Information
Artwork guidelines
To ensure your print job runs as smoothly as possible, please refer to the following guidelines before sending artwork to us. If you need help exporting print-ready files or have any questions, please contact our Customer Services team on 01487 823546 or email customerservices@ciconi.co.uk. And remember, we can do the design for you too!
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Formats
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Our preferred way of receiving artwork is a high-resolution PDF with bleed and crop marks. Export artwork for printing as spreads on multiple sheets, such as brochures, catalogues and magazines, as single pages. We can also accept native InDesign artwork – if you wish to use this method, please ensure that you export it using the 'Package' option and include all images and fonts.
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If you do not have InDesign and are unsure about exporting a PDF from your software, don't worry! We can help with other formats like Word documents, PowerPoint slides and Publisher files and get them into a state suitable for printing. This can take time, so please be aware that an extra artworking charge may be applicable.
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Images
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The ideal image resolution is at least 300ppi, but this is only part of the story. For example, an image taken indoors with a phone in poor lighting may be high resolution in terms of how many pixels it contains but may look awful when printed. On the other hand, a well-exposed image taken outdoors with a high-quality camera but only 200ppi when placed into the artwork may look fine in the printed piece. Please get in touch if you would like us to check the suitability of your images.
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Colours
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Supplied PDF artwork should have all colours converted to CMYK unless you require spot colour (Pantone) printing. Otherwise, colour conversion to CMYK in prepress may result in unexpected colour changes, which you will have an opportunity to check at the proofing stage. If you require spot colour printing, please make sure that any other colours in the document are converted to CMYK so that it is clear which colours should print as a spot.
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Bleed
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Bleed is required on your artwork if you have images or block colours that will print right to the edge of the page. The recommended amount of bleed to add is 3mm, ensuring that no thin white borders appear on the edge of the print when trimmed. Please remember to include crop marks when exporting the artwork to PDF.
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Fonts
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Please embed all fonts in your PDF to ensure that your finished print looks how you intended – software such as InDesign should do this automatically. Though prepress checks usually flag missing fonts, it is best to ensure that they are embedded to prevent delays.
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Proofs
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We will provide PDF proofs of your artwork via email. When viewing the files, please ensure you use an up-to-date version of Adobe Reader and that the overprint preview is on. To do this, open the EDIT menu, select PREFERENCES and then PAGE DISPLAY in the list on the left. Find the USE OVERPRINT PREVIEW option and change the drop-down box to ALWAYS.