File Submission Requirements
Adobe PDF
If you are sending in a PDF make sure all of you images within the PDF are at least 300dpi. Also, these additional settings are required to submission of a PDF file to us for printing:
- Resolution: Choose High Resolution
- Compression Settings: Both Colour and Greyscale modes should be down sampled to 300dpi-350dpi with “auto compression” set on Maximum
- Font Embedding: Set to “embed all fonts”
Please note that the colour mode of your PDF needs to be set as CMYK not RGB. If you supply artwork as RGB, your artwork will be automatically converted to CMYK and my result in unexpected colour results.
Adobe Illustrator
If you’re building your artwork in Illustrator and save out as a PDF. Before doing so convert all of your fonts into curves (more info here). Use the guidelines from Adobe PDF above when saving your artwork out.
Please note that the colour mode of your PDF needs to be set as CMYK not RGB. If you supply artwork as RGB, your artwork will be automatically converted to CMYK and my result in unexpected colour results.
Adobe Photoshop
If supplying artwork created in Photoshop, make sure the artwork is at least 300dpi and in CMYK colour mode. You can then supply the file as Adobe PDF, JPEG or TIFF. It should be noted that Photoshop does not have the function to create bleeds or crop marks so if you have artwork where the graphics go right to the edge of the finished printed product, you may want to consider submitting the artwork in another program that does have bleed and crop mark functionality, such as Illustrator or InDesign.
Adobe InDesign
If creating your designs in InDesign, the best option is to export your artwork as a print-ready PDF. However, if you wish to supply the native INDD file, you will need to package all of your artwork (more info here) and then put the resulting folder into a ZIP file. If supplying this way, please include a PDF as well as a fallback file should issues arise with working with your InDesign file.
Microsoft Programs
Currently we do not accept native files in the following Microsoft Programs: PowerPoint, Excel, Word, Publisher or Works. If you have artwork built in any of these programs, you’ll need to convert or save out these files in PDF format first before submitting.
In most of these programs you can generally create a PDF, by either selecting Save As or when selecting Print, you can choose Save To PDFb or Print To PDF.
Otherwise there’s a number of online PDF converters that will convert your Microsoft native file into a PDF. Many are free, including this one: convert.neevia.com.
Please note that it is important when supplying a PDF from a Microsoft document, care is taken to ensure any spot colours are created correctly in your original document.
PDFs from Microsoft programs are known to have issues where the resulting PDF may look different in appearance then the source native file. It is therefore advisable to supply screenshots of your Microsoft native layouts.
- PC/Windows: There is a Print Screen button on the keyboard
- Mac/OS: Press the Apple and Shift 4 keys, then highlight the area you wish to copy. This saves a PNG copy to your desktop.
Bleed and Crop Marks
If your artwork has graphics that go right to the edge of the paper, you’ll need to see up your artwork with bleed and crop marks. Bleed is where the artwork goes usually 3mm extra outside of the page dimensions and crop marks are marked lines that show where the printing is to be cut to down to to make the final, finished size.
When it comes to bleed, we use the industry standard of 3mm on each edge of the document. In addition to that we recommend at 3mm safe zone inside the trim marks. This means your document should have an extra 6mm in total on each side.
The "safe zone" is an additional 3mm inside the cutting edge where no text or information should be put. Anything placed in this area has somewhat of a risk of being cut off.
To give you an an example of how bleed is used, let’s take an A4 document. Lined up with the correct bleed your artwork would cover an area of 216mm x 303mm and then from there be cut down to a finished size of 210mm x 297mm.
Imposition
If you are supplying files that are intended to be printed in a multi-page book or booklet, please supply the artwork as single pages. Do not supply the artwork as page spreads or printer’s spreads. London Print Room will do the necessary page imposition and set-up for printing in house in a manner that suits setting up the artwork correctly to go to print.
Folding Guides
If you are looking to get a folded brochure, here’s a visual guide to the different types of folds that are available.
