Without clear, effective design your print job will be limited in reaching its full potential. It's a fact.
|
ARTWORK & DESIGNArtwork is the visual representation that is ultimately printed on paper, and it's what your audience will see. Printing is simply the means of transmitting it to the world in a tangible form.
Just as an artist wouldn't create a masterpiece with a cheap brush and inferior quality paints, or a builder wouldn't construct a mansion without ensuring the foundation and preparatory work were solid, the same applies to creating something for print. To achieve optimal results, your artwork must be Designed4print |
Our Artwork Service
This is a crucial stage in the printing process that can make or break the success of your project. We understand that not every print job requires the same level of attention, and that's why we offer different service levels to meet your specific needs.
For instance, if you're sending out an informational letter, a professional presentation is all that's required. However, if you're promoting an event, service, or product, your flyers need to grab attention and create interest quickly.
The design can play a greater role than the printing itself
Recognising that high-quality artwork comes at a cost, I offer two basic service levels for most of the products: ECONOMY and STANDARD
The STANDARD artwork service is a high-quality professional service that takes into account the time and considerations needed to produce a piece of artwork that will do your job justice. As a rule, choose this service unless your design is intentionally very simple.
If you're unsure which service level to choose, don't hesitate to ask. I'm always happy to help. You can even send your artwork for a preview before placing an order.
For instance, if you're sending out an informational letter, a professional presentation is all that's required. However, if you're promoting an event, service, or product, your flyers need to grab attention and create interest quickly.
The design can play a greater role than the printing itself
Recognising that high-quality artwork comes at a cost, I offer two basic service levels for most of the products: ECONOMY and STANDARD
The STANDARD artwork service is a high-quality professional service that takes into account the time and considerations needed to produce a piece of artwork that will do your job justice. As a rule, choose this service unless your design is intentionally very simple.
If you're unsure which service level to choose, don't hesitate to ask. I'm always happy to help. You can even send your artwork for a preview before placing an order.
Buy Your ArtworkBuy your artwork at the outset if you require it. This is available for most standard products at the two different levels. Obviously some jobs will need a custom quote, but look out for the Artwork included logo that appears with some products where we just know you're going to need it!
|
|
If you have your artwork ready, you can send it wherever you see this upload button
|
|
Preparing Your Artwork - what you need to know
|
Supplying Artwork Guidelines
The end product can only be as good as the artwork supplied. Here is an overview of the main requirements. • A PDF file is usually the most suitable file but we can work from JPG, PNG, TIFF, WORD.doc and OFFICE.odt files. • All artwork should be supplied in CMYK colour space. RGB can be used for short digital print runs but for most print material the colour gamuts will be converted and this will affect the trueness of the colours. Confused about the difference between RGB and CMYK and what it will mean for your print job? • All elements of your file should have a minimum resolution of 300dpi. Ideally, fonts should be embedded. (Disclaimer: Lawfully, we advise you check your end-user license agreement to ensure you are permitted to embed fonts). • If you have images that are going to bleed off the edge of the paper then you need your artwork to contain an extra 3mm of area around ALL edges. Additionally, no text or image elements should be within 4mm of the cut edge To explain all the technical stuff, and to make clearer some of the following guidelines we have produced a simple booklet that shows how to create artwork for print for the complete novice. If you are not professionally experienced but are planning on creating your own artwork we highly recommend you download this FREE file. The following texts provide useful detail on everything you need to know when preparing for print. |
KNOWLEDGE BASE
| ||||||
Images and Vector Files
All images should be a minimum of 300dpi and should not be scaled up in your artwork by more than 125%. Images taken from the internet will NOT be good enough quality for professional printing as the typical resolution used on the web is 72dpi.
The exception is when ordering large printed products for outdoor use such as banners and signs. Anything larger than A2 size can be sent at 50% size or at a reduced resolution of 150dpi.
Generally Logos and illustrations which are not vector based, should adhere to these rules.
Vector artwork can be scaled as required.
Take care with any compression of images, keep this to a minimum to avoid the printed image appearing degraded when printed.
We recommend that all images, logos and illustrations are converted to CMYK prior to creating the PDF file to avoid unexpected results. Certain colours which may look bright on screen in the RGB colour gamut will simply never print with the same vibrancy when converted to CMYK, this applies particularly to neons, deep blues and bright reds. Digital cameras use RGB colour space and therefore we recommend images are converted to CMYK in photoshop or an equivalent programme with the capability to retouch and enhance the colours if required.
Ensure that all vector files also use the CMYK colour space and do NOT include spot colours or low resolution images. If you have referenced colour swatches such as Pantone, ensure these colours are converted to CMYK in your document.
All images should be a minimum of 300dpi and should not be scaled up in your artwork by more than 125%. Images taken from the internet will NOT be good enough quality for professional printing as the typical resolution used on the web is 72dpi.
The exception is when ordering large printed products for outdoor use such as banners and signs. Anything larger than A2 size can be sent at 50% size or at a reduced resolution of 150dpi.
Generally Logos and illustrations which are not vector based, should adhere to these rules.
Vector artwork can be scaled as required.
Take care with any compression of images, keep this to a minimum to avoid the printed image appearing degraded when printed.
We recommend that all images, logos and illustrations are converted to CMYK prior to creating the PDF file to avoid unexpected results. Certain colours which may look bright on screen in the RGB colour gamut will simply never print with the same vibrancy when converted to CMYK, this applies particularly to neons, deep blues and bright reds. Digital cameras use RGB colour space and therefore we recommend images are converted to CMYK in photoshop or an equivalent programme with the capability to retouch and enhance the colours if required.
Ensure that all vector files also use the CMYK colour space and do NOT include spot colours or low resolution images. If you have referenced colour swatches such as Pantone, ensure these colours are converted to CMYK in your document.
Bleed
The document's bleed area is an additional area outside the page size, necessary to ensure even printing of elements that are required to bleed off the edge of your page. This bleed area will be trimmed off the job but it allows for the blade bends of 1-1.5mm on the guillotine when a stack of paper is trimmed. Adding the required bleed to your job will prevent your trimmed page having white borders.
Page 'safe' area
In order to ensure text and important information is not trimmed off your job, we recommend that you do not place items within 4mm of the trimmed edge unless you need them to bleed off.
The document's bleed area is an additional area outside the page size, necessary to ensure even printing of elements that are required to bleed off the edge of your page. This bleed area will be trimmed off the job but it allows for the blade bends of 1-1.5mm on the guillotine when a stack of paper is trimmed. Adding the required bleed to your job will prevent your trimmed page having white borders.
Page 'safe' area
In order to ensure text and important information is not trimmed off your job, we recommend that you do not place items within 4mm of the trimmed edge unless you need them to bleed off.
Document Sizes and formatting
There are two ways you can set your document page size: Either set it to reflect the trimmed size of your job, in which case you should specify bleed as 3mm on all edges when creating your pdf and this will then be included on your pdf file automatically. If you are a seasoned or professional designer following this method then obviously you should also set the pdf file to include crop marks.
However, we work frequently from files that have been created with the bleed included in which case crop marks are not necessary as the job will automatically be trimmed to standard print ordered size.
Eg: an A4 document without crop marks but requiring bleed must be supplied at a size of 216 x 303 (3mm bleed all round) - it will automatically be trimmed to 210 x 297
NOTE: If there is NO bleed on your work ie. white paper is all that will be seen within 5mm of every page edge, then just provide a document that is the correct finished page size.
Booklets/multi page documents: Please send as a continuous multi-page file with all pages in order, DON'T try to impose the page order using print or design spreads such as are supplied with Microsoft office and other desk-top publishing programmes.
Folded single sheet leaflets: When it is clear that only one folded sheet is required then you CAN impose the individual sides yourself. Eg: an A4 leaflet folded in half to form 4 sides of A5 should be laid out as a double-sided A4 sheet with the A5 sides in correct imposition order.
Common page sizes
A3 297 x 420mm
A4 210 x 297mm
A5 148 x 210mm
A6 105 x 148mm
There are two ways you can set your document page size: Either set it to reflect the trimmed size of your job, in which case you should specify bleed as 3mm on all edges when creating your pdf and this will then be included on your pdf file automatically. If you are a seasoned or professional designer following this method then obviously you should also set the pdf file to include crop marks.
However, we work frequently from files that have been created with the bleed included in which case crop marks are not necessary as the job will automatically be trimmed to standard print ordered size.
Eg: an A4 document without crop marks but requiring bleed must be supplied at a size of 216 x 303 (3mm bleed all round) - it will automatically be trimmed to 210 x 297
NOTE: If there is NO bleed on your work ie. white paper is all that will be seen within 5mm of every page edge, then just provide a document that is the correct finished page size.
Booklets/multi page documents: Please send as a continuous multi-page file with all pages in order, DON'T try to impose the page order using print or design spreads such as are supplied with Microsoft office and other desk-top publishing programmes.
Folded single sheet leaflets: When it is clear that only one folded sheet is required then you CAN impose the individual sides yourself. Eg: an A4 leaflet folded in half to form 4 sides of A5 should be laid out as a double-sided A4 sheet with the A5 sides in correct imposition order.
Common page sizes
A3 297 x 420mm
A4 210 x 297mm
A5 148 x 210mm
A6 105 x 148mm
Creating the PDF file
As well as the above measurement specifications there are one or two other important points in order to get the best result.
If your authoring application allows you to preflight your document prior to conversion to pdf format, we recommend you use this facility as it will highlight all the specifics. If you don't have this feature then most applications will make a reasonable quality PDF straight off the bat as long as your source file mets all the specifications listed above.
When creating your print quality PDF file you must ensure that you use print quality settings, by default the Acrobat PDF Maker in Microsoft Office creates PDF files using standard settings, at the time of writing these do NOT meet the requirements for professional printing. If you are using a PC and do not have a PDF convertor you can download and install PrimoPDF for free.
The industry print standard for a PDF file that you should make is PDF/X
As well as the above measurement specifications there are one or two other important points in order to get the best result.
If your authoring application allows you to preflight your document prior to conversion to pdf format, we recommend you use this facility as it will highlight all the specifics. If you don't have this feature then most applications will make a reasonable quality PDF straight off the bat as long as your source file mets all the specifications listed above.
When creating your print quality PDF file you must ensure that you use print quality settings, by default the Acrobat PDF Maker in Microsoft Office creates PDF files using standard settings, at the time of writing these do NOT meet the requirements for professional printing. If you are using a PC and do not have a PDF convertor you can download and install PrimoPDF for free.
The industry print standard for a PDF file that you should make is PDF/X