When supplying your own print ready artwork, there are a number of things to consider ensuring hassle free, quality poster printing of your design. Of course, a qualified graphic designer will be well aware of all of these points, but for the less specialist designer the tips below should be helpful.
- Your print ready file must be a high resolution PDF (300dpi at true size) with trim marks and a minimum of 3mm bleed.
- All effects and images must be flattened or embedded.
- All fonts must be converted to curved or outlines.
These rules apply for all types of Posters, Banners, Flyers, Leaflets and Brochures.
The industry standard software for pre-press and design is the Adobe Creative Suite, including Illustrator, InDesign and Photoshop. If you don’t have the necessary software and experience in creating press ready artwork, we can assist you you’re your artwork creation in-house.
Photos/Images
All images and photos must be a minimum of 300dpi at True Size. When supplying photos and images for printing, please make sure they are high enough resolution at the relevant size. Printing from low-resolution files will produce a blurry, pixelated image.
Any photo that has been saved or copied from the internet or a website is low resolution (only 72dpi) and in most cases will infringe copyright of the originator/owner. Photos and images for print should ideally be supplied as high resolution TIF, PDF or EPS files.
File Type
Certain file types are much more useable than others. For example JPG files are not much use at all, because the have a white back ground which cant be moved to the back of an image. PDF and EPS files are the most useful, though for different reasons.
A vector EPS file will hold all the working information of the file, and has the ability to enlarge without pixelating or loosing resolution.
A print ready PDF is a flattened file which will view the same on any computer. For example files can’t be changed or become corrupt.