Our preferred format for accepting artwork is as a high resolution PDF. Full instructions about creating PDF files suitable for professional printing can be found HERE.
Files, including any images, need to be at least 300 dpi to print clearly, otherwise images may appear bit mapped, fuzzy, distorted or pixilated. Most images found on the internet are 72 dpi and are generally not suitable for professional printing.
Files must be set up as CMYK for colours to print accurately. Files that are sent to us using RGB, Pantone, or spot colours will be automatically converted to CMYK which may cause some changes to your colours. If you require printing in pantone please talk to us first!
If we don’t have the font you have used, it may be automatically substituted for an alternative font. To avoid this happening, please embed or outline all the fonts used in your document before sending us the final artwork.
The PDF file always needs crop marks included so we know where to trim your artwork once printed.
We advise that any text should be at least 3 - 5mm away from the edge of the finished size.
Please include A MINIMUM OF 2mm BLEED on each side of your artwork.A bleed is an area of your image that is outside the final cut of your printed piece. It is used to extend an image, colour or line beyond the artwork edge, which enables us to guillotine the finished product without leaving a white line. For example, if you want your business card background to be entirely blue, you must bleed the blue colour past the edge of the final size of your business card. This prevents a white line down one or more edges of your print, caused by very slight variations in guillotining and trimming which can be ±1mm.
The PDF files of your document should be provided as one single file setup in page order (cover, inside cover, page 1, 2, 3, etc ending with the back cover) which our imposition software will automatically step up, paginate and auto-creep as necessary. For documents longer than 2 pages the page number including cover should always be a multiple of 4.
Files can be sent to us via email, or if they are too large to send by email, you can upload them direct to us via our File Upload page.
To minimise cracking on folded jobs, we recommend scoring the fold lines.
Text and non-bleed images should always be kept at least 3mm from the trim line. Thin borders on 2 sided artwork are not recommended due to 1-2mm movement in the printing and finishing process. It is difficult to produce an even border on 2 sides for this reason.
We strongly recommend you use CMYK Rich Black on large areas of black to ensure a nice solid result. A good mixture for CMYK Rich Black on; Heavier stock weights use 10 / 10 / 10 / 100.
Hard copy proof options are available for purchase, however these are not colour accurate for offset printed orders. These can be requested in the order notes and charged accordingly or can be requested at quoting stage.
| BC | 90 x 55mm |
| A7 | 74 x 103mm |
| A6 | 103 x 148mm |
| DL | 98 x 210mm |
| A5 | 148 x 210mm |
| A4 | 210 x 297mm |
| A3 | 297 x 420mm |
| A2 | 420 x 594mm |
| A1 | 594 x 840mm |
| DL | 110 x 220mm |
| C5 | 162 x 229mm |
| DLX | 120 x 235mm |
| C4 | 229 x 324mm |