Artwork Excellence Checklist:
When preparing your artwork for printing, attention to detail is crucial. Follow this comprehensive checklist to ensure your designs are flawlessly translated into stunning printed materials:
1. Optimal Bleed for Seamless Finish: Incorporate a 3mm bleed area around your artwork. Bleed guarantees that your design extends beyond the final trim line, ensuring that no white edges appear after cutting. This professional touch provides a polished and seamless finish to your prints.
2. Trim Line and Safety Zone: Text and non-bleed images should always be kept AT LEAST 3mm from the trim line.
3. Precise Scaling for Accurate Results: Maintain a 100% scale of your design. This practice ensures that the dimensions you see on your screen are accurately replicated in the final printed piece. By doing so, you eliminate the risk of unexpected resizing issues that can compromise your design's integrity.
4. Thoughtful Single Page Placement: Position your artwork as a single page, one-up. This straightforward arrangement simplifies the printing process, enabling precise alignment and consistent results. A clear layout enhances the efficiency of the printing process.
5. Text Transformation for Consistency: To avert font-related complications, convert your text to paths, curves, or outlines. This step transforms your text into graphical elements, preserving its appearance regardless of font availability. Your text remains consistent and visually pleasing.
Always use 100% K (C:0 M:0 Y:0 K:100) for small text to ensure sharp, clear, and readable printing—avoiding any registration issues that occur when multiple colour plates are involved.
6. High-Resolution Images for Clarity: Ensure all images boast high resolution, with a minimum of 300 dots per inch (dpi). High-resolution images guarantee sharpness, clarity, and vibrant visuals. By incorporating such images, your designs come to life in striking detail.
7. Borders: 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.
8. Rich Black for large blocks of solid black: 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 is: 40C / 40M / 40Y / 100K
9. Color Precision through CMYK or Pantones: Specify your colors using the CMYK color model or specific Pantone Matching System (PMS) colors. These color standards ensure accurate color reproduction during printing. By selecting colors meticulously, you maintain the vibrancy and consistency of your design.
10. FILE SETUP AND SUPPLY
Composite Colour accepts only PDF finished art with the following specifications:
- Your pdf has been exported with bleed.
- The trim size of your document matches the order specifications.
- Fonts have been embedded or outlined.
- Spot UV or other embellishments (foil) are supplied as a separate page in the PDF and indicated as a 100% Black.
- Any dielines, fold or perforation lines are overlaid onto the artwork as a spot colour and set to overprint.
- Page count matches the order specifications and is combined into 1 PDF file per kind of artwork.
eg. 2 kinds of business card printed 2 sides = 2 PDF files with 2 pages each.
eg. 32pp saddle staple booklet = 1 PDF file with 32 pages.
By meticulously following this artwork checklist, you're elevating the quality of your printed materials. Be it business cards, flyers, or any other print item, each detail contributes to the overall impact.
At Composite Colour, we honor the intricacies of your designs, delivering results that truly reflect your creative vision. Get in touch with us to see how we can transform your artwork into exceptional prints.
Please contact us if you have any questions or queries about supplying your finished art.