Artwork & Artwork Set up

For your artwork to be Print Ready it will need to be:

Supplied at the correct trim size (mm)
With 3mm bleed on each edge
Supplied in CMYK (or PMS colours)
Image based artwork 300dpi
Text based artwork 600dpi
Design elements kept within 3mm margin
Single page scrolling PDF (not spreads or paginated)

Artwork set up tips

Creating a print ready PDF with InDesign

Click to view instructions.

Simply set up your file at the correct trim size (mm) with 3mm bleed and a 3mm margin to the cut area.

Keep text and design elements you don’t want cut off within the 3mm margin. This is to ensure none of your essential artwork is cut when taking into account the 1-2mm variance with the guillotine when cutting your order down to size.

We also recommend avoiding borders around the edge of artwork as ensuring absolute evenness of these borders in the cutting process is extremely difficult.

Export your file as a Press Quality PDF and tick the following boxes:

Under ‘General’ make sure ‘Pages’ is ticked and not ‘Spreads’. If exporting artwork for a booklet, please select to export your PDF in ‘Pages’ rather than ‘Spreads’. This ensures that when we “impose” the booklet for printing, the correct page order will still apply (remember with booklets that are saddle stitched, they must have a page quantity that is a multiple of 4 eg, 12, 16, 20 etc).
Under ‘Marks and Bleed’ make sure to tick ‘Use Document Bleed Settings’ and ‘Crop Marks’.
Under ‘Output’ there is a button that reads ‘Ink Manager’, open the ‘Ink Manager’ window and make sure to tick ‘All Spots to Process’. This will convert any Spot Colours in the artwork to CMYK.

Note: Please disregard the last point if your artwork is required in Spot Colours. Converting Spot Colours to CMYK can cause a variance in colour – it is recommended that you request a hard copy prior to approval to ensure you are happy with any colour change.

How to Flatten a File for Print

Flattening your artwork is essential due to how design software & production equipment work. Learn how to correctly flatten a file for print.

What Are Crop And Trim Marks Image Of A Pdf With Trim Marks

What are Trim or Crop marks? Learn what these are and why you need trim/crop marks on your artwork when submitting a print order.

How To Add Bleed During Document Set Up In Adobe Indesign

What is bleed in printing and why do printers ask for bleed in printing files? Let us explain what bleed is in printing and why it’s needed.

Accepted file types:

We only accept files is as a Print Ready PDF. Not only are PDF files complete (with no missing fonts or links) but they ensure that your colours and document information are secure. A correctly exported file should be small enough to send via e-mail or our WeTransfer file upload site

We also require you to flatten your PDF before sending them through to us. We have extremely powerful RIPS on our printers. These rips disassemble files and study each component of the file to ensure every fine detail is understood, before reassembling them and printing in fine detail. If your file is not flattened and there are issues with the file, then it may not print the way you require.

Bleed:

We require your artwork to have a minimum of 3mm bleed on each edge.

Bleed refers to the printing that goes beyond the trim edge, which allows for movement on the guillotine when trimming your product down to size. You will need bleed on any coloured background or image that touches the edge of your artwork.

The 3mm of bleed will need to be added to each edge of your document. So for example, if your artwork is A4 (210x297mm) with bleed included, the total size of the artwork is 216x303mm.

Resolution:

The minimum resolution recommended for print is 300dpi. Anything less than 300dpi may be low resolution and may not print with the desired clarity you were after. If your artwork is predominately text based, we recommend 600dpi to ensure you achieve the sharpest looking text.

The resolution displayed on the web is 72dpi. This means that images saved from the internet/Google may not be suitable for print because the resolution could be much lower than the 300dpi minimum we recommend. We wouldn’t normally recommend sourcing your images from Google due to copyright reasons and image resolution, but if you are using images from Google for print make sure you make use of the search tools and refine the size and check the useage rights of the image you are looking for.

Always make sure to read your artwork proof carefully, and make sure we haven’t noted that your artwork may be low resolution and unsuitable for print.

We offer a FREE hard copy sample of your work if you are uncertain about the clarity and resolution of your artwork.

Ownership and Licensing of Artwork and Images:

All Customers of Rogue Print and Mail must ensure that their content, and that the use of it, does not infringe anyone’s copyright; in particular, you must ensure that you either own the copyright of an Image that you wish to be printed and/or that you are fully licensed by the copyright owner to use the Image and to make any subsequent use of it. Rogue Print and Mail accepts no responsibility for the copyright of files that are supplied for printing.