10 Steps To Perfect Printing Reproductions

Have you ever wanted to make sure that your artwork is perfectly printed from an online printer

? Here is a couple things to think about before printing with an online printing company.

Most online printers .jpg, .tif, and .pdf files. PDFs and tiffs should be flattened with all text converted to outlines (curves). Many times, orders submitted in another file format will incur an additional file repair fee.

Quark, Indesign, Illustrator, Freehand or Other Vector Programs:

Most page layout and illustration programs allow you to export as a pdf. It's usually recommended that files from these programs are exported to pdf before submitting them for print. Be sure to convert all fonts to outlines (curves) and save as a Press Quality pdf.

Word, Publisher and other Microsoft programs:

We DO NOT recommend using Publisher or other Microsoft programs for your print files. Microsoft programs do not output professionally. Trust us, and do not use Microsoft Office programs for your documents.

If you must use a Microsoft Office program: Please use distiller to generate a PDF or when using Publisher please Save As a commercial print (300 dpi) tiff.

Please note: If you are using images off the Internet for your design, your images will not output correctly. Additionally, you may be violating copyright laws. Also, files output from Publisher will reproduce text as 4 color black and will not print as clearly as files created in other programs.

Illustrator, Freehand or Other Vector Programs:

It's smart to convert ALL fonts to outlines (curves). This insures your fonts will be objects and will prevent text outputting incorrectly if we do not have your fonts on file. This is a very important, and often overlooked step.

Overprint:

Most printing company workflows automatically traps your file. However, it will retain any overprint settings in the original file, i.e. yellow text overprinting a blue background will print green, white text overprinting any color will disappear. Don't set any elements to overprint.

Is your final print document at the correct size and 300 dpi?

Your print files should be 300 dpi at final size. This means every inch of art should be composed of 300 pixels. For a 10 inch document, it should be composed of 3000 pixels (300 dots per inch x 10 inches = 3000 dots/pixels) this is a proper and detailed resolution.

Note: You can always reduce your resolution but never increase your resolution. Converting files that are 72 dpi from the Internet to 300 dpi does NOT make them high resolution. This is a sure way to have blurry, unprofessional images in your document. Printing works with the garbage-in = garbage-out rule. This means, if you give low-resolution files to print, they will absolutely print unprofessionally. You simply cannot make something bad look better.

Are your files CMYK (and not Pantone or RGB)?

Most commercial printing equipment uses process color. Process color utilizes Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black to reproduce the full color spectrum. CMYK is different than how your monitor displays colors. Monitors use RGB (Red, Green, Blue) color space. RGB files converted to CMYK will shift considerably and you do not want you to be surprised with your colors output. Additionally, Pantone is a mixed color system used for spot colors and cannot be reproduced accurately with the CMYK process. Many Pantone colors will convert to CMYK with close representation, however accuracy is not guaranteed.

Color Matching: Colors you see on your monitor will NOT accurately reflect colors on your final printed piece. If you are concerned about color, purchase a color proof to review before we go to print.

Most shops will try to match colors but because of variations inherent in the gang-run printing process we cannot guarantee an exact match.

Remember: PDF proofs are not made for color matching, only for content.

Check Your Bleeds and Safety Area

A bleed is the extra area that extends past the edges of your document. For example, if you have a 4.25"x5.5" print document, you should design your image as 4.5"x5.75" leaving the extra 1/8" on all sides for bleed. Your background should run off the edge and into your bleed. The bleed will be cut off. It is important that you do not keep any active content such as text or images that are important to the document in the bleed or safety areas. Active content in this area risks being cut off.

Safety area is 1/8" inwards from the document edge. Please keep all words and images away from this safety area to ensure proper cutting.

Although our cutting equipment is extremely precise, we cannot guarantee any cuts without the added bleed. There are no exceptions. Also, please keep your text at least 1/8 " away from the edge of the piece. This way your text is in a "safe" area. If you have any questions regarding this policy you may call us, or use our design templates located on our website.

Are your files named correctly?

Please do not name your files generically such as front.tif and back.tif or postcard1.jpg and postcard2.jpg. If those files are mixed with other jobs, you risk your files being output incorrectly. Also, if you are using the same image for both sides, or if your document is 1 sided, please let us know. If not, the printer may assume that if we have 1 file, it is truly one sided.

Convert your fonts to outlines (Are you using live fonts?)

If you are using a program that uses live fonts such as Illustrator or Indesign, please convert your fonts to objects/outlines/curves. If a file has live fonts and the fonts are not embedded in the file, the fonts can default to less desirable font. This will affect formatting and create an unusable print job. Please make sure your fonts are not live. Rasterized images such as flattened TIFs or JPGs do not have this issue.

Are your blacks built correctly?

Small text (under 16pt) and hard lines should utilize 1 color black (100% black) to ensure crisp reproduction. If you build your blacks with 4 colors on small text areas they will produce blurry and at times unreadable. This is because paper slightly shifts during the printing process (+/- .00001 inch) and results in registration problems. It is only noticeable in small detailed text.

Alternatively, 1 color black will actually reproduce dark grey if used in larger type or large rules and backgrounds. Please use a rich black such as cyan: 40%, magenta: 20%, yellow: 20%, black: 100% when using black in large areas.

Lastly, please do not use any color combination that totals more than 280% coverage (i.e. a rich black build of cyan: 40%, magenta: 20%, yellow: 20%, black: 100% is 180% coverage. 40+20+20+100=180). Ink coverage greater than 280% will not dry properly and may present picking, and offsetting on your final product.

Follow these steps and you'll have amazing print production everytime!

by: Stan Coyle

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