Artwork Information

With 19+ years of experience, We have seen just about every type of art, source, and technique there is. You don’t need to have a degree in design art to deal with us. Part of our service philosophy is that we can take a quick sketch and turn it into something you would be proud to carry and present. Something we would be proud of. With eMilitarycoins.com your job can be planned from the start to be done the right way.

Artwork is only as good as you provide. Simply because the art file is an ESP or JPG format does not mean it will be clean and useable. Faxed, scanned or artwork which as been reproduced numerous times will not improve and will not look its best without additional clean up efforts. We reserve the right to refuse any artwork that will not meet our standards of product quality when reproduced with our equipment.

Delays can occur in production when artwork is provided in the wrong format. Time can be lost with efforts to convert files that are submitted without following guidelines below. Please contact us if you have any questions about the format requirements.

Some graphics specifics below may help you:

A Please send your electronically color files in RGB format. CMYK separation files are device-specific and cannot be readily translated. Accordingly, we request that, if you are sending bitmap files electronically and cannot provide a reference print, you send the files in the RGB color space. This would be the best.

B Please e-mail us with the most original, cleanest, un-altered artwork or clipart that you used in developing your design. So much of the artwork gets shrunk down to fit in the coin design that much detail is lost. Sometimes we send enlarged sections to our engraver to point out the detail. So the better the artwork file the better the coin.

C JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group). This file format for color-rich images was developed by the Joint Photographic Experts Group committee. JPEG compresses graphics of photographic color depth better than competing file formats like GIF, and it retains a high degree of color fidelity. This makes JPEG files smaller and therefore quicker to download.

D Fonts: We have a large selection of Fonts; however, if the Font you want in your design is unique there are several options;

1. Convert all text to outlines or curves. Please be aware that once this is done the text in your artwork can no longer be edited as text.
2. Send us the Font (TrueType only) in a ZIP attachment or by disk.
3. Supply us with the name of the Font so we can obtain it from our sources.
4. Substitute the Font to another more common.

E Camera-ready artwork: Camera-ready is a very specific and limited technical term that has been badly misused … almost to the point where graphic arts industry pros ignore its use altogether. To be truly camera-ready, artwork must be pre-separated to allow a single camera shot for each color plate and the most efficient composing process possible. A stat sheet of logos is not camera-ready art. In any case, in this day and age of digital reproduction, camera-ready art may be a detriment and add unnecessary cost to your project. Be wary of art presented to you as camera-ready.

F “Mac file” or “PC file” are meaningless terms. If someone says to you that they have a Mac file, be very wary. Files are generated in specific programs, most of which run on both Macs and PCs. The most common are Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Freehand, CorelDraw!, PageMaker, and Quark Press. Most of these programs can trade files among themselves. These formats are called TIFF (pronounced “tiff”), and EPS (pronounced “ee pea ess”). We can deal with files from any of these formats or programs, (as well as Microsoft Office programs).

G Copyright materials. It is 100% the Customer’s Responsibility to know whether or not they are authorized to use pictures, symbols, logos in their design. Any legal issues that might arise from the content that is used in the design the responsibility of the customer/purchaser. Midwest Laser Engraving and Awards, Inc and eMilitarycoins.com will not be held liable for any reason if used illegally. If there is any question or doubt of copyright material, please get it resolved before you commit to the coin order. Feel free to contact us for advice or assistance.

Leave the driving to us.

The very best designers in the world cannot know what we do about working with the materials and processes specific to coin production. While we can brief them, they still do not have the processes irradiated into their bones the way we do. In fact, the best designers in the world prefer to send us the design elements and instructions on styles and usages and let us make the mechanicals precisely because they do understand that we can do a better job.

If a particular look is important

If a particular look is important, (and why wouldn’t it be?), We can handle that very well. You might have noticed from our samples, you have seen over the years, that there is no particular “look.” This is quite deliberate. We are not the subject, the artist is, and we are quite adept at being chameleons. What we do excel at is making anyone’s design look like it was done in a professional manner with all due concern for the quality of the results.