5 Top Tips For Preparing Your Business Artwork For Print
August 20, 2013 by Dr. Letitia Wright
Filed under A Note for You, Front Page
5 Top Tips For Preparing Your Business Artwork For Print
By Search9
Today, we’re proud to have teamed up with one of the UK’s leading printing companies, Circle Leaflet Printing, to bring you five top tips for preparing your business artwork for print. It’s absolutely vital that when you submit your artwork to the printers that it’s done so in the correct format and that it meets their requirements, otherwise you can end up with the whole process taking far longer than it should. As such, follow these tips and life will be so much easier for all parties involved.
Are you about to have some printing done for your business but are worried about the costs getting out of hand? Well you won’t be alone. Many other people will also have the same concerns and will want to save money wherever they can, and this can be achieved providing you are prepared to spend a little bit of time producing your own artwork. It is essential that the work you submit to them meets their needs as any changes that need to be made may delay the job or actually cost you money to put right. But how do you produce work which is up to the standard required by your printer? The simple thing would be to just ask them. Most printers’ requirements are pretty standard but it is best to check with them first instead of just assuming they are the same as the previous company you used, and most will understand that everyone is trying to cut costs wherever possible so won’t object. Talking to your printer face to face is always the best; if this is not possible then a telephone conversation should do the trick.
The first thing your printer will ask is what software you are going to be using to create the artwork, as not all software will be compatible. They are highly likely to be using Adobe In-Design as this is the desk top publishing software that has become the industry standard and produces consistent results as well as performing in a way which is acceptable to the printer. However, unless you are a professional designer then it’s unlikely you will using that particular software so you’ll need to find another way of getting round it. An acceptable alternative would be to use other software that can save your file as a portable document file or PDF. Look around for a PDF creator or desk top publishing software which will allow you to save as a PDF, as the software you are familiar with such as Adobe Reader will only allow you to read and print the PDF files but not create them. There are actually some free versions out there which can be used if you don’t want the expense of purchasing.
Remember that when you are creating the PDF you must embed the font you have used to prevent it being replaced by another if your printer does not have that particular font on their computer. As there is a great deal of fonts out there, it is always best to embed it into the PDF just to be sure.
Your printer will also require you to add what is known as “bleed”. This just means making the background oversized so that a tiny white border doesn’t appear when it’s printed onto oversized paper to be trimmed down later. It makes life that little bit easier for your printer to add this.
Crop Marks and Registration Marks are also required which can be positioned in the “bleed”. Crop Marks are small lines at the corners of the artwork to where your print will be trimmed later. Registration Marks are small circles with crossed lines through them and are there so the printer can line up the four colours exactly on the printed sheet instead of having to do it by eye which would not be quite so accurate. If you fail to include these, then don’t be surprised if your printer rejects your artwork.
Don’t forget to also include “Colour Bars”. These are printed just outside the image area and are made up of the four colours used for full colour printing to allow an accurate match of colour throughout the job.
Include all of these and you will make life much easier for your printer.