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Technical Tips
What kind of images work best?
If you are scanning the images yourself from photographs, save them in either tif, or eps format. These image formats will preserve the color and sharpness of your pictures the best. File formats like gif or jpg compress the pictures' color and pixel resolution and this can cause color shifts and blurriness.
Scanning
It is always preferable to scan images at a resolution of 300dpi at the final dimensions you intend to use them so that your colors will look smooth, and hard objects will look sharp. However, for most digital printing applications, resolution of 150 dpi is sufficient.
Digital Camera Images
Pictures from digital cameras work fine when they are jpg format; the quality of jpg images from digital cameras is often better than jpgs that are used on the web. You must ensure that the camera resolution is high enough. For instance, if your camera puts out a typical image of 1280 x 960 pixels at 72dpi you get about 45cm x 33cm of photograph (at 72dpi); this is the same amount of detail as an image which is 10cm x 8cm at 300dpi so it's safe to reduce or enlarge that image in a designing software up to about 10cm x 8cm in dimension.
Will my printed output look exactly like it does on my computer monitor?
There will be some minor differences. Scanners and digital cameras create images using combinations of just three colours: Red, Green and Blue (called "RGB"). These are the colours that computers use to display images on your screen. However, colour printing uses a different set of colours: Cyan (blue), Magenta (red), Yellow and Black (called "CMYK"). So at some stage your RGB file must be translated to CMYK in order to print it on a printing press.
It is safer to covert the images from RGB to CMYK
You will have better control over your printed output if you convert all of the images from RGB to CMYK before sending for printing. When we receive RGB images, we do a standard-value conversion to CMYK, which may not be perfectly to your liking.
It is possible to have colour shades in RGB that you can't achieve in CMYK.
Some colours are said to be out of the CMYK color range. The converter of the software tries to give as close a colour match as possible in CMYK, but the colour may not be exactly the same as the RGB shade. So it's best to select colors you use for fonts or other design elements in your layout using CMYK definitions instead of RGB.
Resolution (DPI)
DPI stands for (dots per inch). If you have a picture/scan within your layout/graphic program, remember that the resolution (DPI) must be correct. For a good quality image to print properly, the DPI (AT THE PRINTED SIZE) needs to be at least 300dpi.
Bleeds
When you do not want a white border on your printing and you want the image to extend beyond the edge of the page. Any time an image or a colour is printed to the edge of a page, the image or colour should extend at least 5mm off the edge so that when the page is trimmed on a mechanical cutter, small variations in the trim will not result in a white line down the edge of the page.
Rich Black
When you want an area of solid black within the document, 100% black (K) is not enough; use Rich Black, which contains a CMYK mix of 220% as represented by C:40% \ M:40% \ Y:40% \ K:100%. Do not use higher values for C, M and Y; it will create an oily appearance instead of the saturated black you want.
Gradients
Gradients are commonly used in printing and in most instances work fine. However, when a gradient is used it is crucial that it should be created in Adobe Photoshop, which has proven to give good results. Other programs produce gradients of less than 10%, which our RIPs will interpret as 0%. This results in banding or striping, which frequently makes customers unhappy.
Vector Versus Rendered Images
Vector drawings are defined mathematically. They are Resolution-Independent, so they can be scaled to any size with absolutely no loss of quality. Bitmaps are defined by their pixels, so they cannot be scaled to larger output size without loss of resolution.
Convert to curves
When the original artwork has been designed in a vector-based program such as Adobe Illustrator or Coreldraw, you must create curves. Curves convert your fonts into a mathematical format. Convert to curve eliminates the need to send fonts along with your files while still achieving a nice crisp typeface.
Bounding Box
When you create an EPS from a vector based software, you must include a transparent object which represents the overall dimensions of the product. For example, with a business card, a box that is 90x65mm which surrounds the objects on your art work.
Embedded Files
You must send independent files for every job. We cannot accept files that have been laid out with multiple files/images in one side of a document. Please provide one file for the front and one file for the back for two-sided orders.
Die-cutting
Die-cutting can make your product standout in a crowd. A "die" is a thin piece of metal bent into required shape that when pressed into a sheet of paper, will cut it into the shape of your artwork. We can create a die in just about any shape you would want.
When creating the files for a Die-cut order, remember to leave an extra 15mm of space around the file. This is called "GRIPPER SPACE." The die-cut machine needs this space to hold onto when cutting. In the gripper space you can't have anything you want printed in this area because it has a chance of being cut off. Make this area (gripper space) outside of the usable area of the file.
Getting to know standard paper sizes
It is useful to understand a little about standard paper sizes so that you can keep wastage with your print jobs to a minimum.
A Series
A Series is used for most types of general printing i.e. Stationery, publications, brochures and flyers etc. The most common sizes are A4 for stationery and documents, A5 for books and A6 for postcards.
Given below are different A sizes.
| |
SIZE |
MILLIMETRES |
APPROX. INCHES |
| |
A0 |
841x1189 |
33 1/8 x 46 3/4 |
| |
A1 |
594 x 841 |
23 3/8 x 33 1/8 |
| |
A2 |
420 x 594 |
16 1/2 x 23 3/8 |
| |
A3 |
297 x 420 |
11 3/4 x 16 1/2 |
| |
A4 |
210 x 297 |
8 1/4 x 11 3/4 |
| |
A5 |
148 x 210 |
5 7/8 x 8 1/4 |
| |
A6 |
105 x 148 |
4 1/8 x 5 7/8 |
C Series
C Series is used for envelopes, designed to take A series paper. eg C4 is used for A4, C5 for A5 and so on. DL envelopes take A4 sheets, folded into three Envelope and Paper Folds.
| |
SIZE |
MILLIMETRES |
APPROX. INCHES |
| |
C0 |
917 x 1297 |
36 x 51 |
| |
C1 |
648 x 917 |
25 x 36 |
| |
C2 |
458 x 648 |
18 x 25 |
| |
C3 |
324 x 458 |
12 x 18 |
| |
C4 |
229 x 324 |
9 x 12 |
| |
C5 |
162 x 229 |
6 x 9 |
| |
C6 |
114 x 162 |
4 x 6 |
| |
C7 |
81 x 114 |
3 x 4 |
| |
C8 |
57 x 81 |
2 x 3 |
| |
DL |
110 x 220 |
4 x 8 |
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