What's the best format?
Ultimately, the best format for all types of print – from business cards to banners and leaflets and beyond – is a high resolution PDF.
This matters greatly as a PDF stores your artwork in a way that doesn’t change from computer to computer when you open it. This stops the clever tools that you use to send your artwork over from changing the quality and resolution of the design and gives you a far better result.
A PDF prevents a person or a computer mistakenly changing something in the file that will impact on your final product quality.
PDF is the industry standard format and if your designer is good at what they do then this is the format they will use to send you your design.
What’s the quality benchmark for logos and images?
Most of the images we get sent over and the common sharing you’ll do is mostly likely to be your logo or images from your business.
Logos and images should always be supplied at a resolution of at least 300dpi where possible. Dpi (Dots Per Inch) is how images are measured for resolution. It’s a measure of dot density to show the number of individual dots in any given inch. The more dots per inch, the higher quality your image or logo.
It’s obviously better to have a 300dpi or higher quality version of your logo or image so that they print clearly and do not appear pixelated or low quality – this impacts on people’s impression of your professionalism.
Artwork must also be provided with at least 5mm ‘bleed’ and crop marks.
If you’re sending your artwork or images over for printing then you will most likely be asked for a 5mm bleed. A 5mm bleed helps to give your content space for the printing and cutting. You don’t want to send over a file where the image, content or colour goes right up to the edge of the file.
Your file should extend or ‘bleed’ at least 5mm further than the edge so the image covers up to the edge of the sheet once it’s cut to size.
Your artwork must also have ‘crop marks’ (sometimes call cut marks) to indicate which the print finisher will cut the final sheets.
Again, any good designer can supply your artwork in this format as it’s a very standard request.
Other acceptable formats
At R Print we work with our customers to get their artwork right. If you’re struggling with PDFs, we also accept:
- EPS (Encapsulated PostScript, CS6 and below)
- AI (Adobe Illustrator, CS6 and below)
- PSD (Adobe Photoshop, recommended flattened)
- TIFF (recommended flattened)
- JPG/JPEG (recommended high-resolution.
PDF is ideal, but if you have historic artwork that you can’t change for whatever reason (when your old designer has gone missing!) then just ask or supply them in the above format and we’ll work with you for the best result.
Print ready checklist
Want to make sure you get the best results? Here’s a checklist of the must haves.
All artwork must be supplied:
- With 5mm bleed (when scaled to full-size) (10mm for double-sided graphics).
- With crop marks.
- With each design as a separate file or page.
- With each file name including the finished dimensions and a description (eg. “3m x 1m Description.pdf”).
- At the correct width-to-height ratio.
- In CMYK colour mode.
- With all images embedded.
- With all fonts converted to outlines/curves/shapes.
- With all visible in-canvas template elements removed.
In more detail, here’s what we ask when working with a client:
File Types
We accept a number of file types, but it’s hard to beat the quality and accuracy offered by Acrobat (pdf) files.
Unable to supply Acrobat files? Don’t worry. There are a variety of other file types that with a little extra time and money we’ll be able to convert for print on your behalf.
Scaling
Supplying files at finished size (100%) is a great way to be sure the final item it sized correctly.
Resolution
If you’re wanting to achieve crystal clear images, having them at the correct resolution is key. The maximum resolution required for photos is 300dpi at finished size. For images containing line-art or text, the maximum of 1200dpi at finished size, will ensure a pin-sharp result.
Layout
Your job will be printed on oversized sheets, allowing multiple copies to be place side-by-side and more importantly, creating space for the press to grip the sheet.
Colour
Print is produced using either CMYK or Pantone colour. CMYK is a process where just four colours (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) are mixed to give a full colour image. Pantone colours are a collection of preset inks, chosen from a specific colour swatch. They can be amazingly
vibrant and due to their uniformity, they’re favoured for corporate branding.
Fonts
There are often multiple versions of the most popular fonts. A font loaded on one computer maybe subtly different from that loaded on another. This can lead to unexpected results when supplying your files for print. Equally another computer may not have more unusual fonts loaded on to it.
Embedding your fonts within a file (Acrobat, pdf) or converting any text to outline/curves (eg: Illustrator, eps), is a great way to ensure accuracy.
These guidelines will transform the results you get from your artwork and the final quality can be seen even to the untrained eye.
It’s best to set out the outcomes you want from your designer before you start work and make sure that you’ll get the best files to send to your printer.
Most will do this as part of the design process if you tell them the designs are for print. Many will supply print ready and simple jpg. versions.
It’s worth the effort as the results speak for themselves.
If you need any more help – just ask!
