Avoid these common printing mistakes!

Everybody makes mistakes. Even the most conscientious and focussed among us can suffer a tiny lapse of concentration that leads to an error and if you’re in business those small mistakes can cost big money. Imagine taking delivery of your new brochures only to discover a spelling mistake or pricing error. It’s so easy to overlook something small that will ultimately render your print useless, especially when you’ve been looking at artwork for hours or days. However, you can avoid common mistakes by going through a checklist before you send your job to print.

Here are five checks you should make:

Check the document size and print area

It might sound obvious but always check your page size before uploading your digital print artwork and ensure text or important graphics are not too close to the edge of the page. If you’re unsure about how to supply your print at exactly the right size, don’t worry, just ask one of our team and they will assist you all the way!

Check your bleed

Supplying artwork without the correct bleed is one of the most common print mistakes. Any image or graphic that goes to the very edge of the trimmed page must extend past (or “bleed off”) the edge of the artwork. There’s always a tiny degree of movement as paper travels through the press. If you don’t add 3mm bleed a fine white line can appear along the edge of the printed and trimmed page.

Make sure your artwork is in CMYK colour mode

Screens display in RGB colour mode but your digital print artwork must be saved in CMYK. We can convert your artwork before print but some colours might look slightly different than they do on screen so before you save to pdf for print, ensure your artwork and images are in CMYK mode.

Check image resolution

Any images and photos must be 300dpi at artwork size. Pics at a lower resolution might look fine on screen but they’ll look pixelated and blurred in print. It’s important to go through your artwork and check that every pic used is 300dpi and not enlarged from its original size.

Proof read everything – then read it again.

Remember that the digital print artwork you upload is exactly what will be printed so check your content thoroughly before you hit that send button. It’s incredibly easy to miss a typo or other small error in a job you’ve been staring at for a long time. Have someone else read it as well. A new pair of eyes often picks up something you’ve missed and the extra few minutes taken to check artwork is time very well spent.