Quote Originally Posted by lars
when you make a new label, start it off as an RGB file with at least a 300dpi resolution. it's lighter this way for you to edit the image, and you can convert it to CMYK when the shit is finished for the print job.
there's a small problem here. RGB black doesn't automatically convert to CMYK black, in photoshop or in any other designer tool i think. learned it the hard way when i was ordering a two color print with only C(yan) and blac(K) channels, with a job converted from RGB to CMYK. the print shop developed the films and suddenly the job contained colors distributed to all channels in addition to the black channel...

also, colors really change when converting to CMYK, sometimes radically. so if you can, calibrate your monitor and work in CMYK from the beginning.

RGB could be the future however, many printing houses are moving to fully RGB compatible job processes in digital printing at least.. thank god for the day that happens.

Quote Originally Posted by lars
DO NOT - i repeat DO NOT give JPEG files for the print shops, as JPEG is a compressed format. if you check out any form of jpeg image from the net and zoom really close, you'll notice that it will start to smudge really soon, and that's not what you will want. i always give TIFF or PDF files if possible, because they retain the quality as it's meant to be.
be sure to ask the print shop what formats they recommend - they're using different tools, and of course support many formats, but if they need to convert, the extra conversion round can always ruin something...

if your design is fully vector based, you'll probably be better off if you can deliver the job in original vector format, e.g. freehand, illustrator..

PDF is a good format (just remember to embed all fonts and images!!), as most printers create PDFs in the final steps of their own process. if you can deliver them a fully print-ready PDF, the printer will be happy, but the problem is that PDF's are not very changeable.. you'll have to know how to draw correct cutting marks and all.

CMYK format hi-resolution JPEGs are not entirely evil btw, some european printers are actually recommending them and the format/compression keeps evolving.