In these difficult financial times, small companies and
individuals in particular are trying to save money by doing their own graphic
design without knowing enough to be able to present an acceptable image to
their printers. Sometimes this proves to be a false economy due to changes that
are necessary in order to have their job printed.
Here you will find a number of helpful tips to enable you to
present your artwork which is print ready and eliminate expensive mistakes
which many printers will charge for:
1.
Check the
specifications before starting the artwork creation. Set up the canvas,
which is simply the area you are using for the design, ensuring you are using
the correct dimensions to the specification supplied. This will show the length
of each edge or a ‘to scale’ template which will enable you to lay out your
graphics. It is most important that you follow the exact requirements of the
printer you are going to use as many use different parameters. Although some
products such as CD Jewel Case Booklets vary little it is still advisable to
stick to the script. Even with an A4 Poster which is unlikely to cause any
confusion.
2.
Bleeding
Out is one of the most likely problems that people get wrong. All artwork
for print must include an extra 3mm of the background on all outer edges.
Therefore, if the total finished size is 210mm x 148mm which is the size of an
A5 Booklet for instance. You need to add 3mm extra background on each edge
resulting in the full dimensions of the artwork being 216mm x 154mm. Also
include crop marks indicating where the actual cut line is. This always true whether
using Digital Printing or any other form of printing.
3. Keep relevant data away from the edge by
ensuring it is at least 3mm away from the actual cutting line within a safety
margin. So a total of at least 6mm away from the very edge of the graphic
design. This is because there is always the possibility of small shifts when
printing which is why the bleed area is necessary. Furthermore, this could
affect both edges so you could find that some of the area inside the cut on one
side will be lost as more bleed zone comes onto the finished unit. It doesn’t
matter if it is design of brochures, booklets, leaflets, CD packaging or whatever
always stick to these principles.
4. If in doubt create a PDF rather than
saving to JPEG to save your work as most programmes are capable of outputting
files of this type. This, along with the quality aspect makes it much easier to
get your crop marks added prior to production. If the whole process can be designed
inside Adobe Acrobat for instance, this is most likely to save you money too. There
are many software packages around that are used for graphic design but not all
are truly suitable. Some will not let you add crop marks or registration marks
showing the cut line but you can overcome this by ensuring you have compensated
for the bleed and keeping all elements far enough away from the edge as stated
earlier.
One thing to remember is that it is impossible for any
printer to help you improve your images if it is presented in poor quality and
using an unreliable or inadequate software package like freeware. Sometimes it
is worth getting the design professionally completed, especially if there are
branding issues and particularly for a logo design. In the long run, if you do
not have sufficient creative design skills and are conversant with the software
you are using you will finish up with more problems which will result in
additional costs and time wasted.
No comments:
Post a Comment