We understand that supplying artwork for a commercial printer can be a minefield and with all that insider jargon and technical terminology, it can be a daunting task to make sure your artwork is ready for print.

How do you know if your artwork must be CMYK or that Black needs to be solid? How much Bleed to put on your PDF? How do you get your text to come out perfectly? What is the “Safe area?”

So we thought we would put together some top tips from our expert designers and CTP department from Ren-Form and help you out with getting that artwork perfect and ready to print.

10 Top Tips for Print artwork

  1. PDF must always be saved as a High-Quality Print Format
  2. Your bleed must be between 3mm and 5mm and don’t forget to click “Crop Marks”
  3. Always keep text at least 3mm away from the edge, this we call the “Safe area”
  4. Convert your text to curves/outlines or embed your fonts, this is to make sure nothing shifts on your document as if your printer doesn’t have your font, they won’t be able to use your PDF.
  5. Minimum 300dpi on all images and graphics, except if they are vectors.
  6. Flatten your artwork, especially if there are transparencies, drop shadows and complex gradients.
  7. If your final print is die cut, supply two PDF’s, one without die lines and one with die lines and remember, your die line must be a spot colour.
  8. All artwork must be CMYK for Digital Print and for Litho CMYK or Spot.
  9. Make sure your document sizes are correct eg: A4 = 297 x 210mm
  10. Book work pages work in 4’s eg: 4 pager/8 pager/12 pager

And remember MSWord, Excel and Powerpoint are not design programmes and are not suitable artwork for print. This will always cost you more in getting it redone, rather get a designer to do it for you or ask your printer if they offer these services.