Artwork Help

Art work specification

Your artwork should be saved in 300 DPI resolution. Your files should be saved in CMYK mode before you send them to us for printing. RGB files cannot be printed on professional four color presses. Not every RGB color has a CMYK equivalent, and the result could be more than just subtle color shifts.

Please do not forget to "rasterize" or "render" your font layers.

In which file formats can I save my artwork?

Alltech Print supports a variety of file formats for uploaded designs.

• Adobe Acrobat Document (*.pdf) - Recommended
• Encapsulated PostScript (*.eps) - Recommended
• Tagged Image File Format (*.tiff) - Recommended
• Adobe Illustrator Artwork (*.ai)
• Adobe Photoshop Image (*.psd)
• Adobe Indesign (*.indd)
• QuarkXpress (*.qxt)
• PostScript File (*.ps)
• CorelDRAW Image (*.cdr,*.clk)
• JPEG Image (*.jpg,*.jpeg)

What is Bleed?

Printers cannot print right to the edge of a paper sheet. To create that effect, the printer must use a sheet which is larger than the document size. Then the printer prints beyond the edge of the document size (usually 0.125 inch), then cuts the paper down to the document size. So to prevent an unwanted white border from showing at the edge of your document, be sure to extend any background colors or design elements all the way to the bleed edge.

What is Safe margin?

The safe margin is an imaginary line inside the document from the edge of the document size (usually 0.137 inch). Please remember to keep all important information, like names, addresses, phone numbers or logos within the safe margin to ensure that they aren’t cut off when your document is trimmed.

Facts about CMYK and RGB colors

All computer monitors emit color as RGB (red, green, blue) light. Although all colors of the visible spectrum can be produced by merging red, green and blue light, monitors are capable of displaying only a limited gamut (i.e., range) of the visible spectrum. Whereas monitors emit light, inked paper absorbs or reflects specific wavelengths. Cyan, magenta and yellow pigments serve as filters, subtracting varying degrees of red, green and blue from white light to produce a selective gamut of spectral colors. Like monitors, printing inks also produce a color gamut that is only a subset of the visible spectrum, although the range is not the same for both. Consequently, the same art displayed on a computer monitor may not match to that printed in a publication. Also, because printing processes such as offset lithography use CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) inks, digital art must be created as CMYK color or must be converted from RGB color to enable use.

Even though monitors always use RGB to display colors, the colors you see on your monitor will more closely match the final printed piece if you are viewing them in the CMYK color space. Be aware that it is possible to see colors in RGB that you can not make with CMYK. They are said to be "out of the CMYK color gamut". What happens is that the RGB-to-CMYK translator just gets as close as possible to the appearance of the original and that is as good as it can be. It is something that everyone in the industry puts up with. So it is best to select any colors you use for fonts or other design elements in your layout using CMYK definitions instead of RGB.

That way, you will have a better idea of how they will appear in your printed piece. Here is a common example: many programs translate the 100% Blue in RGB into a somewhat purple-looking color in CMYK. We recommend a CMYK value of 100-65-0-0 to get a nice clean blue. Working in the CMYK color space allows you to select the CMYK recipe, or "screen build", that gives you the results you want.

How can I make sure my blues do not come out purple?

When using a blue in your design, always make sure to leave at least a 30% difference in your Cyan and Magenta values.

Blue is close to purple in the CMYK spectrum. Remember, use a low amount of magenta whenever using high amounts of cyan to avoid purple.

Example: C-100 M-65 Y-0 K-0

Rich black is an ink mixture of solid black, 100% K, with additional CMY ink values. This results in a darker tone than black ink alone. If you print black alone as 100% K, the resulting black may not be as dark as you might like.

This will give you a deep, dark, rich black.