These guidelines are here to help us, and you in making your job go smoother, and to make you aware of some of the potential problems with the creation and supply of artwork. There are, of course, many details we cannot fully cover, and if you need any clarification, please ask us. It is always wise to consult with us before spending time setting a job up. While some of the tips are essential, some are also there to advise you on how better to work.
Artwork guidelines
If you wish to use an application not listed here then please contact us and we will advise you on the best way to supply the job.
To ensure the inclusion of all image files, we recommend you save your document to a new folder using the 'Collect for Output' (XPress) or 'Flight check' (InDesign) facility. Please also include all screen and printer fonts. For multi page leaflets or brochures, each page must be supplied in single page format with 3mm bleed on all edges where the image runs up to the extremities of the paper.
- For the best results please use one of the following: (latest versions are always available unless stated)
- Quark XPress®
- Adobe® InDesign
- Macromedia® Freehand
- Adobe® Illustrator
- Adobe® Pagemaker (version 6.0)
- This software is also accepted by Resource
- Microsoft Word®
- Microsoft Excel®
- Microsoft Publisher
file formats:
Our standard page bleed to allow for variations in folding and trimming is 3mm all round. Trim marks should be included but must not intrude in to the bleed area. Please ensure that all elements of the page appear entirely within the trimmed page size.
bleed:
You MUST supply all fonts that you use when supplying a job, even if they seem like standard fonts that everyone would have:
Fonts are not necessary when supplying a job as an image (e.g. TIFF) or if you supply a PDF with fonts embedded. Also, vector graphics software such as Illustrator, Freehand and Corel Draw allow you to convert text to outlines/curves, if you convert all fonts into outlines/curves then the requirement to supply fonts is not necessary, although this does increase the file sizes significantly and will limit the amount of editing we can do on your behalf as last minute alterations. If you are going to use the file as a download in a web application as well as in print we do not recommend converting text into paths as file sizes can become impractical and unusable on a website.
fonts:
All proofs are produced on our Digital Press or are supplied as low resolution PDF's. Should you require a contract proof or litho wet proof, please speak to your account manager.
digital proofs:
When saving individual images, these are some of the image file formats you will come across:
- TIFF - Retains quality when compressed. Excellent format.
- EPS - Excellent quality format and allows additional information such as cut-out paths.
- JPEG - Great for small file sizes, but the quality of the image will degrade in proportion to compression. This is also true if JPEG compression is used to compress an EPS file.
- PSD - Photoshop native format. It is advisable to save a copy as a TIFF and use this instead.
- GIF - Internet standard. Uses a limited colour palette so it is not advisable to use this.
- BMP - Windows standard. Retains image quality but file sizes can be large.
All images should be CMYK (not RGB, Indexed colour or LAB) unless using spot colours in Photoshop DCS2 format. They should be scanned or created at the size they are going to be used and at an appropriate resolution:
- Colour images: 300dpi (Saving colour images at higher resolutions will make no difference to the printed quality and will take longer to process, slowing down the job). The exception to this is when you have an image that contains small text, in this case it is worth scanning or creating the image at 600dpi. If you have already got a 300dpi image that has small text in it and you change the resolution to 600dpi the image quality will not increase, it must be originated in this way to benefit from the resolution enhancements.
- Images saved from web pages in most cases are 72dpi and will not produce a high quality result.
- Bitmap/Lineart images (pure black and white): 1200dpi
- Greyscale images: 300dpi
- Colour images: 300dpi
images:
