Design Guide for Print-Ready Files
A print-ready file has all the specifications needed for printing. Let's make sure your project is set up for success!
There are three key things to get right before submitting a file as ready to print.
Pixelated images and blurry text are the last thing you want to see on your printed item. Here's how you can make sure your images will look crisp and clear, and your text will be easy to read.
Minimum resolution for images: 300 DPI (Dots Per Inch)
Dots per inch refers to the number of dots the printer creates within one square inch of your printed image. Think of it like pixels: the more pixels in a square inch, the smoother the image looks. Blurry or pixelated images have too low a resolution.
Minimum resolution for text: 400 DPI (Dots Per Inch)
For text to look crisp and clear, we need a higher resolution than for images. If the resolution for your text is too low, you could get blurry edges. We want the lines and edges of the letters to be crisp and sharp.
Digital screens and print materials create color very differently. There are two color modes you can work in on your computer, RGB for digital files, and CMYK for print files. But what is the difference between RGB and CMYK? And how can you make sure your colors will print accurately?
RGB is used for digital displays
RGB stands for red, green, and blue and is an additive color mode: red, green, and blue lights in your digital screen shine at varying intensities to create the colors you see. When each of these lights shines at 100%, it creates white. When none of them shine at all, meaning each is applied at 0%, we see black on the screen.
CMYK is used for printed items
CMYK stands for cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. Black is represented by K which refers to "key" or "key plate", an old printing industry term. CMYK is a subtractive color model. It starts with a white page and then applies pigments that subtract a color from the pure white to optically create that color's opposite.
The most important thing to remember is that colors as you see them on screen may look slightly different when printed because of these two different systems of creating color. The colors will be extremely close, but probably not identical.
For the most part, your colors will be close enough so that you might not even notice any slight differences. But if it is important that your colors be identical, there are a few ways to get a perfect match.
- Request a hard copy proof to be mailed to you to verify printed colors
- Use the Pantone Matching System (PMS) to spot match the colors
- Use proof mode in your design program to get a better idea of your CMYK colors
Please contact us to assist you with this. We are happy to help!
Bleed refers to a technique of extending your images to print edge to edge, without any white borders on your printed item. Safe lines ensure that none of the content you wish to appear on your printed item accidentally gets cut off.
Why we need bleed printing
Printing is a mechanical process: every printer has a feed mechanism that grabs a piece of paper to print on. This feed mechanism can be slightly imperfect by nature of its mechanics. To avoid any imperfections, such as slight white borders at the edge of your print materials, we use bleed printing.
How bleed printing works
Bleed printing involves printing on a sheet of paper that is larger than the intended print item size. If an image or color is intended to go to the very edge of the printed item and not show any white border, bleed printing extends it past what would be the actual edge. Then, the sheet is trimmed to the correct size. This guarantees a smooth print across the edge that does not stop short before reaching the edge.
How to prepare your file for bleed printing
- Use a blank template with the bleed line and safe line clearly marked (each of our products has blank templates available both for download and in our design studio)
- If you don't use a template, add 1/4 of an inch around all edges to your print-ready file; this will be the bleed line
- Add a "safe line" and make sure all your content stays within it (see below)
The "safe zone" and "safe lines"
When using bleed printing, we want to make sure that none of your content gets cut off even slightly. To do that, we want to keep all content from extending past the "safe line".
A safe line is added to all edges of your print ready file at 1/4 of an inch inward away from your print size edge. If you keep your design within that border, you can be certain that nothing will get cut off during the bleed print trimming process.