Artwork Guidelines

We understand that getting the best out of your printing is not always simple as 1-2-3 — it's full of technical jargon, buzz words and processes which aren't always easy to understand. Our brief and simple guide will hopefully help you on your journey of creating the perfect printed article.

Printing typically uses four ink colours:
cyan, magenta, yellow, and black

The jargon

Print is full of complicated phrases — below you will find a comprehensive list and explanation of the most used terms in the print world.

Bleed

Bleed is a printing term used to describe the zone outside the trim area. Elements that touch the edge of the paper/card need to extend into the bleed area beyond the trim edge where the product will be cut.

Trim

Trim is where the product will be cut. As it’s very difficult to print exactly to the edge of the artboard, it is necessary to print onto the bleed area and then trim the paper/card down to the required finished size.

Safe area

The safe area – or the margin – is the zone inside the trim line where no text should be placed. When trimming the sheet of paper/card, any text outside the safe zone could be clipped. A margin of 3mm is usually acceptable.

Colours

All artwork should be in CMYK colour model. Colour printing typically uses ink of four colours: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Key (black). For best results, set your software to colour profile: Fogra 39 (ISO 12647-2:2004). RGB artwork will be converted to CMYK and colour variations may occur.

Typography

We require that all text in your artwork should be outlined or embedded. It is recommended that the font size of typography in your artwork is at least 7pt to ensure it is legible. Please avoid super thin font weights where possible.

File Formats

You'll need to supply high resolution artwork in PDF format at 300 dpi resolution. Try to export your PDF as a PDF/x-1a:2001 where possible. We can accept high resolution JPG's for some products where appropriate.