Why is print preparation important?
When working alongside a print supplier, print preparation could be the ‘make or break’ of the final quality of your printing. That’s why completing the necessary preparation for your files before printing can be so important. Failure to prepare properly can result in a lower quality of print. This guide is here to walk you through the print preparation process to make sure you receive your prints as desired.
When liaising with your chosen print supplier it’s important to be on the same wavelength when it comes to how you want the finished print to look. One thing you can do to help this process is completing a ‘Prep for Print’ checklist.
Prepping for print allows for your artwork to be in the correct resolution, dimensions, and format so liaisng with your printing partner can be as fluid as possible. This will alleviate back and forth and potential changes to the makeup of your artwork which could change the outcome of your desired printing outcome.
The benefits of this preparation is that it can lead to higher quality printing of your files as well as allowing for the fastest turnaround times. It’s a win-win.
Resolution
The resolution of an image refers to how much detail and quality an image holds and can be applied to physical and digital images. Within print having a high resolution means your prints will not become blurred or fuzzy during the printing process, resulting in you receiving crystal clear images every time.
To achieve the best results when printing we recommend a 300 dpi (dots per inch) density as a benchmark for high resolution, this means that every inch of the print contains 300 dots of ink. However, larger images may require a higher resolution and we will notify you of this if necessary.
Working in CMYK
Correct Colour Makeup:
The printing process uses CMYK inks to print all colours. CMYK is an abbreviation for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black, the 4-colour process used in print to achieve ‘true colour’.
Sending print ready files in CMYK colour space allows for optimal colour output and means that our studio team doesn’t need to edit or convert files to be readied for printing. The benefit of this is that the file maintains its original look and allows for a faster turn-around time of a print.
Crop Marks, Bleed and Safe Zones
Commonly in print, paper borders are split into 4 different sections; Safe area, Bleed, Trim and Crop Marks. These are used to help identify what needs doing to a print.
Safe Zones:
Safe zones are the area that the ink is printed to, the safe area is in place to make sure the print isn’t cut or altered, so that the paper is left untampered and as originally printed.
Bleed:
Bleed is used when an image is needed to be printed with no margins around the side. To achieve this look in the highest resolution possible, an image is printed on an oversized substrate, leaving a bleed zone which is then trimmed off. The result of this is a high-resolution print that is trimmed down to size, giving an image the appearance that its ‘bleeding’ off the side of the sheet.
Crop Marks:
Crop marks are printed marks used to show where sheets of paper are to be cut down to after the print process has finished. Crop marks should be offset to the side of a print file by 1/8”.
File Types
When sending files to print, we will ask for a few things to be done to the file before being sent over, so it is ‘print ready’ when we receive it.
Make sure your file is saved in the correct size as you wish for it to be printed. For example, if you are printing a large poster, make sure the file is sent in the correct dimensions. By sending in the correct format, it just reassures that the artwork is not alerted in any way. We all work on different design software and how how it is initially designed may be different to how it is amended.
When sending files ready for printing, ensure they are sent as PDF’s (Portable Document Files) as this allows for the best quality and is a universal file format. If by any chance your file is a different file format, most software programmes allow you to convert the file into a PDF. Failing this there are many free to use PDF conversion software’s available online.
Knowing the Print Process
When printing there are 2 main processes used, 4 colour process and 7 colour process. Make sure the process you choose to use is specified when sending us your print ready files.
The 4-colour print process uses the CMYK colour makeup when printing. These four colours layer upon each other to create a full colour image. This is the most commonly used process in printing.
The 7-colour print process is a more complex method of printing in full colour. This process gives you access to more colours, adding orange, green and violet to your CMYK makeup. Adding these extra colours allows the printer to achieve 98% of the pantone colour spectrum.
