Guide to setup print files

A simple guide to print ready artwork

We want you to get the best printed work from your design, but there are a couple of things you do need to know. Proofs When we are digitally printing your proofs this is to give you a good idea of how the final print will look. However if the final print is to be produced in a different process and/or material then it may look slightly different.

Colour

What you see on your screen does not necessarily look the same, then printed. Your monitor shows colour in RGB (Red, Green & Blue) whereas the printing is usually produced in CYMK (Cyan, Yellow, Magenta & Black). In fact if you have more than one monitor to check your artwork on you can usually see a difference between two screens! Also if you are creating the artwork in pantone colours but printing in CYMK then you will need to check the mix to make sure it all looks ok. We have pantone swatches in our office if you want to check these before printing. Please make sure your artwork is setup as CYMK or spot colours if spot colour printing.

Bleed

If your design has the artwork going right to the edge then your design needs to allow a ‘bleed’ which has the artwork carrying on for another 3mm on each edge (see adjacent examples). Also make sure you allow a 3mm gap between the edge of the printed item and any text, as you can get some movement when items are being printed.

Fonts

If providing a print ready PDF file please embed the fonts and/or set them to outline to ensure everything will print successfully. If you are supplying an Office file this will look for the font you used in your document on one of our computers. If you have used a non-system font these may look different when printed. 

File formats

Please when possible supply files in Adobe PDF format and use the press quality preset or use PDF/X-1a:2001 with a resolution of 300dpi. We can accept other types of files but please make sure that they are set to the correct size and if they have links then ensure  that the linked files are supplied as well.

Transparency

If you are using a transparency in your design please make sure that this is flattened, otherwise you can sometimes get a box around the shape when it is printed.

Binding

If your printed work is going into a binder, being wirebound or perfect bound, please consider the exclusion areas of where the paper will be punched or glued.

Please remember we can help with your questions so pop in to our office or give us a call.