Supplying Artwork< Back
We print from digital artwork supplied.
We consider our relationship with our clients as a partnership and, as with any successful partnership, it depends on working together.
Please take a few moments and study the information below before designing your files. This will ensure that the artwork you produce exactly matches our requirements and will help to ensure trouble free production.
Preparing artwork for the Press
Whichever programme you use to design your artwork we have complied some guidelines which will be helpful in preparing your artwork to print ready status.
Q. What file format will Colchester Press accept?
A. Colchester Press will only accept files saved as Print ready PDF’s or JPEG or TIF bitmaps.
All images must be flattened before saving in the above formats.
These files can be sent to us on CD/DVD recorded delivery (non returnable) or uploaded via our website. Small files less than 5mb can be sent via email.
Q. What colour specification is required for printing?
A. Most programmes by default will use RGB colours (Red Green Blue). For litho printing the colour specification must be set for CMYK from the start on page setup otherwise unexpected colour changes will occur.
Q. What resolution should the page and images be saved?
A. On page set up 300 or 600 dpi (dots per square inch) should be set. Images below this setting, even though they look good on the screen will not produce quality, crisp looking images when printed. Special care should be taken when selecting images from websites. In most cases this is unadvisable as the image is normally only 72 / 96 dpi and increasing the dpi of these images will not improve the end result.
Q. What is meant by ‘bleed’ and ‘silent border’?
A. Images, background colours and fills which are intended to print to the trimmed edge of the page should be extended 3mm beyond the page to give a bleed (to allow for tolerances in the cutting process). Text, boxes and other areas you need on your finished job should ideally be at least 3mm in from the edges of the page. This is known as the silent border.
Images should bleed beyond the trimmed edge
Text should be inset 5mm from the trimmed edge.
Q. Why produce Crop Marks?
A. Images, background colours and fills which are intended to print to the trimmed edge of the page should be extended 3mm beyond the page to give a bleed (to allow for tolerances in the cutting process). Crop marks are shown to show the final intended page size.
Most artwork (design) software can automatically set the crop marks. For those that do not remember allow for this when setting the original page size.
Many articles regarding the crop marks can be found by searching the web
Q. What specifications are the images to be saved as?
A. Most programmes will produce and save images as the RGB colour format. Images for lithographic printing must be produced and saved as CMYK. Otherwise the colours can produce unpredictable and disappointing results when printed. (This is also true with spot or pantone colours).
