General Certificate Facts
What are your physical & digital offerings?
Our Promotional Certificates are DIGITAL PRODUCTS. You will not receive a physical item. These products are intended to be printed by you, either at home, at work, or at your local print shop of choice.
Our Commemorative Certificates are PHYSICAL PRODUCTS. You will receive a physical item shipped to a single address of your choice. Your Commemorative Certificate can also be sent to you as a digital product if you would like to print the item yourself. In this case, we will provide you with a digital file INSTEAD of a physical item at a reduced cost. Please contact us for pricing.
What method of payment is accepted?
When a certificate is requested, you will be sent a PayPal invoice. All payments can be made through this invoice, either through your PayPal account or through a debit or credit card. Alternatively, all payments can be made via e-transfer to heroic.certificates@gmail.com.
Do you accept returns?
We do not accept returns on digital files. However, if you have an issue with your files, we will work with you to help resolve it.
We cannot accept physical returns on printed products. However, if there are any issues with physical prints, then we will work to either get you a reprint or a refund. Photographs of your issues must be provided to help facilitate this process.
If any issues come up, please let us know via email.
How can I include my fire department's logo in my design?
In order to use your department's logo, we ask that you have permission to do so. Purchasers of a Certificate will be asked to provide proof of permission to make sure we are not violating any copyright.
We also ask that you provide a large, high-resolution version of your logo in order to make sure that it looks fantastic on your certificate. The best logos to use would be vector-based files in the following formats: .ai, .eps, .svg or .pdf. However, you may also choose to use a raster-based file in the following formats: .jpg, .tiff, .png, or .psd. Note that these files should be 1100px by 1100 px at 300 dpi for best results.
Should the need arise, we offer logo design recreation as a per-hour service.
Not sure if your logo will work? Please feel free to contact us.
I love the idea of a certificate template, but I would like my own custom design.
Custom certificates are welcome! If you have an idea for a custom certificate, please feel free to contact us. Please note that all custom work will require a custom quote and may cost more than the templates being offered.
Do you only offer certificates to fire departments? What about police or EMS services?
Currently, we only have template designs for fire departments set up. However, we would love to offer the same certificates to other first responders as well. If you belong to a police department, ambulance service or armed forces, please feel free to reach out. We would love to collaborate on future designs :)
Promotional Certificate Facts
What type of digital files will I receive after purchasing a Promotional Certificate Template?
That depends on the type of Promotional Certificate you have purchased.
If you purchased Editable Files: You will receive a ZIP folder containing working InDesign files and the required image and font links. Depending on the style of certificate, fonts may need to be uploaded to the computer to alter the template. All fonts chosen are free for use from Google Fonts.
If you purchased a Set-Up & Pay-As-You-Need plan: After setting up the look of your template, you will receive a ZIP folder containing high-resolution PDF and PNG files for each individual certificate you require. These files can be used to print either in-office or at your printer of choice.
What size & type of paper should I use when printing my digital files?
Each certificate is built to be printed on 11 inch by 17 inch (27.94 cm by 43.18cm) paper. This is a very common paper size that should be available at most print shops and locations. It is also a very popular size for most large office laser printers.
While these certificates will print well on any paper, a higher quality (heavier weight) paper will make your certificate look its best. Laser printing will provide a crisper image. These certificates work extremely well on textured paper if it is available.
I've had my certificate printed at 2 different printers and the colours look different!
Every brand of printer has its own different settings, inks, and paper that it uses. Therefore, prints from multiple locations will have slight colour variations. We recommend getting a test print done first if you intend to produce multiple prints.
While these certificates will print well on any paper, a higher quality (and heavier) paper will make your certificate look its best. Laser printing will provide a crisper image.
I've printed my certificate on my office printer and I keep getting a small white border around the edge.
Even though your PDF file has no white border around it, you may have one on the paper after printing. This is because most printing machines cannot print to the very edge of the paper. The artwork has been given enough margin to make sure that it will never be cut off by the small white border.
Commemorative Certificate Facts
What are the image requirements for the Commemorative Certificates?
Each certificate comes with a space for a firefighter image (up to 6) and space to add the department member's name and service years. The templates with a single image have space to add a rank if you wish.
We ask that you provide large, high-resolution versions of your firefighter portraits. The larger and crisper the file, the better it will look on the template.
Images are accepted in the following formats: .jpg, .tiff, .png, or .psd. Image files should be approximately 2100px by 2100px for the single image certificate, or 1500px by 1100px for the multi-image certificates.
Not sure if your image will work? Please feel free to contact us.
How & when will my physical Commemorative Certificate arrive to me?
Shipping for the printed products is usually fast, but it can take up to 4 weeks. Please note this before you purchase. We do not have any say over the shipping speed.
The print will arrive rolled in a triangular container to help protect the print from bending and folding during transport. Due to the heavy nature of the paper, you will need to flatten out your print.
To flatten a print: With clean hands, unroll your print on a clean, flat surface. Cover the print with clean tissue paper or the paper it was shipped with, and then place one or two heavy books gently on top of the print. Leave the print for a few hours up to one full day. Make sure to do this process carefully so as not to scuff your print. Click Here for a video for visual reference by Kim Knoll
