In order for your product to be printed correctly it is vital that we receive your artwork accurately.
Please read our guide to ensure that the artwork you’re supplying is 100% correct.
FILES
We can accept lots of different formats. But what we really prefer are PDF and Jpeg files. See further down the page for the low-down on how to properly save PDF files.
RESOLUTION
IMPORTANT! For really good print reproduction we need files saved at 300ppi. This refers to the number of pixels per inch. Less that 300ppi and your artwork might print dotty or fuzzy.
IMPORTANT! Please always save your artwork at the size it is to be printed. If you supply us artwork that is saved at a small size and you want it printed big then things are going to go horribly wrong! We can scale artwork down but we can’t scale it up without a loss of resolution (and good resolution is what makes the image lovely and crisp and sharp).
COLOUR
If possible save your artwork in the colour format CMYK as these are the ink colours used to print your artwork. We can convert your artwork to CMYK but this will change the colour of your artwork and it might not print as you expect it to. If you work in CMYK when designing your artwork then this will give you a much better idea as to how the final printed piece will look.
BLEED
Bleed is the little bit of extra that goes on all the edges of your printed piece. We print it and then we chop it off. What this does is ensure that your printed product does not have an ugly white edge along the sides, but a nice clean and seamless break. As a rule of thumb we ask for a 3mm bleed on all the edges, so as an example you will supply your A6 flyer with the dimensions 111 x 154mm and after we have printed and trimmed it it is returned to you at the standard A6 size of 105 x 148mm.
Press ready PDF – with fonts embedded, for best results high resolution 300dpi.
Quark Express – Collect for Output and zip fonts, images and Quark file in one file. Or output ‘Press Ready’ PDF from Quark.
Illustrator – fonts converted to outlines and supplied as AI or EPS files. Or output ‘Press Ready’ PDF from Illustrator.
Freehand – fonts converted to paths.
Photoshop – layers flattened, at least 300 dpi, JPEG, PDF or Tiff. Remember to include 3mm bleed. PSD files can be supplied – please advise if your artwork contains layers.
Corel Draw – fonts converted to Curves then export as Illustrator AI file.
InDesign – fonts converted to outlines. Save as a ‘Package’ and zip the fonts, images and inDesign file in one file. Or output ‘Press Ready’ PDF from inDesign.
Raster or Pixel Based Programmes – ie Photoshop/Paint/Gimp. Export as Tiff, JPeg or PNG. Ensure the original artwork is ‘press ready’ at 300dpi and includes 3mm bleed.
Supplying Native Files – When supplying native files e.g. Quark Express, please ensure all elements, document, images and fonts are in one folder and please compress using Stuffit or similar to .sit or zip files before sending.
Artwork in Different Formats – To submit artwork created using a program not listed above we will try to accommodate you, but please call us to discuss first on 01162 765 302
We prefer all artwork to be supplied in a high-resolution PDF format with fonts embedded.
PDF’s are rapidly becoming the standard file format for transmitting files for printing, but it is important to prepare your PDF file in the correct way.
CORRECT PREPARATION OF PDF FILES
When creating a PDF in Acrobat Distiller, there are job options which must be set for commercial printing. These include default resolution, compression settings and font embedding. Where possible ensure a 300dpi PDFx1a ‘print’ or ‘press ready’ PDF is outputted. Please include a 3mm bleed, crop marks and supply as single pages.
Please ensure you choose high resolution. Compression settings for colour and greyscale should be down sampled to 300dpi with “auto compression” set on high. Bitmapped (monochrome: i.e. line art) images should be set at 600dpi. Font embedding should be set to “embed all fonts.”
BLEED
One of the most important elements in artwork for printing! Please ensure there is 3mm bleed all round the PDF, i.e. save the PDF with 6mm added to each measurement (i.e. for A4 usually 210mm x 297mm, save as 216mm x 303mm). Crop marks may be included if you wish. If your artwork is supplied without bleed we may not always be able to add it on for you and you may have to amend and re-supply the artwork.
CMYK NOT RGB PLEASE!
Please ensure that all embedded images are CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black) files. RGB images may look good on your screen but final output to print is always in CMYK. One should be aware that files converted from RGB to CMYK may alter the colour composition significantly!
MICROSOFT OFFICE FILES
If you are creating a PDF from a MS Publisher or Word file, care must be taken to ensure spot colours are created correctly in your original documents. Do not set to RGB (Red, Green, Blue) colours as they cannot be printed as such.
SUPPLYING EPS FILES
Any other file formats not listed above must be saved as an eps or jpeg. If there are any changes to the job, you may have to amend and re-submit the artwork as we may be unable to change it. Ensure your files have bleed and crop marks and please confirm the final size of the artwork and supply a hard copy for reference.
BLEED AND CROP MARKS
All artwork must have 3mm bleed if you require the image to bleed off the edge of the paper.
Crop marks should be included if artwork does not fill a whole page area (i.e. no bleed). They should be 5mm long, 3mm outside of the page area and coloured in the colour ‘registration’ to ensure they appear on each colour separation.
Please ensure that artwork is supplied at the correct finished size required. If this is not possible, please inform us to allow time for amending the artwork.
ARTWORK AMMENDMENTS OR RE-SUBMISSION
Our prices include “pre-flight checking” your artwork and submitting a PDF proof for your approval. We will correct any easy to rectify issues that we spot as part of this process – free of charge.
If we need to amend your artwork or you need to re-submit corrected files to us there may be an additional charge which includes te cost of an additional PDF proof. More extensive amending or correcting is charged dependent upon the amount of time required to rectify.
IMPOSITION
Please do not supply imposed pages or “printers pairs” because our workflow includes imposition software to impose correctly for our printing processes.
BOOKLETS
If you are supplying a document with multiple pages, please try and make the front and back cover of the document a separate file, and supply as single pages in page order. Also, please remember to allow for “creep” – we suggest you keep all text and copy at least 5mm away from the trimmed edge.
FONTS
Include all fonts you have used in the file. Whilst we have an extensive font collection, there is no guarantee the version you have used matches ours. This can create problems with line lengths and spacing of the type.
At A Local Printer we assume that all the fonts supplied are licensed and takes no responsibility for embedded fonts.
LINEART AND IMAGES
Scanned colour and greyscale images should be 300dpi at the final size in the document submitted for output.
Images should be submitted as TIFF’s, JPEG’s or EPS.
Lineart (bitmapped) should be 600-1200dpi at the final size in the document submitted for output.
SCREENS
Screen tints may range from 99% down to 1%. From a practical printing viewpoint, anything above 90% or less than 5% will generally not be visible to the naked eye.