Artwork Guidelines

If you have any difficulty or doubt, please do not hesitate to ask or contact us. Although, sometimes it might happen that it involves a time delay and/or an additional charge, depending on what is involved. If and when you are not in a position to supply artwork we can use our expertise to guide you through the process or do it ourselves, at a charge.

Format

We accept artwork in either PDF, InDesign, Freehand, Illustrator, Quark or Photoshop format and also in the correct size required for the finished product, including bleeds where necessary.

Also a note:

Text set in Photoshop or other paint programmes tends to get sharp edges when printed. Images used should also be supplied (without text), either in TIFF or JPEG format.

CMYK

Please make sure that the file is in CMYK colour mode as some colours can only be represented in RGB mode which is when it is on the screen using the colours red, green and blue. The CMYK printing techniques that we offer uses cyan, magenta, yellow and black to colour the printing. CMYK colour mode, as some colours can only be represented by RGB, and cannot be replicated by the CMYK process. Creating your files in CMYK colour mode will ensure that the colours you select are in the colour range of the printing process. If complete colour accuracy is required, it is best to request a proof. If what is needed is to convert the colour mode of your files, this may result in deviations in colour.

Spot Colours

When printing is to be done in 4-colour process (also referred to as’full colour’) all ‘Spot Colours’ must be converted to process in order to reduce colour tonality variations. On the other hand, when printing in spot colours please ensure that all ‘Spot Colours’ have their Pantone numbers clearly labelled.

Printing Result

You, as the customer should always bear in mind that whatever you see in front of a computer monitor won’t look exactly the same on a paper due to the brightness and light behind the screen. Also the printed result will vary with different types of paper. If one is particular as to the final result it is wise to ask for a digital proof from us beforehand. If the final product is to be digitally printed, then this would come very close to the final result, if not almost identical. If it is to be offset printed then the digital proof will only be an indication. If the images are to be offset printed in full colour (spot colours) then they will surely appear different on a digital proof. A gentle reminder that proof will be at a charge.

DPI/Resolution

Artwork should be supplied at a minimum resolution of 300dpi in the size that it is to be printed. When finer detail is required in printing (eg. numbered print) higher resolutions may be more desirable.

Bleed

Where you want your finished artwork to arrive to the edges of the page, add a minimum of 5mm bleed.

Important Details

For the same reason that bleeds are required when printing to the edge, important parts of your artwork must be placed a minimum of 5mm away from the edges of the page (10mm in case of books), to ensure that they are not lost during the trimming process. This includes ascenders and descenders (i.e. parts of letters that extend above or below the rest of the text, eg. lowercase ‘b’ has an ascender, while ‘p’ has a descender). Products that will not be trimmed after printing must have a 7mm white border.

Content

It is significantly important that all wording and content is checked thoroughly before submitting your artwork, like this we can’t accept responsibility for any errors in the files that you would have sent to us.