Editorial Submission Guidelines

1. PAGE SIZE:

Document dimensions: The page size is 8.375” x 10.875” with a .1875” bleed.  

Safety Zones: All non-bleeding content should be kept at a minimum of .2" from the trim. Footers and headers should also be a minimum of .15” from the ad space. The two horizontal guides in the middle of the page indicate the gutter between half page editorial content and ads. They are set 5.3215” from the top and bottom trim. Guides are set up in the Master pages of our InDesign Visitor Guide Template to remind you of these safe zones. 

Download the template at: https://makeitmomentous.com/university-client-resources/

2. Design & Layout

COVER ESSENTIALS

• The University name and logo
• Identification: Visitors / Visitor / Visitor’s / Visitors’ Guide.
• Year and/or Issue number to distinguish from issue to issue.
  The year can be formatted as 2023-24 or 2025.
• Optional: University web url, social media icons, magazine-style cover lines highlighting what’s in the guide

CONTENT ESSENTIALS: 

• The Disclaimer: Your file needs to include a disclaimer, which is typically found on the Table of Contents or Welcome page
• We have recently added an environmental statement and logos to the disclaimer. The logos are in a pdf that includes notes on use.
• The Visitor Guide includes Editorial and Ad pages. The file you send will need to include every page of the magazine, including the ad pages. The ad pages should be left blank except for your footer and/or header. Please make sure to have page numbers on all of the ad pages. 
  • If you need to add content to ad pages as part of your internal review process, place that content on its own layer. When saving the final pdf to send to us, turn that layer off.
• The Inside Front Cover and the last two pages of the guide should be left blank – no headers or footers.
• Check phone numbers and test website urls to make sure no broken links end up in the printed magazine.
• As of 2020: We are no longer including Business/Advertiser Index pages.

USING THE PAGE MAP

• The pages in your file should match the layout in the page map we provide. You can start working on your design using the previous year’s issue anytime, but please be aware of the possibility that the page count may change. 
• We will send you a preliminary page map approximately 6 weeks prior to the editorial due date and the final layout 2 weeks prior to the editorial due date. If there are any major changes in editorial page sequence and/or page count, please know that we will allow the time you need to adjust the design. 
• It is highly recommended to have a few optional or evergreen editorial pages ready in the event the page count increases.

Color

• RGB and Spot colors will be converted using the U.S. Web Coated (SWOP) v2 color profile before printing. We recommend using CMYK colors only, especially the university’s official CMYK build for either coated or uncoated paper, depending on your paper choice. 
• Do not use spot colors unless you have tested and approved the converted CMYK build. To convert spot colors to CMYK, double-click on the color in the Swatches panel. Change the Color Mode to CMYK and the Color Type to Process.
• Set preferences to display and output blacks accurately. 
• Text and thin lines should use the basic black build 0-0-0-100. 
• Background fills, large graphic elements and outer borders should use a rich black build. We suggest 40-30-30-100 or a similar build that does not exceed 280% total ink coverage. 
• Never use Registration black for anything. It has a build of 100-100-100-100 (400% ink density). 
• RGB black converts to a 300% ink density (75-68-67-90). Adjusting and adding overlays to photos in CMYK color mode can increase ink density way over the safe level of 300%. It’s best to adjust images in RGB color mode (in Photoshop). When converted to CMYK, they will never be above 300%. RGB black is great for images but avoid using it for text.

Images

We recommend image resolution be above 200ppi with 240-300 being ideal for print. As you resize images in your layout, please pay attention to the change in the effective resolution, which can be found in the Links » Link Info panel. 

Special Considerations

• Reversed text and logos: To ensure that light colors over dark backgrounds print legibly, avoid small and thin fonts and strokes.
• Sometimes when type is outlined in InDesign or Illustrator, it automatically gets set to Overprint. Use Preflight or Overprint Preview to double check. To fix, open the Attributes panel (in InDesign, look under Output) and uncheck Overprint. 

For Illustrator files, such as maps: 

• Set preferences to display and output blacks accurately. 
• Make sure Illustrator art is created in CMYK not RGB, and that spot colors are converted to Process CMYK using Swatch Options.
• To reduce the file size of PDFs, be sure to uncheck “Preserve Editing Capabilities” in the PDF options.

3. Export to PDF

• File > Export. Export as a Print PDF. 
• Start with the Press Quality presets.
• General: All Pages (not Spreads)
• Image compression: this is optional, but you can adjust it to compress any image over 300 to 300. 
• Marks and Bleeds: Check Crop Marks only, Offset by .1875”
  and Check “Use Document Bleed Settings”.
• Color Conversion: Convert to Destination (Preserve Numbers), U.S. Web Coated (SWOP) v2 
• The final InDesign PDF document size should be: 9.17” x 11.67”

4. Package Design Files

We will need you to provide the native design files if the University has requested we create the responsive website companion to the printed guide. There are usually several rounds of revisions, so these files are not expected until after the hard proof is approved for print.

Go to File > Package to create a folder with an .idml file and all images. Please make sure that there are no missing links and all images used in the InDesign layout accompany the file. The inclusion of fonts is not required. 

5. Deliver Files 

Options 1:

Upload the final PDF and Packaged files to our FTP site. 

url = https://makeitmomentous.com/client-uploads/

Option 2:

You may also use Dropbox, WeTransfer, or another method of online transfer convenient for you. Share your link with: production [at] campuspublishers.com 

For more information, please contact
Sarah Miller

Production Manager, Director of Operations

(800) 807-1013 x1004
sarah@makeitmomentous.com

DISCLAIMER INFO AND SAMPLES

Here are some samples of disclaimers.
The language and layouts vary but the publisher information should always be:

• ... published by Momentous Campus Media, 2465 Central Avenue, #203, Boulder, CO 80301. Copyright 2020. All rights reserved.
• For errors or omissions in advertising content, contact Momentous Campus Media, 303-544-1198.

If your disclaimer doesn’t include the following environmental information, please add it in:

This publication is printed using a renewable ink resource on 10% recycled paper that is Elemental Chlorine Free. It was produced by a certified member of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) compliant with the Federal Resource Conservation Recovery Act (RCRA).

We’ve set up the logos in a pdf that you can either open in Illustrator to edit color, or just place one of the pages as is (check Transparent Background in place options). Feel free to reduce the opacity of the white and black versions.