Send us your big files the easy way. artwork checklist...

Send us your big files the easy way. artwork checklist...

right first time You want your print job to be hassle-free and look great first time. We want the same thing, which is why we ve put together this simple checklist to make sure your supplied artwork does not run into any unforeseen delays or costly alterations when we print it. Whether you are a design novice or an accomplished creative professional, please take a few minutes to read this guide before you start designing - and tick everything off when you ve finished. Avoiding these common pitfalls now could save a lot of heartache later. If you feel your project is unusually complicated or you are simply not sure of anything, please give us a call. We would be happy to talk through any part of the production process with you. correct colour? proper black? good layout? high resolution? double check! 0800 4 BENEFITZ artwork checklist 2

correct colour we m r c k y CMYK is Very Good. We will print your full colour job with a mix of CMYK Process Colours. CMYK stands for Cyan (light blue), Magenta (dark pink), Yellow and Black (yes, we know that doesn t begin with a K - don t ask!). All of the images, text and other objects in your file should be converted to CMYK to ensure colours are printed correctly. If your job is black and white or greyscale, all objects on the page should contain only black (K) ink. See the next page for more on blacks. RGB is Not So Good. Most images from a camera, scanner or the web will be made out of RGB colour (Red, Green and Blue). Whilst we can change these to CMYK for you, it would be best if you did this yourself as the resulting colour can vary from what you might have been expecting. Spot Colours are Bad (Usually). Pantone Spot colours are specialist inks for recreating an exact colour, for example in a corporate logo. If this is what you require we have no problem in printing one, two or sometimes more spot colours in your job, but if you are already scratching your head this is probably not what you are after. Spot colours can easily sneak into a design, often when importing logos and graphics you have been sent or downloaded. These can quickly build up and create a productivity nightmare incorporating tens of individual spot colour inks. As with RGB, it is best if you can change these colours to CMYK at the design stage - as well as producing a different colour result, outputting a spot colour job as CMYK could cause items to disappear off the page altogether, and should be treated with extreme caution! Don t panic! If you are not sure about changing objects to CMYK yourself, we can do this all for you. We can supply you with a printed proof which you can check for any unexpected colour related changes. At Benefitz, our preferred design weapon of choice is Adobe InDesign. It is very flexible and your work can easily be set up to avoid any colour, layout or quality issues as you go along. That said, whatever software you are using to design your work, we can work with. Simply stick to the recommendations outlined in this guide and you ll be laughing. Here are our three top tips for you fellow InDesign-ers... Set up 3mm of bleed when you start your job (this is hidden under More Options in the New Document window, just to catch you out!) In Preferences, set Appearance of Black to Display All Blacks Accurately for on screen and for when printing. This will highlight any tricky black issues right away. When you output your PDF, make sure you include bleed and crop marks, and use the Ink Manager output options to sort out any unwanted spot colours. artwork checklist 3

proper black Rich or Plain? Using the correct mix of inks to make up black can be critical in getting the most out of your finished job. Make sure you use plain black for text and small logos, and rich black for large areas. Here is an overview of each... rich black 30% CMY 100% K Putting a percentage of other colours behind a plain black can create a stronger, richer black, which is ideal for solid areas. Using rich black should also eliminate any unwanted overprinting. plain black 0% CMY 100% K As this black does not contain any other colours it produces a very clean and precise result. Plain black is best for text and smaller logos. Where possible it should be set to overprint over other images. Entirely black and white or greyscale jobs should be made up of shades of plain black, as should grey tints in full colour jobs. Plain black can look slightly grey and washed out when used over a large area, and setting a solid object to overprint can produce strange results. proof & go! Once we have checked your job and it is ready to be printed, we will supply you with a proof, either as an e-mailed PDF or as a full size print on our dedicated large format proofer. This is a final check for you to ensure nothing funny has happened in the supply or set up of your artwork. Whilst our proofer is colour calibrated for accuracy, there may be some slight variation in colour between the proof and the final print, due to the different inks and materials being used. An e-mailed PDF will not be colour accurate, and is just for checking the layout and content of the job. Avoid using any more than 40% of any other colour in a rich black - too much ink on the page can saturate the paper and ruin the job! Small text can also appear messy when printed out of a rich black. None more black... Be wary of blacks created by programs such as Photoshop or Microsoft Word, as these can contain far too much ink to be able to print effectively and will look a mess! You should also check if you are placing images with black edges onto a black background, that the colours match, otherwise you will see a join when printed. artwork checklist 4

good layout objects away from edge objects too close edge Your job might look great on the proof, but once it has been trimmed down to size it may be a different story. Here are a few things to look out for when laying out your design. Avoid the edges. Placing critical text and objects too close to the edge can be risky - they can make the finished job look messy, and may even be cut off altogether! It is always best keep stuff at least 3mm away from any folds or cuts. Note that this example is a small business card - for bigger jobs like posters you should allow for more space at the edge, especially if your job is going to be put in a frame. Aidan Bennett Managing Director Mobile: 021 500 997 DDI: (09) 477 4701 aidan@benefitz.co.nz Benefi tz DMA Limited Corner Constellation Drive & Parkway Drive, Mairangi Bay, North Shore City, New Zealand P.O. Box 33-1630, Takapuna Phone: (09) 477 4700 Fax: (09) 477 4799 www.benefitz.co.nz crop marks included file has bleed The trim line. (Don t worry, we don t actually use scissors to cut your job - we have some fancy guillotines to do this) Aidan Bennett Managing Director Mobile: 021 500 997 DDI: (09) 477 4701 aidan@benefitz.co.nz Benefi tz DMA Limited Corner Constellation Drive & Parkway Drive, Mairangi Bay, North Shore City, New Zealand P.O. Box 33-1630, Takapuna Phone: (09) 477 4700 Fax: (09) 477 4799 www.benefitz.co.nz no crop marks Crops and bleed. You should allow at least 3mm of bleed that will be cut off the edge of your job. Any items that you want to run off the page should overlap into this bleed area - this will allow for a much neater finish once the job is cut. If possible, also include crop marks (those little black lines in the corners) so that we have a clear guide for where the job should be trimmed. no bleed in file does it work? If you have anything unusual in mind, make sure your design will work on a practical level. Will everything be the right way up when it is folded/unfolded? Do perforations, cuts and creases match up on both sides? Do folders and brochures fold and fit neatly on the final material? It is always worth making a mock-up to check out any unusual finishing before sending your job to us. artwork checklist 5

high resolution...please! Always work with the highest quality images that you can. Your photos should ideally have a resolution of 300dpi (dots per inch) and be saved at the best possible quality. Low resolution (under 200dpi) or compressed images can appear blurred or blocky. You should check the quality of all images in the final file as some programs can automatically lower the resolution of images when they are added to a page or exported as PDFs. Whilst we are able to work with most artwork file formats, there can often be issues such as missing fonts or images. If possible, we d prefer it if you can supply us with print-ready Adobe Acrobat PDF files, with the colours, bleed, crop marks and image quality set up to reflect the guidelines in this checklist. low resolution (72dpi) high resolution (300dpi) low quality (blurred) artwork checklist 6

double check! Now you are ready to send us your job, all that remains is to do a quick double check of the final PDF or artwork files, and let us have them! correct colour? proper black? good layout? high resolution? double check! Remember, whilst the guidelines in these pages should eliminate the most common printing pitfalls, something strange can always sneak through, so you should always check your proof thoroughly, and we are always happy to help remedy any lastminute glitches before we go to print....thanks for your time! artwork checklist 7

Send us your big files at http://bigfiles.benefitz.co.nz No software. No login. No problem.