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One of the options available to you via our website is the option to upload your own design to be printed. If you’re not a professional graphic designer and need a little extra support in making sure your artwork is set up perfectly, this guide is for you. Alternatively you can download all our templates using the link below.
Preferred Artwork
- Format: PDF or JPEG (with 3mm Bleed)
- Colour Profile: CMYK (RGB files will be converted)
- Document Bleed: 3mm
- Resolution: 300dpi
- Fonts: Embedded or outlined
- Please no printer marks
Please be aware that any files that we receive with an RGB colour profile will automatically be converted to CMYK, which may affect the final colour of your print.
If you are having trouble setting your file up ready to print, please contact us, and we would be happy to get your file looking perfect!
Bleed
A bleed is an area of your artwork that will border your full document.
Printers rarely print to the edge of a design, they usually extend the background 3mm extra around all borders of the document. This means that when the design is printed, we can ensure that there is no excess white paper from outside the artwork showing on your design when it is trimmed.
All submitted designs are required to have a bleed applied before they’re uploaded for printing. The bleed has to be exactly 3mm in size. This will add an extra 6mm to the entire width and height of your document.
Here is a full list of document sizes once they have been printed at 300dpi. You can download all our artwork templates at the top of the page, with bleeds added.
Colour
CMYK vs. RGB
RGB is used mainly for screens, such as phones, tablets and computers, and is made up for three colours: Red, Green and Blue. These colours are considered ‘additive’, meaning the colours are added together onto a black canvas (i.e. a phone screen), to make the final image.
CMYK colours are used primarily in print, and is made up of four colours: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Key (Black). These colours are subtractive, meaning that each colour is added together to block out parts of the colour spectrum on a white canvas.
All of your documents should be set up with a CMYK colour profile. This is so the colours are correctly displayed on your final document.
If your document is set up as RGB, then it will be automatically converted to CMYK before print – this may lead to some difference in colour when your design is printed. Please be aware that CMYK colour profiles can often loose some colour vibrancy that you may see on your design on the screen (see animation below).
Fonts
You are free to use whichever fonts you please, but please be aware that our designers may not have the same fonts installed on our computers. This means that when we check your design before it is printed, we may encounter some errors, and the font you have chosen may not be properly displayed, meaning another font may be substituted in its place.
For this reason, we would recommend outlining any fonts you have used, once you are absolutely sure that you’re happy with the final product. This way, your font is converted to shapes, which are accessible on all devices and machines.
Alternatively, you may wish to embed your fonts into the design file (usually associated with PDFs).
Finally, you may be able to save your final design as a rasterised image file (JPEG or PNG). This may not necessarily the best option, as a rasterised file lack the same functionality as other files, but it will ensure that your fonts will be displayed in print exactly as expected in your design.
Resolution
An issue we have all encountered in our time, is a pixelated image – this is when your photo/design can come out blocky or distorted – not good.
Resolution generally refers to the dots that make up an image or graphic. Most images are made up of small dots, which we measure in dpi (dots per inch). On your screen or phone, you will likely have an image that is being displayed through the screen at 72dpi. This will be look fine on your screen when being designed, but when printed, 72dpi images or graphics will be blurry and pixelated.
All of your designs must be set up and exported at a resolution of 300dpi. This is the standard print resolution which we use with all of our files and printers.
You can see from the image, that the difference in resolution is clear (no pun intended).
Basic Artwork Check
All our products are subject to a Basic Artwork Check, please reference the table below to check what this includes.
what we won’t do… Anything else.