What your designer needs to know before supplying Print Ready Artwork
What your designer needs to know before supplying Print Ready Artwork
Before hitting that ‘send’ button to your print company, it’s essential to have your print-ready file(s) carefully prepared. Here’s a breakdown of the key technical specifications:
- Colour Mode: Set your file to CMYK for full-colour printing to maintain colour accuracy. Using RGB instead of CMYK can lead to colour shifts.
- Image Resolution: Avoid pixelation and loss of detail. Images should be high resolution (300dpi) to ensure sharp and clear print results.
- File Format: PDF is the preferred format for print-ready files as it’s universally readable, preserves formatting, can be compressed, and secured.
- Bleed: Include bleed to prevent unwanted white lines appearing around the edges of the page.
- Trim Marks: Also known as crop marks are what drive the guillotine to define and trim to the final size.
- Safe Area: Keep critical text and design elements within the safe area to prevent them from being cut off.
- Fonts: Embed fonts or outline them to prevent font substitution issues.
- Images: Link and embed all images correctly and ensure proper positioning, to avoid images from disappearing.
Graphics: Use vector graphics when possible. - Layers: Flatten or rasterize non-editable layers to avoid unintended changes.
- Proofread: Review the overall content and creative for errors and ensure it meets the brief.
- Pre-Flight Check: Perform a pre-flight check to ensure correct positioning, linking, and formatting.
- Transparency: Flatten all transparent creative elements to avoid unexpected rendering issues.
The Cost of Print Errors
The Cost of Print Errors
- Loss of Money: Most importantly, print errors result in unforeseen expenses putting an unexpected strain on your budget and diverting resources away from other essential aspects of your business.
- Reprint & Delays: Inaccurate print-ready files can trigger a frustrating cycle of revisions. Printers need to make fixes, leading to delays in your marketing timeline and unexpected expenses.
- Wasted Time & Resources: Imagine your marketing vision turned into unusable waste due to print errors. This results in squandered resources, both in materials and the time invested by your teams.
- Brand Image Damage: Errors make your brand look unprofessional and careless. Trust can be eroded, harming your brand’s reputation and credibility.
- Client Disappointment: Clients rely on you for accurate branding. Mistakes can lead to disappointment, jeopardize relationships and future collaborations.
- Lost Credibility: Mistakes signal a lack of attention to detail, harming your professional image and undermining trust.
- Internal Frustration: Incorrect files frustrate team members, affecting collaboration and productivity.
Real-World Success Stories
Real-World Success Stories
FoodWorks, a long-time client of VooDu Marketing, needs 1,000s of in-store promotional print materials delivered to over 300 stores across Australia.
In the past, with some clients, it could take a few rounds of back-and-forth communications, in order to receive the correct print ready artwork file. With FoodWorks, we were able to eliminate all these headaches by collaborating on an easy-to-access method for following strict guidelines of requirements for each print job. This guideline mutually saved us 2-3 weeks (per campaign) of back-and-forth communication and delays.
Here's How We Achieved It:
Here’s How We Achieved It:
In-depth Explanation to Marketing Managers: We started by walking the Marketing Executives through all the essential steps. This helped them understand the planning process and timeframe of the deadlines.
Benefits of Following the Guide: We made sure to highlight the advantages of adhering to our guide. By explaining how it streamlines the process and ensures perfect print results, we motivated everyone to stick to the recommended path.
Clear Blueprint for Graphic Designers: Graphic designers received a crystal-clear outline of the requirements. This clarity eliminated any confusion and empowered them to create designs that perfectly aligned with our printing goals.
Efficient Internal Communication: With everyone on the same page, internal communication delays were minimized. The streamlined information flow among our team members translated to smoother workflows.
Meeting Deadlines: By avoiding communication pitfalls and ensuring everyone understood their role, we consistently met our deadlines, keeping the project on track and stress-free.
Successful Deliveries: With a well-orchestrated plan in place, our deliveries went off without a hitch, ensuring our products reached their destinations as scheduled.
Happy Clients: The ultimate reward – our clients were not only satisfied but genuinely pleased with the efficient process, timely deliveries, and high-quality results.
Get Help with Print Ready Files
How to Get Help with Print Ready Files
Creating print-ready files can be overwhelming, especially for marketing and graphic design professionals unfamiliar with the process. We have outlined how effectively using the guide and understanding print dos and don’ts will save you time, money, and embarrassment. Consider this guide a transformative resource that will help improve the effectiveness of your print projects.
For additional advice and assistance on correct file preparation, partner with a print management company, that understand all facets of the print process. Including marketing strategy , print management and production / fulfillment / distribution.
Don’t Forget…
Don’t Forget…
Today more than ever, print advertising is an art that goes beyond ink on paper. It demands careful design, detail, and a grasp of how elements like colour, texture, and layout combine. Well-crafted print ads connect profoundly with audiences, and the key is Print-ready files. Learn how to consistently create these files by downloading:“Print Ready Files” Quick Guide and keep a copy in your desk.
Make the changes in your next print campaign to stand out with artwork that is professional and memorable. DOWNLOAD “Print Ready Files” Quick Guide today!
