are some factors that you can consider and/or ask about on your
next job. Several of these may apply depending on the simplicity/complexity
of your job.
- Could you substitute a different color of paper for another
ink? A colored paper might be more economical than another
ink.
- How many times does your job have to run through the press?
Some of our presses can print more than one ink at a time. But if
you require a second run through the press, it might significantly
increase the cost;
- Can you do more of the work yourself of preparing the file/job
for submission? The more you can do yourself, the less the
cost to you. However, please check our Design/Print
Checklist to make sure that you do not complicate matters
by failing to follow basic parameters for preparation -- or causing
us more work (and more expense to you!) by making mistakes that we
will have to fix.
- What sort of printing quality do you need? We have
several ways that plates or negatives can be prepared for printing.
Perhaps if your job does not need high quality, you could opt for
a lesser expensive manner of plate preparation.
Your account executive is an expert on the above. Many of the above
are already being done. Please check with him/her for more information.
Q. What geographical
areas do you serve?
A. We're not limited to any geographical area thanks to electronic commerce.
Since we do have a storefront and don't just exist in cyberspace, a
majority of our business is located in the New England area. Our full-time
couriers personally pick up and deliver jobs within and outside of the
Route 128 belt of Eastern Massachusetts. We also use UPS, Fed Express
or the carrier of your choice when it is cost efficient to do so.
Q.
Do you accept files by electronic file transfer?
A. Yes. You can send us files over the internet as attachments to e-mail
documents or you can upload them directly to
our web site for faster processing. We're able to translate and distribute
them to the appropriate platform (Mac or PC) for whatever work you'll
need.
When your files are created in a Mac format, please add the appropriate
extension to your file when you e-mail them to us so we will be able
to translate them accurately. To determine the correct file extension
for your job, please check our glossary.
Or you can contact us directly.
Our servers can accept attachments as files as large as 50 MB. Please
verify that your Internet Service Provider is able to support the size
of your attachment or it may strip it off before it reaches us.
Please make sure the file you're submitting is in one of the Applications We Support.
For additional information, see electronic
file transfer.
Q.
Where are you located?
A. We're located in Canton, MA in close proximity to major routes. Our
address is 65 Dan Road. Please see our Directions
to Eagle for specific directions.
Q.
What are your hours of operation?
A. We're open Monday through Friday, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Since
we have two shifts, there are usually employees and management personnel
here to answer your call into the evening if you'd like to phone and
leave a message. Special appointments can be arranged before or after
hours.
Q.
What applications do you support?
A. For your convenience, we're able to accept jobs in the following
application formats (Macintosh and/or PC):
- •
QuarkXPress
- •
PageMaker
- •
Freehand
- •
Illustrator
•
InDesign
- •
Microsoft Word
- •
Microsoft Publisher
(PC only, no shades or color)
- •
WordPerfect
(PC only, no shades or color)
- •
Excel
- •
Powerpoint
- •
Adobe Photoshop
- •
PDF format files
- •
Compressed files (stuffit, exe and zip)
Q. Do
you accept files done in Microsoft Publisher?
A. We only run Microsoft Publisher files that contains straight text
with no color separations and no photographs or grayscale graphics of
any sort. We are able to print any camera ready copy that was produced
in Microsoft Publisher and you supply to us, provided that it does not
contain any photographs or grayscale graphics.
Microsoft Publisher is an excellent word processing program that builds
simple newsletter publications. In the Microsoft family, and on a par
with Word, Excel and Powerpoint, it is used specifically to produce
simple productions such as brochures, flyers and the such.
For lower production runs that can be done on a laser printer (black/white
or color), it is an economical way to go. However, it does not have
the graphic, layout and editing power of more powerful programs such
as InDesign or QuarkXPress.
For longer runs, where laser printing is not economical, and/or where
there is a need for color separations to produce plates, Microsoft Publisher
is not the way to go. Nor where there are photographs to reproduce.
Q. I want to take pictures
with a digital camera. Can I submit files that contain jpg's?
Here's some things to consider when using jpg's taken with a digital
camera:
- Digital cameras prepare photos for the digital media (such as the
internet and therefore the computer screen) and normally take pictures
with a resolution of only 72-96 dpi, definitely sufficient for a computer
screen, but inadequate for a print medium. If you are using a digital
camera to take pictures for printed material, please make sure you
use a higher dpi (such as 266 to 300). For a printing press, we usually
scan our photos at 266 dpi for a sharp picture. A picture taken at
72-96 dpi will probably appear somewhat blurry at best.
- .Jpg's also use a compression where there is a loss of clearness
(vs. a "gif" file that currently uses a "lossless" compression). The
loss depends upon how much compression is applied to the photo when
it is saved. A camera saves it with a set amount. You might want to
find out how much that is.
- .Jpg's usually are RGB (red, green, blue) in color, which is what
the computer screen uses. Printers use the CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow
and black (K)) version. For a color job, the jpg must be converted
out of the RGB to a usable format
Q. Because InDesign
and QuarkXPress are relatively expensive, should I employ someone to
produce brochures/newsletters/bcs/etc. or should I purchase InDesign
or QuarkXPress and learn to do it myself?
A. Here are some factors to consider to arrive at a workable answer
for you:
- How often would you actually use InDesign or QuarkXPress?
A simple, straightforward newsletter that is only produced a couple
of times per year might not be worth the investment.
We have several customers that regularly submit jobs in QuarkXPress
and InDesign for prepress and commercial printing output which is
cost effective for them. Some submit files every couple of days, some
come from design firms that regularly uses the software, others come
from companies and individuals that want to do the layout and production
themselves.
We have customers that submit newsletters in InDesign or QuarkXPress
that contain substantial editing and much production work. They also
scan their own photos and place them in the appropriate places. For
them it is much more cost effective to do it themselves.
Others have us do the layout, produce the look and employ graphics
and photographs as needed for their newsletters, brochures, letterheads,
business cards, etc. When updates, or new business cards are needed,
we simply change a name, title and/or a telephone number and run it.
In any case, we will have to open the file, and run it on our imagesetter
to produce the negatives/plates which run on our printing presses.
- Are you willing to put in time to learn the new software?
InDesign and QuarkXPress are state-of-the-art and it takes some time
to learn how to use the feature they possess. They are powerful tools
for printing production providing a person knows how to utilize their
features. Their features are very user friendly, and no part is particularly
difficult, but there is a learning curve involved.
- Will you invest in scanning equipment? If so, are
you willing to learn to use it? If you are purchasing scanning equipment
for photos/grayscale graphics, and are willing to learn how to use
it, you may be wise in purchasing InDesign or QuarkXPress if it will
be used often.
- Are there multiple colors used in the production?
If so, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Publisher and any of the other lower
level word processing programs will not be adequate.
- Do you know the difference between a 4 color process photo
and a spot color? If not, and you don't have time to learn,
letting another do it would be cost effective. In too many cases,
files are submitted with the wrong type of color settings which causes
us to have to spend time and charge extra to fix the problem.
Graphics
Questions
Q. What
fonts do you have?
A. We have several hundred different font families for both the Mac
and PC and our font library is constantly growing. Please contact a
Customer Service member for a current list of fonts available.
Q.
I want to scan images myself. How should I scan photos or images to
include in my job?
A. If we do the printing, scan your color photos, grayscale images or
photos at 266 dpi. Scan them at the size you'll use in your job so you'll
import them into your job at 100%. Save them outside the application
you're using and import them into it so we will have access to it in
case there is any problem with it. For black/white line art, scan at
a minimum of 600 dpi.
If your printing will be done at another printer, ask how many lines
per inch their printing presses operate at. A general rule is to scan
your grayscale/color photos at twice the lines per inch of their presses.
For example, our presses print at 133 lines per inch. For maximum clarity,
our scans therefore need to be twice that or 266 dpi.
If you are submitting a job that has two or three colors, make sure
they are spot colors and not process colors. Process colors
are a combination of cyan, magenta, yellow and black. It is not cost
effective for you to have only two or three colors in your project,
but have to pay for four colors.
Q.
How should I save my images in Photoshop?
A. Save your images in a CMYK mode for color (not RGB), grayscale mode
for grayscale and bitmap mode for line art. Save the images in TIFF
with LZW compression (which is smaller) or EPS format.
Here's a trick:
Photoshop 5 and earlier does not support spot colors. If you are using
Photoshop to prepare your graphics on a two or three color job, use
cyan, magenta or yellow for your spot colors. Our printers will then
be able to substitute any pantone color for the cyan, magenta, or yellow
plates.
Do you have other general
or specific questions
that are not found here?
Please contact Customer Service for a quick response.
You can phone, fax or e-mail any question you might have.
Directions
From the North and the West
- Take I-95/128 South around Boston.
- Continue past the 95/128 split onto 93 North toward Boston until
Exit 2A, Route 138.
- Take Exit 2A, Route 138 South.
- Continue for 3.1 miles until the intersection of Dan Road.
- Turn right onto Dan Road. Continue for about 0.1 miles.
- Eagle Graphics/Next Generation Printing will be on your right.
From the South
- Take I-93 South until Exit 2A, Route 138.
- Take Exit 2A, Route 138 South.
- Continue for 3.1 miles until the intersection of Dan Road.
- Turn right onto Dan Road. Continue for about 0.1 miles.
- Eagle Graphics/Next Generation Printing will be on your right.
Overall
Map
View an overall
map that includes Greater Boston, major routes and the Canton area.
Enlarged
Map
View an enlarged
map of the Canton area that includes major routes and streets immediately
surrounding Eagle Graphics on Dan Road.
