If you are supplying your own artwork, this page will save you a reprint.
You do not need to read it if we are designing for you.
The short version
- Supply a print ready PDF. Not Word, Publisher, PowerPoint, or Canva's default export.
- Add 2mm bleed on every edge, with background images running into it.
- Keep text and logos at least 5mm inside the trim edge.
- Images at 300dpi at final size. A photograph that looks fine on screen is usually a quarter of the resolution needed.
- CMYK, not RGB. Bright screen colours, particularly vivid blues and oranges, cannot be reproduced in print and will shift.
- Embed your fonts or convert text to outlines.
- Black text should be 100% K, not a four colour mix, or it will look muddy and slightly out of register.
Multi page documents
Supply pages as single sequential pages, starting with the front cover. Not as reader's spreads. Include any pages meant to be blank. Delete surplus pages before saving. Check the order, because we do not sort by page number.
For perfect bound work, supply the cover and the inside pages as separate files.
Two things specific to programmes
Creep. On a saddle stitched booklet with a high page count, the inner pages push outwards and get trimmed shorter. Keep page numbers, rules and anything else near the edge at least 5mm in from the trim.
Late timetable changes. If you know the arena running order will move, tell us at the design stage. We will lay that section out so it can be updated without disturbing anything else.
Checking
Every job gets a free standard artwork check covering file format, page count and embedded fonts. On anything substantial we also buy the enhanced check, which looks at bleed, image resolution and how close your logos and text sit to the trim. We pay for that ourselves on programmes and larger jobs because it is cheaper than a reprint.
What no check can catch is a wrong date, a misspelled society name or last year's ticket price. Please have two people read the proof.
If your artwork is not quite right
We will tell you what is wrong and what it would take to fix. Minor corrections we usually absorb. Rebuilding a leaflet from a Word document is chargeable at £65 an hour, minimum one hour, and at that point our £185 design fee is honestly better value.