Professional Printing tuts or tips?

talk design
1

Would anyone care to provide us with tips or even a tutorial about professional printing - I’ve seen a few people recently who asked about pantone, CMYK, prices, formats etc… anyone here experienced would like to share knowledge ???

thnx tya all, designers :wink:

mlk =)

2

Here are some tips for setting up your files for printing:

  1. Make sure you’re working in CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black) mode.

  2. Make sure your DPI is set to 300 or higher depending on the size of your project.

  3. If your layout has color that goes out to the edges then you’ll need to set up a bleed as well, usually a 1/4 inch bleed all around is okay.

  4. Do not take images from the internet and stretch them to fit your layout, they will come out looking pixelated.

  5. Don’t use colored text that is smaller than 12 pt size. Sometimes it comes out looking crappy due to misregistration or when the color plates don’t light up right.

As for CMYK, Pantone and other print processes, I’ll describe them a little.

CMYK, uses 4 colors, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black on different color plates to do the printing.

Pantone is the brand of premixed colors that you can use for printing and is also called spot color.

One thing to keep in mind is that, the more colors used, the more expensive the price.

Usually when you take it out to a print shop, they will discuss this with you on how to go about printing your project with the least amount of ink used.

3

dang e-geek you covered everything.

Keep in mind that some projects can call for a 600 dpi print…I had one recently. Alway consult a print before your project to discuss concepts and guidlines…Then you know if you have to work in Pantone, CYMK or if you need 150 dpi to 600 dpi.

the type of medium being printed o make a diff also.

4

is the bleed area a plain white area, or is it like a continuation of the design?

also, if you’re using text smaller than 12 point, does that mean you’ll have to use black (because you said coloured can turn out wrong)

thanks for the advice so far :thumb:

5

*Originally posted by iLikePie *
is the bleed area a plain white area, or is it like a continuation of the design?

continuation of design, it’s a cutting/guilloteening thing.

6

Yes the bleed is the continuation of the design and you can still use colored text smaller than 12 pt, but there could be a chance that colors overlap and it could be noticable. Something like this.

7

You can use solid magenta, cyan or yellow, or a spot colour would also be ok, as that would be one ink.