Providing your own artwork
When providing your own artwork for printing, please follow our guidelines below.
Preparing your artwork to the correct specs will allow you to order your printing without any interruptions to the printing process. If you need a little help, then we can offer an artwork Check, Fix & Minor Edit from only $29, which gives you an email proof to check and approve before we print.
Layout
Trim Line
Final trimmed size of printing, and the document / artboard size.
Bleed Line
Extend the background 3mm past the trim line. This bleed will be trimmed off.
Background
Extend to the edge of bleed, and don’t stop at the margin or trim line.
Margin
Keep a 3mm margin away from the trim line, so that type and important content is safe.
Need a little help?
If you need a small fix to your artwork, we offer an artwork Check, Fix & Minor Edit from only $29. This gives you one round of minor revisions and one email proof to check and approve before we print. We can easily edit the content, layout, colour format, resolution, and fonts if required. If your request needs more than a small fix, we will provide an upfront set price quote.
If your artwork needs a bit of a refresh, then talk to us about design and branding. Whether you need a small update or a brand overhaul, we provide a full in-house Australian service that will ensure your printing has the full effect.
General Artwork Guidelines
Artwork Guide
Get the best start on your artwork by downloading one of our artwork templates, and following these guidelines.
Size, Bleed and Margins
Please ensure your artwork has the exact size of your printing product. A bleed of 3mm must be added to every side, and we recommend a 3mm margin inside from the edge. Trimming can shift slightly in any direction, so be smart in how you prepare artwork near the trim line.
Note about bleeds in Photoshop.File Format
PDF is the preferred file format for supplying artwork. You may use your preferred program to create artwork, as long as the program can export a final PDF suitable for printing. We recommend using Adobe Creative Suite, and our blank templates with the correct specs.
Colour Format
Use a CMYK colour format in your artwork. If your artwork contains RGB colour, it will be automatically converted to CMYK which sometimes produces unexpected results.
Resolution
Use vector artwork for the best results, and 300dpi resolution for any images. Lower resolutions will produce fuzzy or pixelated printing.
Black
For a rich and smooth black print, we recommend using a CMYK mix similar to 40,40,10,100. Using a pure black (0,0,0,100) is suitable for type, but can appear less than “black” with backgrounds.
Multiple Pages
Booklets with multiple pages require a single PDF with each printed page represented by 1 page in your PDF. For example, an 8pp booklet will need PDF artwork with 8 pages. Do not be concerned whether “page 1” will be on the same sheet as “page 8”, and just provide all of the pages in order (1-8) in a single PDF.
Folding & Scoring
Folding and scoring is often placed in a standard position, eg folded in half. If you require a custom placement for folding or scoring, please provide a separate proof document displaying exactly where the fold or score should be placed. You may also want to describe the placement in your order notes.
Don’ts
These are some tips on what NOT to do when preparing your artwork.
An important part of preparing artwork for printing boxes and packaging, is the cut and crease lines. Cut lines determine where the card will be cut, and crease lines determine where the card will be creased (scored) so it can be folded.
There should be one continuous cut line around the entire artwork, so that the box a clear outline. It’s important that there are no gaps in cut lines. Extra cut lines can be added for flaps, slits and voids in the box design.
Vector artwork is required to produce cut and crease lines, therefore programs like Adobe Illustrator are best suited.
To create a cut line in Illustrator, first create a custom spot colour named “Cut”. Use the spot colour named “Cut” as a stroke for the lines you want cut, and set the object to “Overprint” in the Attributes palette. Overprint enables us to use the cut line for cutting, and ignore it for printing.
To create a crease line in Illustrator, do the same and create a custom spot colour named “Crease”, and use it to stroke lines that require creasing. Don’t forget to set all of these special lines to “Overprint” so we won’t print it.
Artwork for Specific Products
Artwork for Presentation Folders
Artwork Layers
Checklist for Presentation Folders
Dieline
Both die-cut and digital-cut Presentation Folders require a dieline layer to be included in your PDF artwork. Ensure the dieline layer is set to overprint, and on the top-layer of your artwork.
Digital Cut & Crease Lines
If your printing includes Digital Cutting & Creasing, the artwork needs to include both “Cut” and “Crease” lines. Cut and Crease lines must be vector lines that use spot colors named “Cut” or “Crease” respectively. The stroke thickness in the artwork is not important, however using a 1mm thickness is helpful in simulating the average thickness of a crease line.
Spot UV and 3D-UV
3D-UV is not suitable for trimming, and should be kept clear from all cut and crease lines. Spot UV (Flat UV) is suitable for trimming, and should have a 3mm bleed when printed over a cut line.
Presentation Folder Templates
These dielines should be placed as the top-layer in your PDF artwork.
Spot Metallic Foil
Follow these artwork guidelines when setting up artwork for silver and gold metallic foil printing. These are the layers of printing to be aware of:
- Card Stock
- Prior to printing, metallic Silver Laminate.
- (Optional) Spot White Ink, to block out non-metallic areas.
- CMYK for colour, and tinting metallic areas.
- (Optional) Matte Celloglaze.
- (Optional) 3D-UV Spot Gloss to embellish metallic areas.
Die Cuts
Follow these special instructions for setting up artwork for custom die-cut products. Browse Premium Business Cards.
Die Line
A die line is not required in your artwork if you are ordering a standard shape, such as business cards with square corners, or 4 x round corners at 3mm radius.
Standard rectangle shapes require a die cut line. Simply change the document/canvas size of your artwork to the custom rectangle size.
Vector Artwork
We need a PDF artwork file to create a new die, no larger than 90x55mm. Your PDF artwork may contain both your artwork for printing (including vector and bitmaps), and the line for your die-cut, which must be a vector line.
Custom Die Line
To make the shape of your die-cut, draw a vector line around the edge. Give the die line a stroke weight of 1pt or less, and a custom spot colour called “Die Cut” so that it does not print. If there are several shapes that form the die line, combine them in a compound path.
Simple Shapes
Keep your die-cut shape relatively simple, and avoid complex and detailed shapes. Ensure that every part of your printing is attached to the rest of the printing, unless you want that part to fall off. Keep in mind how practical your custom shape will be, and if jagged edges will cause damage to your printing if it catches on other objects.
Registration
Keep in mind that all trimming (including die-cuts) can shift up to 1mm from your intended position. Use bleeds and margins so that if your bleed line does shift slightly, your design will still work.
Flip the back side
Remember that the back side of your business cards will have the reverse shape to the front side. This is particularly important if your die-cut shape is asymmetrical. We don’t need a die line on the back side, but you do need to place your artwork in the appropriate position.
Digital Braille
Follow these special instructions for setting up artwork for Digital Braille.
3D-UV Spot Gloss
Follow these special instructions for setting up artwork that requires our 3D-UV spot gloss. Browse 3D-UV products.
Vector Artwork
Spot UV and 3D-UV gloss is best created as vector artwork, in an application such as Adobe Illustrator. If you only have an image such as a JPG or PNG, send it to us for a quote to get it converted to vector artwork.
Custom Spot Colour
Create a custom spot colour named “Spot UV” or “3DUV”, and fill objects that are to be printed as the UV Gloss with the custom spot colour. The colour used on screen can be any colour, however the final print will appear as a transparent gloss.
Overprint
To print UV Gloss on top of your CMYK artwork, you will need a top layer of artwork using the custom spot colour you just created (see previous step).
Ensure that the top-layer objects filled with the spot colour are set to “OVERPRINT”. In Adobe Illustrator, tick the box in the “Attributes” palette to set an object to overprint, which will ensure the CMYK artwork underneath will also print. Failing to select overprint for the top UV Gloss layer will result in plain white underneath.
Trimming & Folding UV Gloss
Spot UV (Flat UV) can be trimmed and folded, and therefore can extend to the edge of the document, and into the bleed area.
3D-UV does not trim or fold well, and therefore should be kept away from the trim line, or printed only in thin lines or dots on the trim line. Block areas of 3D-UV are fine, however when trimmed it can become detached from the stock.
Transparency
Keep Spot UV and 3D-UV objects at 100% opacity and 100% strength. Do not make UV objects transparent or diluted in the colour palette.
If you want to “thin” out the appearance of UV Gloss, consider using dots or lines of solid UV. Variations of CMYK printing underneath the UV Gloss will also create different effects of how visible the UV Gloss is.
Fineprint
Spot UV and especially 3D-UV will not print as detailed as regular colour ink. Keep this in mind when adding UV to small fine-print and fine detailed graphics.
Booklets & Magazines
Follow these special instructions for setting up artwork for multiple-page publications.
NCR Invoice Books
Follow these special instructions for setting up artwork for NCR (No Carbon Required) Invoice, Quote and Receipt Books. Browse NCR Products.
