Q. Can CSI assist me with my artwork?
A. Yes, CSI has a complete art department and will be happy to provide whatever type of assistance is required.
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Q. How can I get my artwork to CSI?
A. The easiest and fastest way for most customers is to e-mail it to us as an attachment Our e-mail address is sales@mouse-pads.com. If the file size is over 900 KB (frequently the case in four-coIor process images), please call us for instructions on how to access our FTP site.

You can use the U .S. Postal Service or Federal Express to send us a CD, disk or a hard copy for us to scan.

In addition to a computer file, a color print of your artwork is very desirable. This is particularly true for "four-color process" (photographic quality) images because it tells us how you expect the colors on your mouse pad to look.

You can fax us your artwork if you are only trying to convey your ideas and want us to do the design and/or set the type, redraw the logo, etc. However, a fax is too low a resolution to use as "actual" artwork.

Important: Please put your full name, telephone number and fax number on any e-mail, faxes or letters you send us.

We frequently have questions about requests for information we receive. When this happens, we like to pick up the telephone and call you.

Your cooperation in providing your full name, telephone number and fax number on all correspondence win be greatly appreciated.
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Q. What type of graphic formats does CSI support?
A. Our art department uses Macintosh computers, but we also have IBM compatibles on our network. We can accept tif, eps, Corel Draw, Freehand, lllustrator, Pagemaker, Photoshop, Powerpoint, QuarkEXpress, and Microsoft Word files from either platform. Call for other formats.

Please note that Microsoft Word cannot output "color separations" and can therefore only be used
for "one ink color" jobs. Please see the question on spot color and four-color process printing if you do not know what a color separation is.
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Q. What resolution does CSI need to print mouse pads?
A. We need a 300 ppi resolution image for both four-color process and spot color printing. This means that gif, bmp, and most jpg file formats are unacceptable because they are "screen" graphics files and are only 72 or 96 ppi. These "screen graphic" files look beautiful on a computer monitor, but are not high enough resolution to print on a mouse pad (or on paper, for that matter). Try printing screen graphics to a 300 ppi or higher resolution laser printer and you will see what we mean.

Important: Photoshop files and tif files can be any resolution. These file types must be at least 300 ppi in order to print properly, Digital cameras produce high resolution jpg files. These are still only 72 ppi, but are very large, A 2 mega pixel camera image is about 16" x 24". When changed to 300 ppi in order to be printed, the image size decreases to somewhat less than 4" x 6".

Some graphics programs, such as Photoshop, will let you increase the resolution of an image by merely typing a bigger number into a dialog box. This does not work. Here's why.

Resolution is actually measured in "dots per square inch." 72 squared is 5,184 and 300 squared is 90,000.5, 184 divided by 90,000 is .0576 (a little less than 6% ).

When you tell the computer to increase the resolution from 72 ppi to 300 ppi, you are asking the program to "guess" what 94% of the image looks like when it knows what less than 6% of it looks like. No wonder it doesn't work.

The reason these programs let you change the resolution is that it is possible to "reduce" the resolution by "throwing away" parts of the image. In this case the computer knows what the entire image looks like and can make a good guess as to which parts to eliminate. The main use for this capability is to take a high resolution image and turn it into a screen graphic.

The only solution to the "screen graphics problem" is to have a different higher resolution image elsewhere, have a "good" hard copy that can be scanned in, or to have an artist redraw the artwork using the low resolution graphics file as a pattern.
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Q. What is an appropriate name for my artwork? Or, why shouldn't I call my artwork "mouse pad?
A. Please do not call your artwork "mouse pad", "mousepad", etc. We get many pieces of artwork each day, and most of them are called "mouse pad" or some variation of the term.

As you might expect, keeping track of all these files with similar names is a nuisance. Please use your organization's name as the file name. (We already know the artwork is for a mouse pad. ) We
can accept long character names from either IBM compatible or Macintosh computers.
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Q. What is "spot color" and "four-color process" printing?
A. Spot color and four-color process are two different ways to print on anything- mouse pads, paper, etc. For both processes there must be a separate plate or screen (called a color separation) for each ink color to be printed. As you might expect, the more colors to be printed, the more plates are needed and the more expensive the job is. In spot color printing; the inks are mixed by the manufacturer and are applied one color to a plate. If "exact" color matching is required, exact colors can be specified using PMS (Pantone Matching System) numbers.

In four-color processing, four ink colors are mixed together on the printing press to make essentially all the colors of the rainbow. These four-colors are usually called "CYMK" for cyan (a light blue), yellow, magenta (a pinkish red) and black inks.

If the job has only a few colors, spot color is an economical way to print. However, if the job has a lot of colors or is a photograph, four-color process must be used.
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Q. What size does my artwork need to be?
A. If you are printing a "full bleed" (all the way to the edge), we need a 1/4" additional margin all around. This adds 1/2" to each dimension. Therefore, the full bleed artwork for our 7-1/2" x 8" pad needs to be 8" x 8-1/2" and the full bleed artwork for our 8" x 9-1/2" pad needs to be 8-1/2" x 10".

This additional 1/4" margin will not show on the final printed pad. Be careful not to put anything
you want printed on the pad in this area or the rounded corner area.

Whether you are using a full bleed or not, your pads will look better if you do not place any part of your image, except the background, closer than 1/4" from the edge-and 1/2" looks better.

Image size is always 1/2" larger than the Pad Size and the Print Area are always 1/2" smaller than the Pad Size.

See pad layouts at the end of this document for a pictorial representation of the above.

Important: Make sure your artwork has the right proportions (aspect ratio) to fit on the size pad you select.

If after reading this, you still have questions about your artwork; please call us toll-free at 1-8OO-784-PADS (7237). We'll be happy to answer any additional questions you may have.
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