How to Create Print-Ready Artwork: Templates & Guidelines
This guide shares the best practices for creating print-ready artwork for your leaflet distribution campaigns.
The likelihood is that your graphic designer knows all this (ours sure do!), but if you've bravely opted to do it yourself, read on!
We will cover:
What does 'print-ready' mean?
How to make your leaflets print-ready
Example templates you can download
What does print-ready mean?
Print-ready artwork is artwork which is created and saved in the correct formatting for perfect printing.
If your leaflet design isn't created or saved quite right, it's at risk of looking unprofessional when printed. But don't worry, it's pretty easy to get right!
How to make your leaflets print-ready
In the words of Alex, one of our graphic designers, here's how you know your leaflet is print-ready:
Choose a file format - We recommend PDF as this is the best format for all printers.
Add a Bleed area - 3mm bleed work for most of printers. Rarely will you be requested a different bleed size.
Make sure your file is CMYK - (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black) are the 4 ink plates used commercial printing. Really important to avoid the RGB colour mode as this is intended for screens display.
Flatten your PDF - This will ensure a smooth printing process as some RIP softwares might offset your images and text. RIP (Raster Image Processor) is a program that allows your digital printer to communicate with the computer. The RIP program turns your artwork into a format the printer can understand.
Spell check and Inspection - Some software might have an embedded spell check tool, but often those are not trustable. Please check (or ask someone to look over) your artwork for errors you might have missed.
Example templates to download
You may find it easier to create your design using a template. If so, here are our most popular print sizes for you as templates to download:
A5 flyer (Illustrator - InDesign - PDF)
A6 postcard (Illustrator - InDesign - PDF)
DL flyer (Illustrator - InDesign - PDF)
Square (148mm x 148mm) Flyer (Illustrator - InDesign - PDF)
A4 folded to A5 leaflet (Illustrator - InDesign - PDF)
A4 tri-fold leaflet (Illustrator - InDesign - PDF)
Below you can find attached an image of before and after!
That's it!
If you're unsure if you've got it right, upload it on our online ordering platform, and if there are any issues, it will point them out.
Otherwise, you can send it to us, and we can make your artwork print-ready for you (for a small fee).