Design Specifications


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I want to save some money, can I design my own artwork?

Of course, our professional design fees are some of the best around (take a look at our print design page for further information), however, if you wish to design your own artwork and provide a print ready file then this is no problem. Ideally you will need a professional design program such as Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign or Corel Draw, however, some other design programs may still be able to produce print ready files.

Download one of the free print templates that we provide and edit it in your chosen design program. Please ensure that you take the time to thoroughly read this page and our page on bleed as they are very important. If you require any help at all then do not hesitate to get in touch.



What are your design specifications?

Artwork must be created in CMYK mode (not RGB) at a minimum of 300dpi with a 3mm bleed on each edge of the artwork. Images, background images and fills which are intended to extend to the edge of the page must be extended 3mm beyond the cut line to give a bleed. Text and other images that you need on your finished job must sit 5mm in from the cut line. Please also read "Which file types do you accept?" below.



What is 300dpi?

300dpi (300 dots per inch) is the resolution that a design/image has been created or scanned at. When using photographs and scanned images in your artwork, please ensure that photographs have been taken at the highest setting possible on a quality digital camera and that scanned images have been scanned at a minimum of 300dpi. Logos, photographs and images taken from your website should not be used at all as these will only be 72dpi, only accepting artwork created at a minimum of 300dpi ensures that the final print looks fantastic.



Which file types do you accept?

Our preferred file type is a press ready PDF, if you have the knowledge and software to save in this format then please do so, ideally adding crop marks. The advantage of saving as a PDF is that text can be preserved as text layers, this will result in much sharper print than flattened text which you may find in a JPEG. It is important that you check your settings when exporting to PDF ensuring that no optimisation is selected, as some settings for creating small file sizes can result in a file which is simply a JPEG inside a PDF.

Alternatively, we also accept PSD, TIFF, JPEG, AI, EPS files and artwork created in any of the professional design programs such as Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign and Corel Draw.



Microsoft files...Word, Publisher etc

Artwork created in any of the Microsoft programs such as Word or Publisher will not be print ready files, this will be the same response from all commercial printers, however, it may still be possible to get your artwork print ready so get in touch.



PDF Overprint problems

To preview how your artwork will look when printed, we would recommend viewing an Overprint Preview. This should identify any vector objects that have overprint applied to the them, the object will appear transparent and as a result will not be printed. In Acrobat Reader you can select Overprint Preview which can be located in the advanced drop down menu, in both Adobe Illustrator and Adobe InDesign you can view an Overprint Preview by going to the view drop down menu and selecting Overprint Preview.



Black

If you are using large areas of black in your artwork such as a solid black background, we recommend setting your black as C:30%, M:0%, Y:0%, K:100% instead of just K:100%.



Is there anything else I need to know?

Please ensure that all file types are PC based.

If you are providing artwork as a PSD or TIFF file then please ensure that all image and text layers are flattened.

If you are providing artwork as a JPEG file then please ensure that the image quality save setting is set to maximum when saving.

If you are providing artwork as an AI or EPS file then please ensure that all fonts are converted to paths/outlines and that all images are embedded.

As mentioned above, if you have the knowledge and software to save your artwork as a press ready PDF file then please do so, ideally adding crop marks.



I have no artwork, how much does design cost?

Take a look at our print design page for further information.



If you have any questions or require any further information then do not hesitate to get in touch.


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