the questions
WE HEAR MOST.

It depends on what we're making. Rough ranges:

• Business cards, flyers, stickers: 5–7 business days from artwork approval
• Signage (storefront, window, wayfinding): 2–3 weeks including install
• Vehicle wraps: 1–2 weeks depending on vehicle size
• Brand identity or design-heavy projects: 3–6 weeks depending on scope

Every project gets a specific timeline in the quote. If you have a hard deadline, tell us upfront and we'll be honest about whether it's possible.

Either works. We handle three scenarios all the time:

• You have print-ready artwork — we produce and install
• You have a rough idea or a competitor to reference — we design and produce
• You're starting from nothing — we build brand and identity from the ground up

The design work has its own line on the quote. If you have a logo already, we use it. If you don't, we can build one.

For anything that ships (business cards, printed materials, stickers, banners, retractable displays), yes — we ship nationwide.

For anything that requires install (storefront signage, window vinyl, vehicle wraps, murals), we work throughout the Chicago metropolitan area and select Midwest markets. Outside that radius, we can ship the produced materials and coordinate with a local installer, or design-only and hand off.

That's what the first conversation is for. Fill out the contact form with what you do know — even if it's just "I need better signage for my restaurant." We'll respond within 24 business hours, ask enough questions to understand the goal, and either quote it or tell you honestly if it's not a fit for us.

You don't need to know sizes, materials, or specs upfront. Bring the problem, we bring the plan.

For print-ready artwork, in order of preference:

• Vector files — AI, EPS, PDF (with fonts outlined)
• High-resolution raster — TIFF or PNG at 300 DPI at final print size
• Native design files — InDesign packages, Photoshop PSDs, Illustrator AI

For reference or rough ideas at the start of a project, anything works — JPGs, phone photos, screenshots, hand sketches. We'll clean it up.

What doesn't work for final production: low-resolution web images, screenshots of PDFs, images pulled from Google. Signage printed from those looks like signage printed from those.

Not really. If you send us artwork that needs adjustment, we handle the prep work as part of production — that's what production is. We'll add bleed, convert color modes (RGB to CMYK for print), and flag anything that will look bad at final size.

If you're a designer prepping files yourself: 300 DPI, 1/8" bleed, CMYK for print, outlined fonts. If you're not, don't worry about it.

For files under 25MB, email works. For anything larger, we'll send a WeTransfer or Dropbox link once your project is scoped. Don't try to email 200MB PSDs — nothing good happens.

Standard items — business cards, banners, yard signs, basic vinyl — have transparent starting prices on our services page, with a live calculator for common sizes and materials.

Custom work — storefront signage, brand identity, vehicle wraps, murals, wayfinding systems — needs a real conversation to price honestly. Every project has variables (size, materials, install complexity, timeline) that shift the number. Send us the project and we'll get you a quote within 24 business hours.

For print items, yes — most have practical minimums (250 business cards, 100 flyers, etc.) because setup costs dominate on tiny runs. For signage and custom work, no — we do one-off installs all the time.

If you need a quantity below our standard minimum, ask anyway. We'll tell you what it would cost or suggest a better route.

For projects under $2,000: full payment upfront via invoice.

For projects $2,000 and above: 50% upfront to start, 50% on completion before final delivery or install.

We accept ACH transfer, credit card (small processing fee), or business check. No crypto.

Sometimes. Rush pricing runs 25–50% above standard, depending on how much of the timeline we're compressing and which vendor partners we need to lean on.

If your timeline is truly tight, tell us as early as possible — the difference between "we need this in 5 days" and "we need this in 2 days" changes what's even possible.

No — and this is a deliberate choice, not a limitation.

We operate on a broker model. Design, project management, client relations, and quality control happen in-house at Interstellar. Physical production and installation happen through a network of specialized fabrication and install partners we've vetted and worked with over time.

The reason: an in-house shop is limited to whatever equipment it owns. Our partners specialize — one is the best at channel letters, another at wide-format vinyl, another at vehicle wraps. For each project, we route the work to the specialist who does that thing best, at a scale that matches your budget.

You get one point of contact (us), one invoice, one accountable team — and the right specialist behind every job.

We coordinate and oversee every install. Depending on the project, install is handled directly by our team or by our install partners under our project management. Either way, our founders are on the hook for it landing correctly, and someone from our team is at every install of consequence.

Every design project includes two rounds of revisions after the first concept. Most projects wrap in one or two rounds when the brief is clear upfront.

Additional revisions beyond that are billed hourly at our standard design rate, disclosed on your original quote. If revisions balloon because the scope changed mid-project (new goals, new audience, new direction), we'll pause, re-scope, and re-quote before continuing.

For physical print or signage: if we made a production error (wrong size, wrong color, bad print quality against what was approved), we redo it at no cost.

If you approve a proof and change your mind after production, that's a new order at cost. This is why we don't skip the proof step.

For design work: revisions are baked in (see above). If the direction isn't working after two rounds, we'll have an honest conversation about whether we're the right fit — sometimes projects reveal a mismatch, and we'd rather part ways cleanly than force something.

Yes. We keep production-ready files for every project we've completed, indefinitely. Reorders are simple — email us with the project name or approximate date, tell us the quantity, and we'll requote from your existing files.

Reorders don't go through the design process again unless something needs updating.

You own the final deliverable (printed materials, installed signage, delivered logo files). We deliver logo and brand identity work in editable and export formats — you're not locked into coming back to us to use your own brand.

We retain the working design files (layered PSDs, native project files) as part of our archive, and reserve the right to show completed work in our portfolio unless you specifically ask us not to.

Interior signage carries a standard 1-year warranty against manufacturing defects. Exterior signage varies by material — vinyl typically 3–5 years, dimensional metal 5–10 years, LED components per manufacturer warranty.

Warranty doesn't cover weather events, vandalism, or damage from third parties. If any of that happens, we can repair or replace at project cost — often faster than the original install since files and specs are already on hand.

Yes for anything we originally installed. Takedowns and maintenance for signage we didn't install we evaluate case-by-case — if the site is safe and reasonable, we'll quote it.