Most ruined print jobs die in the file, weeks before the press runs. If you send artwork to printers — or pay someone who does — these are the five concepts that protect your money.
Bleed: why your artwork must be bigger than the page
Printers can't print to the sheet edge; they print oversized and trim down. Bleed extends your artwork 3mm past the trim line so a half-millimetre of cutting drift never leaves a white sliver on the edge. No bleed = white edges or cropped content. Every file we release ships with it.
CMYK vs RGB: why print dulls your colours
Screens make colour with light (RGB); presses make it with ink (CMYK). RGB reaches vivid colours ink physically can't. Design in RGB and convert at the end, and the neon blue you approved arrives muddy. Print work should be designed in CMYK from the start — vibrancy managed, not mourned.
Vector vs raster: the file that scales forever
A raster image (JPG, PNG) is a grid of pixels — enlarge it and it blurs. A vector (AI, EPS, SVG) is mathematics — sharp at business-card size and at billboard size from the same file. Logos must exist as vectors. If your "logo file" is a JPG from an old email, a redraw is in your future; better now than mid-job.
Resolution and fonts: the quiet killers
Images need 300dpi at the printed size — a photo that fills a phone screen dies at A4. And fonts must be embedded or outlined, or the printer's computer substitutes its own and your layout reflows. A press-ready PDF/X export handles both, which is why professionals hand printers PDFs, not working files.
Or skip the minefield: our print design service delivers colour-managed, press-ready artwork — and we're happy to rescue files another designer left half-finished.