Preparing press-ready artwork for commercial printing can be
confusing, especially if this your
first time. Please use this checklist as a guide before uploading your artwork,
as it may help you save valuable time and avoid any unnecessary printing delays.
Before submitting your artwork, please check that:
1. The preferred format is vector graphic files. Usually suppies in AI, PDF, CDR
OR PSD formats.
2. Your artwork is the correct size. Artwork to be 1-up on a single page
document.
For folded jobs artwork should be supplied at the flat size (for example an A3
folded to A4 should be supplied as 2x A3 pages and not as 4x A4 pages).
3. Bleed is set to exact 1mm to business card and 3mm to other products.
4. The document colour mode st to CMYK
5. All Rich Black are set to C = 40%, M = 0%, Y = 0%, K = 100%.
6. All fonts are outlined (converted to curves) or embedded.
7. All links are embedded.
8. All lines in your artwork are at least 0.3pt and all text should be at least
8pt using a non narrow style font.
9. All borders in your artwork are at least 5mm wide.
10. All images in your artwork are 300dpi when placed at 100%.
We support a variety of file formats for uploading designs. Vector Graphic Files is preferred- vector-based images can be scaled by
any amount without degrading quality. Usually supplied in EPS, PDF, AI or CDR
formats. Other formats i also accepted as bellow:
Adobe Acrobat Document (*.pdf) (recommended)
Adobe Illustrator Artwork (*.ai) (recommended)
Adobe Photoshop Image (*.psd) (recommended)
Bitmap Image (*.bmp)
CorelDraw Image (*.cdr,*.clk)
GIF Image (*.gif)
JPEG Image (*.jpg,*.jpeg)
PICT Image (*.pic,*.pict,*.pct)
PNG Image (*.png)
PostScript File (*.ps)
Adobe InDesign
Microsoft documents (Word, excel, publisher, powerpoint and works)
Please note that it is important when supplying a PDF from a
Microsoft document; please ensure any spot colors are created correctly in your
original document.
We require document page sizes to be as listed: BC 90mm x 54mm
DL 99mm x 210mm
A6 103mm x 148mm
A5 148mm x 210mm
A4 210mm x 297mm
A3 297mm x 420mm
A2 420mm x 594mm
A1 594mm x 840mm
Trim Marks & Full Bleed & Safe Zone
Trim Marks
The product will be cut on the trim mark (blue line), however the cut may shift up
to 1/16 of an inch in any direction.
Full Bleed
If you wish to have colored backgrounds or images continue to the edge of the
product they must continue past the trim marks to the full bleed margin. If they
do not continue to the full bleed margin you most likely will end up with white
strips along the edge of the product due to cutting tolerance.
Safe Zone
The text or other elements you want to guarantee not to be trimmed off must be
placed within the safe zone. If they are placed directly next to the trim mark
and the cutting is off but within tolerance, the text will be chopped off.
Please do not submit transparent files for we cannot process multi-layered
files. Please submit flattened files under 50MBs per side.
Image Resolution
Resolution refers to the number of dots per inch (dpi), or the amount of detail
the image has. Most documents prepared for upload should be 300 dpi at 100% of
the final print size. Higher resolution means a more detailed image and also
larger file and longer uploads time.
CMYK vs. RGB
CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black) are the colors used in the printing
process, while RGB (Red, Green and Blue) are the colors used by screen displays
such as your monitor. Please note that JPEG files are almost always in RGB. Your
document should be created in CMYK mode so that the colors that you see on the
screen most closely match the final printed product. If you create your document
in RGB, the colors in your printed product may vary slightly. Many of the bright
values produced by your monitor cannot be reproduced in print.
Converting Fonts to Outlines
Text can be converted to curves (paths) in some graphic programs. This will fix
upload errors that result when fonts are not embedded in your file. Following
these easy steps will help ensure that your text prints clearly.
How
to convert fonts to outlines in Adobe Illustrator
1. Select all text.
2. Click Type Menu> Type> Create Outlines
3. Text now has a blue outline.
4. Save a copy and re-upload.