Supplying Files for Printing

Recommendations for Offset and A3 digital printing

Follow these guidelines for standard offset printing or A3 digital printing on paper and card.

• For offset and A3 digital printing all colours should be supplied in CMYK with Spot Colours as required. If possible provide a PDF created with Adobe Acrobat on the 'Press Quality' setting. Do not create PDF's by using the export option of your application as these PDF's may not reliably print.
• Convert fonts paths/outlines in the native file or embed fonts in the PDF
• Add 3mm bleed
• Do not add printers crop marks, colour bars etc.
• Supply native application files if the design uses transparency.
• 300dpi images.
• Supply all linked files/fonts
• If supplying PDF files use the 'Press Quality' setting from Acrobat
• See the rest of this document for more specific information.

Recommendations for Digital Fabric Printing

Follow these guidelines for Roll-up Banners, Fabric Displays, Flags and any other print on fabric.

• Convert fonts paths/outlines in the native file or embed fonts in the PDF
• Add 10mm bleed
• For digital fabric printing it can be advantageous if you do not convert RGB images to CMYK. If your design contains RGB colours or a mixture of RGB and CMYK we recommend that you provide us the native application file so we can perform the colour conversions.
• Supply native application files if the design uses transparency.
• 300dpi images for files printing under A2 in size, 150dpi for images above A2 in size (See below for more info)
• Supply artwork at 100%, 50%, 25% or 10% of full size with bleed.
• Supply all linked files/fonts
• Embed colour profiles in images and let us know what colour profiles you used in your document.
• See the rest of this document for more specific information.

Recommendations for Large Format Digital Printing

Follow these guidelines for Poster, Billboards, Signage and any other large format print on to paper, PVC or vinyl

• Convert fonts paths/outlines in the native file or embed fonts in the PDF
• Add 10mm bleed
• Supply native application files if the design uses transparency.
• 300dpi images for files printing under A2 in size, 150dpi for images above A2 in size (See below for more info)
• Supply artwork at 100%, 50%, 25% or 10% of full size with bleed.
• Supply all linked files/fonts
• Embed colour profiles in images and let us know what colour profiles you used in your document.
• See the rest of this document for more specific information.

Transparency and effects

We strongly recommend that if your design contains transparency or special effects that you provide the original unflattened file to us so we can flatten the file to achieve the best quality and colour matching possible.

Please see the application notes for for more information.

Image Resolution Guide

We recommend the following image resolutions (based on images at full size) and typical viewing distance, The closer the viewer is to the print the higher the resolution you need to maintain quality. Try to avoid having text in your image. If you do have text in your image then keep the image resolution as high as possible (above 150dpi)

 Read a detailed explanation on image resolutions.

Digital Pantone and spot colour matching

If spot matching is required please supply a list of colours and ideally the artwork in the original design application, Flattened Images and PDF files can limit our ability to perform spot colour matching, especially with blends and drop shadows.

We will try to match as close as possible to Pantone colour. Alternatively you can provide a swatch for us to match to. Please note in some circumstances colour matching will be an additional charge.

Please refer directly to the Pantone Solid to Process Guide when choosing a PMS colour to make sure you know what to expect then when it's converted to CMYK.

RGB vs CMYK

For digital textile printing we prefer files to be supplied as RGB. This can increase the range of colours beyond that of standard CMYK. If your original images are already in CMYK do not convert them to RGB. If you are providing a PDF file then make sure that all colours are in there native colour space. If you are unsure please provide the native application file.

Supported file formats

• Freehand MX (Version 11)
• CorelDraw X3 (Version 13)
• Illustrator CS5
• InDesign CS5
• Photoshop CS5
• TIFF
• JPEG (We would prefer a TIFF file with LZW compression as it does loose image quality)
• Acrobat PDF (V9)
• EPS (Please call us first to discuss the best export options)

Please call us if you have artwork in other formats.

Media

We recommend you upload files directly to our website, however we also accept the following MAC or PC formatted physical media

• DVD
• CD
• USB Flash Drives / Portable Hard Drives
• Most common Camera Memory Sticks

Upload via our website

You can upload a file directly to us from our website here

Send us a file via Email

Email files under 10MB in size

Proofs

Please supply a colour proof with all work for our reference, also provide as much information on the sizes and layout as possible.

Colour Profiles

Our digital printing process is assumes the following, Please let us know if your files are using any other profiles.

• CMYK colours use the Adobe “US Sheetfeed Coated V2” profile
• RGB colours use the “Adobe RGB (1998)” Profile.