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Before You Upload: Review Our Artwork Checklist

A guide uploading artwork

To ensure your files are ready for print and meet our quality standards, please take a moment to review our upload checklist. Following these simple guidelines will help us process your order faster and avoid delays. Make sure your artwork meets all the requirements before submitting your files.

How to supply print ready PDF files

PDF's are the standard file format for transmitting files for print but it is important to prepare your PDF file in the correct way for us to process.

Creating a PDF in Adobe Indesign

Step 1

Select File >Adobe Preset >Press Quality.

Step 1 Screenshot
Check:
  1. Press Quality is selected.
  2. Compatibility is set to Acrobat 5 (PDF 1.4).
  3. Export as single pages is selected.

Step 2

Click the Marks and Bleeds tab

Step 2 Screenshot
Check:
  1. Crop Marks is selected.
  2. 3mm Bleed is added on all edges.

Creating a PDF in Acrobat Distiller

  • Ensure a 300dpi PDFx1a print or Press Ready PDF is output.
  • Include 3mm bleed, crop marks and supply as single pages.
  • Choose high resolution.
  • Compression settings for colour and grey scale images should be down sampled to 300dpi with auto compression set to high.
  • Bitmap (monochrome: i.e. line art) images should be set at >600dpi.
  • Font embedding should be set to embed all fonts.

Other programs

There are a multitude of programs that can provide a Print Ready PDF, the main points to consider are that fonts are either outlined or embedded, there is 3mm Bleed on all edges and the file contains crop marks. Quality should be set at 300dpi for colour and grey scale images, 600dpi or above for bitmap images.

Important!!

Supplying your pages

Stitched jobs

Files should be supplied as one continuous document as single pages with Page 1 being the front cover and the last page being the back cover.

Perfect bound jobs

Files should be supplied as a 4 page cover spread including a spine and a separate text pdf. See page 2 for our guide to artwork adjustments if images or text cross over page spreads.

Prefect Bound Jobs

A PUR bound book can never be opened flat without breaking the book apart and the pages falling out, so to create the illusion of an image or text that is continuous across the spine, adjustment is necessary.

It is normally best to avoid having the focus of your image directly on or near the spine of a perfect bound book. The alignment of your read-across image is much less obvious if your eye isn’t drawn to it.

However, if your design dictates a read-across image or text we advise allowing 8mm on the inside Front Cover and 6mm on the first page of text - as shown in the images below. This will look quite strange to a designer’s eye, but it will ensure your artwork aligns more successfully.

If you have read-across pages within your text the same rules apply but please only move each page by 3mm.

Please be aware that with PUR binding the cover is drawn to the text by force and glued in place, then three edges are trimmed. This manufacturing process does have slight movement variance so any artwork with read-across pages will never be as perfect as a flat piece of print.

If your book is very bulky, or has a heavy weight cover please contact us for further advice.

Example showing no allowance for spine
Example showing allowance made for spine
Example showing focus moved for spine

No allowance

no allowance

6mm allowance

6mm allowance