Forte Printing Services - High-quality Printing Solutions

Print Ready Artwork

To ensure your artwork is suitable for printing, it is important that it meets the following requirements:

Provided at the correct trim size in millimeters

Containing 5mm of bleed on all edges

Supplied in CMYK (or PMS colors)

Imaged based artwork should be at least 300 dots per inch (dpi)

Text based artwork should be at least 600dpi (or vector-based)

Design elements should be kept within a 5mm margin

Single page scrolling PDF format (not spreads or paginated)

File Types

PDF files in Print Ready format ensure your artwork is ready to print quickly and easily.

PDF files are complete and include no missing fonts or links

PDF provide accurate color management, trapping, and open pre-press information

PDF files are usually small in size and can be easily sent over the internet

We can also work with programs such as:

Illustrator (.ai, .eps)

Image file formats (.jpeg, .tiff)

InDesign (.indd, .idml) with all links and fonts embedded

Publisher (.pub)

Photoshop (.psd)

Word (.doc, .docx)

[Word does not allow you to save high resolution images or to use external bleed]

We cannot work with Coral Draw (.csr)

Export Press Quality PDF

Ensure the following boxes are ticked

Adobe PDF document properties create Adobe PDF documents best suited for high-quality prepress printing select ‘press quality’

General export your PDF in ‘Pages’ and not ‘Spreads’.This is to ensure we have the correct running order of pages.

Marks and Bleed tick ‘Use Document Bleed Settings’ and ‘Crop Marks’

Output 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.

Resolution

For optimal printing results, we suggest using a minimum resolution of 300dpi when placed at 100%. Artwork with a resolution lower than 300dpi may appear blurry and lack the desired clarity.

If your artwork is primarily composed of text, we suggest using a resolution of 600dpi to achieve text that appears sharp and clear. Please note that using a higher resolution than 600dpi might not result in any noticeable improvements in print quality and could increase the file size unnecessarily.

Images displayed or downloaded from internet or Google typically have a resolution of 72dpi, which is insufficient for printing purposes.

We generally advise against sourcing images from Google due to copyright issues and low image resolution.

Please note that increasing the dpi in Photoshop does not increase the resolution of an image.

Bleed

To ensure proper printing, please make sure that your artwork includes a minimum of 5mm bleed on all edges.

Bleed is the portion of the image that extends beyond the trim edge, allowing for slight movement during the trimming process. It's essential to have bleed on any coloured background or image that touches the edge of your artwork to prevent any hairline white edges.

Please make sure to add 5mm bleed to each edge of your document. For instance, if your artwork is A4 (210x297mm) with bleed included, the total size of the artwork should be 220x307mm.

Crop Marks / Trim Marks

These are thin lines printed in the corners of a document to indicate where the paper should be trimmed after printing.Crop marks are important for any artwork, especially if the design has bleed.

Please make sure the trim marks don't meet by giving at least a 3mm gap.

We always include Crop Marks on our PDF Proofs to indicate where your printing is to be trimmed and a file name (for our reference) outside the bleed area.

The white area and images/text outside the trim marks are visible in your PDF Proof, they will not be visible on your final printed items. Only elements that are within the trim marks will be visible on your finished items.

Colour Matching

Colours displayed on the artwork proof on your screen (RGB) may differ from the final printed product (CMYK/PMS(SPOT COLOUR). In addition, there is a possibility of colour variation when printing on a desktop printer.

PMS (SPOT COLOUR) Pantone® is the standard language for colour communication in the printing world. The Pantone® Formula Guide provides a full list of PMS colours and is used by both designers and printers to assure colour accuracy.

CMYK is used in the print world for full-colour jobs, is also referred to as four-colour process printing. To produce a full-colour appearance, a broad spectrum of colours is achieved by using a mixture of four transparent ink colours, which are cyan, magenta, yellow, and black.

RGB is a color gamut of light using red, green, and blue to render colors onscreen. The RGB color system is utilized when designing for digital platforms such as the web or television.

Black

Black Lines & Text
We recommend that black text & lines are set to: C=0%, M=0%, Y=0%, K=100%

DO NOT USE Photoshop Default Black
C=75%, M=68%, Y=67%, K=90%
It is NOT appropriate for commercial printing, however it is suitable for web sites & screen presentations.