Artwork Guidelines

In order to ensure that all printing jobs are completed according to your specifications, we have carefully crafted the following guidelines. Following these simple steps will make your printing tasks easy and convenient. If you have a specific problem that is not included in this guide, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Quick Checklist

 Bleeds

• In order to prevent white space or borders around your artwork, add a 1/8” border to all your pictures and designs.
• Keep text at least ¼” away from the edge of the paper or the trim line.  This will prevent accidental cropping.

Colour Specifications

The colour accuracy of your file should not be measured using print preview as the colours can be affected by factors such as monitor calibration, lighting and screen resolution. When most Pantone colours are converted to a four colour process, the marked colours tend to shit.

• If your printing job consists of one, two or three colours in Pantone spot colour, make sure your colours are specified as spot colour and they separate correctly. This can be tested by printing separations on your laser printer.
•  The digital files must reflect the colour models and percentages on press in order to achieve the desired colours when printing. You can do this by ensuring that all colours are in CMYK mode for colour accuracy and higher quality output.

Image Resolution

Please check if your images comply with the following factors.

• Images and pictures should be 300 dpi.
• Rasterized text or logos should be 1200 dpi.
• The screen values should be between 133 lpi – 150 lpi

Guidelines by Application

Please follow the guidelines given below for specific file requirements for various applications. If you do have further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
 

Adobe Photoshop  

• Make sure that all files are 300 dpi at 100% of actual size for quality offset reproduction.
• Makes sure to save all your filed in PDF Format. (Do not forget to embed all fonts and set the screen value to 133 lpi)

Digital Proofs

• Zoo Print provides PDF Files as electronic soft proofs to will help you see the layout and design elements on your job. Please note that soft proofs cannot guarantee colour accuracy. Should you require to see the colour accuracy, please do not hesitate to ask us for a hard copy proof.
• Do scan all transparencies and line art at 100% of final size unless data size is prohibitive. If so, then scan at ¼ or ½ of final size.