Guidelines for Customer Supplied Artwork
We are happy to accept artwork that you have designed or contracted a designer to create for you. The files you submit must be Print Ready and meet our formatting and technical specifications required for high-quality print production. In other words, an artwork file is considered print ready if it won’t require any additional adjustments or modifications to be made by us after you have submitted it for production. A print-ready file will print successfully without intervention. To satisfy these requirements, your files must meet the following standards.
Core Requirements for a Press-Ready File
- File Format
- Supplied as a PDF. Although our file types such as PNG can be printed they lack the required size and colour specifications we require.
- All fonts embedded or converted to outlines.
- No hidden layers, annotations, or unused elements.
- Document Setup
- Correct final trim size specified. Your file should be provided at the final size we are printing plus the additional bleed allowance.
- Minimum 1/8″ (3 mm) bleed included on all sides where ink runs to the edge.
- Safe margins must be allowed. Text and critical graphics kept at least 1/8″–1/4″ inside the final trim edge.
- Image & Resolution
- All images at 300 dpi (dots per inch) at final size for photos.
- Line art (e.g., logos, vector graphics) at 1200 dpi minimum if rasterized.
- Images in CMYK or spot colors, never RGB or indexed color modes.
- Images/photos embedded in documents should be reduced in size and resolution before placement in your document in order to reduce the overall file size.
- Color Management
- Colors should be defined in CMYK (process) colours. Spot colours will be automatically converted to CMYK equivalents which can result in minor colour shifts.
- Black text set to 100% K only for standard jobs. Rich black should not exceed 100/20/20/20 (CMYK).
- Consistent color profiles for embedded images. Photos embedded in artwork should be converted to CMYK from RGB before placement in your document. This will allow you to better understand how they will look when printed.
- Fonts & Text
- Fonts should be embedded or outlined to prevent substitution.
- Small text kept above 6 pt, with knock-outs avoided on fine fonts to prevent registration issues.
- Transparency & Effects
- Transparencies should be flattened. Layers can be flattened in InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop or within Acrobat prepress settings.
- Overprints and knockouts should be checked to avoid unintended effects.
- Other Checks
- No hairlines thinner than 0.25 pt.
- No RGB, LAB, or ICC-based colors.
- No low-resolution or linked (missing) images.
- Page count and sequencing correct (especially for booklets).
Before submitting, make a test print on your own equipment and use that to check spelling, grammar and design. If it fails to print correctly, has page issues, missing bleeds or design problems these will be identified before you send us your file.
If your files fail to meet these requirements we will notify you and specify the errors we encountered but we do not offer instruction on how to remedy the problems. In such cases you have the following options:
- Correct and resubmit the artwork.
- Request that we make the revisions necessary. This will incur a design/setup charge which we will estimate in advance. This may require you to submit your original artwork if we cannot modify your print-ready file.
Note: When you submit print-ready artwork, we do not issue a prepress proof which would be equivalent to sending your submitted files back to you. We assume that when you supply files this way that you made all necessary checks beforehand.
Note: After two failed attempts submitting a print-ready file a minimum $15.00 fee will be charged each additional time. Assessing files and reporting errors requires our time and resources for which we expect to be compensated.
