Artwork Specifications
Use this as your pre-submission checklist. Not everything will apply to all print projects, but this is a great guide that will help you catch things you might have missed during the design process.
File Export Checklist
Document Setup
Images
Cut paths, Die lines, or White Ink
Text/ Type
Colors/ Swatches
Exporting
- Standard bleed of 0.125” is added (Certain projects may require additional bleed)
- Document size is correct (matches quoted size or contact your sales representative about a size change)
- Scale factor in filename (if applicable)
Images
- Images are at least a minimum of 100-150 DPI at full size.
- Embed links or upload all placed graphics as a packaged document
Cut paths, Die lines, or White Ink
- Change any non-printing items (cut paths, crease, white ink...) to a SPOT swatch in an obvious color
Text/ Type
- Grammar and spell check
- If you don’t need live fonts - Outline the text in your file or create a packaged document and link fonts
Colors/ Swatches
- PANTONE colors are named properly Ex. “PANTONE 301 C” cannot be renamed “PMS 301 CMYK”
- Delete any other unnecessary swatches in the file
Exporting
- Choose the High Quality preset or use Adcolor’s custom PDF preset for the Adobe Creative Suite
- Do not add any printer’s marks (ie. crop marks)
- Do NOT downsample images and make sure image quality is set to the highest possible option