Grayscale

At Modern Postcard we offer both full color printing on front and back (4/4) and full color on the front, black and white or grayscale on the back (4/1). If you are printing a 4/1 card and have any other color on the back (other than B/W or grayscale), we cannot print your job.

If printing 4/1, you will need to convert any images, fonts, borders, etc. to B/W or grayscale for the backside.

This section will tell you how to check for and set color on the back using:

• Photoshop
• QuarkXPress
• InDesign
• PageMaker
• Illustrator
• FreeHand

These instructions are for converting color to B/W for the back of a 4/1 layout only. If you are printing a 4/4 card, please refer to the specs for submitting specs for submitting CMYK files.

How to Fix Color on the Back Using Photoshop

It is easy to change the color mode to Grayscale in Photoshop. Simply go to Image / Mode and pull to Grayscale.

Save as a TIFF and try again.

PLEASE NOTE: If your artwork is solid black and white "line art" like text (no shades of gray), you should save as a bitmap tiff at 1200 dpi.

Here's how:

Be sure you have created your artwork at 1200 dpi. Go to Mode > Bitmap (You may need to converted to Grayscale and then to Bitmap).

Set the resolution to 1200 dpi and the Method to 50% Threshold.

Again, a bitmap TIFF should be used when there is only black and white solid areas. If there are any shades of gray whatsoever, the file should be saved as Grayscale.

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How to Fix Color on the Back Using QuarkXPress

In QuarkXPress, there are two areas where you may have color on the back. One is in your linked images (TIFFs or EPS files that are placed into Quark). The other is any Quark elements such as text, boxes, borders, or lines.

To check for TIFFs you have placed into Quark using the "Get Picture" function, you will need Photoshop. To check for EPS files placed into Quark, you will need either Illustrator, FreeHand.)

To check for Quark elements, you will have to select individual elements to see what color they are assigned in the color palette.

In this example, be sure not to use any color swatches.

You may have created a custom color. It is best that you go to Edit / Colors to convert these to grayscale by only using the black (K) channel (C,M,and Y should be at 0%).

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How to Fix Color on the Back Using InDesign

In InDesign, there are two areas where you may have color on the back. One is in your linked images (TIFFs or EPS files that are placed into InDesign). The other is any InDesign elements such as text, boxes, borders, or lines.

To check for TIFFs you have placed into InDesign using the "Place" function, you will need Photoshop. To check for EPS files placed into InDesign, you will need either Illustrator, FreeHand.)

To check for InDesign elements, you will have to select them individually and check the Color Palette. If the selected element is in color, simply change it to Grayscale, by only applying the black (K) channel to it (C, M, and Y should be 0%).

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How to Fix Color on the Back Using PageMaker

In PageMaker, there are two areas where you may have color on the back. One is in your linked images (TIFFs or EPS files that are placed into PageMaker). The other is any PageMaker elements such as text, boxes, borders, or lines.

To check for TIFFs you have placed into PageMaker using the "Place" function, you will need Photoshop. To check for EPS files placed into PageMaker, you will need either Illustrator, FreeHand.)

To check for PageMaker elements, you will have to select them individually and check the Colors Palette.

In this example, be sure not to use any color swatches!

You may be using a custom color that is in color. To convert to Grayscale, click on the small options menu on the Colors Palette.

Pull down to Color Options. Be sure to set the Type to Process and the Model to CMYK. Then be sure that you are only using the black (K) channel (See Below).

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How to Fix Color on the Back Using Illustrator

In Illustrator, there are two areas where you may have color on the back. One is in your linked or embedded images (TIFFs or EPS files that are placed into Illustrator). The other is any Illustrator elements such as text, boxes, borders, lines or any other vector art.

To check for images you have placed into Illustrator using the "Place" function, you will need Photoshop.

To be sure that all your vector objects are all Grayscale, you will first need to select all (Control-A Windows, Command-A Mac), and then go to Filter > Colors > Convert to Grayscale.

To double check that all your vector objects have been converted to Grayscale, go to File > Document Info (you may need to select all first) and pull down on the small options menu on the Document Info Palette to "Options."

In this example all the objects have been successfully converted to Grayscale.

Please note that gradients will not convert using the Convert to Grayscale Filter. You should probably create your gradients in a raster editing program like Photoshop and place them into Illustrator.

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How to Fix Color on the Back Using FreeHand

In FreeHand, there are two areas where you may have color on the back. One is in your linked or embedded images (TIFFs or EPS files that are placed into Freehand). The other is any FreeHand elements such as text, boxes, borders, lines or any other vector art.

To check for images you have placed into Freehand using the "Import" function, you will need Photoshop.

To be sure that all your vector objects are all CMYK, you will need to select objects to see what colors have been applied to the stroke and/or fill. From there you should open the color in the Color Mixer Palette (by double-clicking on the color swatch in the Color List) to see the CMYK breakdown. Be sure that only the black (K) channel is used (C, M, and Y should be 0%).