Any stationer designer knows that clicking print on a client’s project is an act of courage—especially if you’re not doing the printing yourself. Mistakes, especially on high quality wedding invitations, can be costly. But we don’t have to tell you that. Every designer has experienced a printing snafu once or twice along their journey and has tried desperately not to repeat it.
Today, we are diving into the world of print, exploring what print-ready means, and sharing a checklist that will help you gain confidence as you press print on your next project.
What Is a Print Ready File?
A print-ready file is a file (specifically a PDF) that is completely formatted and ready to print to your vendor or printer’s specifications. Often, this includes formatting your document for bleed, trim lines, and making sure your text is embedded into the document. If you’re not sure what those things are, that’s okay. Keep reading and you’ll be a pro in no time.
At PrintsWell, we pride ourselves on being your partner in your creative journey to bring your beautiful designs to life. We aren’t just fulfilling a printing job, but rather, partnering with you and your business to produce the best quality printing possible. But to do this, we require certain specifications to ensure consistent and quality printing every time. That’s how we’re able to uphold the PrintsWell Standard.
Printing Terms Every Stationer Should Know
Learning these printing terms will go a long way in your stationery business journey, especially if you choose to collaborate with a vendor like us. As you learn what makes a file ready for print, you’ll also understand how to design with printing in mind.
Allowable Production Shift:
An important thing to know about printing is that the commercial print industry has an allowable shift range or “cutting allowance” in production. A shift can occur during the printing process or the cutting of the final product. PrintsWell has a shift allowance of up to 1/16” shift. This minute shift does not happen on every order, but it can happen. These shifts are not noticeable in most designs. There are a few things that can help prevent any issues that we’ve listed out below.
Bleeds:
A bleed on a print file is the additional area of the product that is trimmed off during production. All files must have a 0.125-inch bleed on each side of the file. Bleeds are necessary for all printed products except envelopes. They are crucial if you intend to have artwork or color “bleeding” to the edge of the final product. Without it, a thin white edge can be visible on one or multiple edges of the product.
Safe Area:
The safe area of a product is 0.125 inches away from the trim line or 0.25” away from the edge of the file. Anything outside of the safe area is at risk of being trimmed off the final product. All important artwork and text must be within the safe margin line.
Borders:
The thinner the outermost border, the more noticeable any slight shift during production will be. With this in mind, thicker borders will produce a better, more reliant result. We recommend a border that extends into the safe area by 0.0625 inches or at least 0.3125 inches from the trim line. We strongly discourage printing front and back borders on any item. Borders printed on both sides on our double thick stock are almost guaranteed to experience a shift due to the many variables involved in producing these items.
Color:
For print-ready files in the correct color format, we’ll reproduce the color as close as possible. Due to the nature of digital printing, an exact match cannot be guaranteed. We routinely complete rigorous color testing and calibration to ensure that files created in the recommended color mode print beautifully and as expected! In the printing world, color space is crucial. Depending on the type of project and if it’ll be seen on digital screens or in physical form, the right color space can make all the difference.
CMYK:
PrintsWell uses a four-color printing process, known as CMYK, which means our presses print a wide range of hues using Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Key (Key is a printer’s name for black, since black is often used to outline an image as a guide.) The four-color printing process is used universally in the commercial printing industry.
RGB:
Some colors in the colors RGB (a color space intended for digital images on a backlit screen), Pantone or Spot color gamuts are not produceable in the CMYK color spectrum. If your files are not converted before submission, the press will convert them for you. Converting your files before printing will provide better expectations of the printed product. (Note: Printed products cannot match the digital image on a backlit screen exactly, due to the nature of the two different media.)
File Orientation:
PrintsWell prints with the industry standard of printing Head-to-Head. In the print industry, the top of a document is referred to as the “Head” and the bottom of a document is referred to as the “Foot.” These terms help clarify the direction in which the two sides "back up" to one another. “Head-to-Head” and “Head-to-Foot” are terms used to describe the relative orientation of the printing on the front and back of two-sided documents. A document printed Head-to-Head will have the top of the front side placed at the same end of the sheet as the top of the back side.
Making Sure Your Project Is Print-Ready
Before you send any design to print with PrintsWell, check that everything is print-ready and to the exact specifications in this guide. Our customer success team is here five days a week to help walk you through the printing process and answer any questions you have.
We print exactly what you send. So, it’s extremely important that everything is precise. This is why we emphasize education before you submit. We have all the resources for you as you begin your print journey. Our customer success team is always here to answer questions and help. If you have a problem with an order, reach out and we’ll do our best to help you!
To see how a stationer makes her designs print-ready, check out Design By Laney’s video here.
Partner With PrintsWell
After three decades of working with stationers and designers across the nation, saying we’re passionate about the printing process is an understatement. If you’re ready to work with a vendor who truly cares about your business and sets the standard in the industry, fill out an application here. We can’t wait to work with you.