Design Guide for Print

I put this guide together in order to help avoid  common mistakes if you want to send your files to a commercial printer for print.  These should save you time, and money.

With quality in mind, all files sent should be in industry standard:

• Adobe Acrobat Document (*.pdf) (recommended)
• Adobe Illustrator Artwork (*.ai) (recommended)
• Adobe Photoshop Image (*.psd) (recommended)
• Bitmap Image (*.bmp)
• GIF Image (*.gif)
• JPEG Image (*.jpg,*.jpeg)
• Microsoft Publisher 2003 Document (*.pub)
• Microsoft Word 2003 Document (*.doc,*.docx)
• PCX Image Document (*.pcx)
• PICT Image (*.pic,*.pict,*.pct)
• PNG Image (*.png)
• PostScript File (*.ps)
• Windows Enhanced Metafile (*.emf)
• Windows Metafile (*.wmf)

What to know before you print

Resolution
What is 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 upload time.

If you design a job at 72dpi or lower they cannot use the file for print purposes. Their prepress department will resize it to 300dpi therefore “stretching” the image. See the example above where one image was created at 300dpi, and the other was created at 72dpi, and then stretched out to 300dpi.

Bleed, trim and safety,etc

Bleed
The very edges of the document are called the bleed area. To prevent an unwanted white border from showing at the edge of your document, be sure to extend any background colors or design elements all the way to the edge.

About 3mm on all sides will be trimmed off. Everything that extends past the original canvas size is considered a bleed. Make sure you do not have any important content in this area. Adjust your canvas size to compensate for this; allow another 3mm. (See Size)

Although printer cutting staffs are extremely precise, they usually cannot guarantee any print job cuts without the added bleed. There are no exceptions. Also, please keep your text at least 6mm away from the edge of the piece unless it is an eighth page or smaller. This way your text is in a “safe” area.

Trim
Trim lines are the finished size of the document. The document is cut close to the trim line, but because of the mechanical tolerances involved in printing, the actual cut can happen anywhere between the bleeds and the safe margin. This is why it is important to keep your text and important images within the safe margin.

The trim area is a space of 3mm after the bleed.

Full Bleed vs. Trim Size
When to create your document at the full bleed size
If you are working in an illustration program (such as Adobe Illustrator or Corel Draw) or a photo editing program (Such as Adobe Photoshop or Corel Photo-Paint), create your document at the full bleed size. This will prevent any white edges from showing at the borders after the final product is trimmed.

When to create your document at the trim size
If you are working in a layout program (such as QuarkXPress or Adobe InDesign) create your document at the trim size and include the specified amount of bleed for your product (.137”).

When you export your document as a PDF for upload, make sure to include the bleed in your output settings so that the final upload PDF document is at the full bleed size for your product.

Safety
The safe margins are borders that are definitely inside the place where the cut will take place. Please remember to keep all important information, like names, addresses, phone numbers or logos within the safe margin (at least .137” from the edge) to ensure that they aren’t cut off when your document is trimmed.

Size
Your print files should be designed in the size that is being ordered. Printers assume that you desire what you have ordered, and files will be re-sized in accordance to the job. A printer will not stretch and enlarge a file unless at your request. For example a 4.25″x5.5″ quarter page ordered as a 4″x6″ postcard will print as a 4″x6″.

Aspect Ratio    
The aspect ratio of your image can be determined by dividing the image’s width by its height. If your image’s aspect ratio is not equal to the aspect ratio of our documents, your image may appear stretched or distorted when it is scaled to fit.

PDF Settings    
When saving a document in Portable Document Format (PDF) using Adobe Acrobat Distiller, please download our Adobe Acrobat Distiller settings (recommended)

Color
There are two types of color spaces that are used for graphic and print design:
RGB (Red, Green, Blue).  These are the colors your monitor uses to display everything.

CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black).  These are the colors used for printing.
Color shifts are usually not visible in color photographs. However, rich and solid colors (like a background) can be affected by a color conversion. Most of the time, color shifts are minor and may not be noticeable.

Using the color BLACK

Rich Black
Large, solid black areas and text over 36 points should use Rich Black to prevent the color looking gray. Rich Black consists of 30% Cyan, 30% Magenta, 30% Yellow, 100% Black. For regular body text, do not use Rich Black.

4 Color Build Black
If you have small, thin text on your piece, it is STRONGLY recommended that you do not use 4-colour build black on your piece. Although, using a 4-colour black is recommended on larger areas, using 4-colour text on small areas will make your text blurry and at times, unreadable.

Fold Marks    
Fold marks indicate where the fold will take place on such products as brochures, folders and envelopes. If you don’t want your copy or design to be printed over the fold, make sure they stay within each panel’s safe margin.

Vector vs. Raster

What are Vector Images?
Vector images use mathematical equations to define each component of an image. This allows vector images to retain their high-quality at any size. When possible, use vector graphics created in a desktop publishing program.

What are Raster Images?
A raster image is composed of a collection of tiny dots called pixels. When these pixels are small, and placed close together, they fool the eye into forming a single image. Raster images work well when subtle gradations of color are necessary. Because they contain a fixed number of pixels, a major disadvantage of raster images is that their quality suffers when they are enlarged or otherwise transformed. They are also large in file size.

Fonts
Convert fonts to paths when possible. By converting fonts to paths in programs like Illustrator, you will avoid having to send the fonts with your files. When converting to paths, the text becomes a vector shape and will look no different than its original state.

In Photoshop, text can be rasterized and therefore does not need the fonts. Keep in mind that after rasterizing, no changes can be made to the text.

If your fonts are not converted to paths or rasterized, your design may not be viewed the way it was meant to be seen.

File names
In order to make the pre-flight process more efficient, please use unique file names for files you are submitting. The file name should reflect the job name that was given when ordering. Example: jsmith_4×6_front.pdf

I hope you find something useful here.

Huge Hugs and Smiles
Sherri
Designer Label Gal