PRINT GUIDELINES

We want your job to print how it’s supposed to & want to provide an easy, reliable service for you now & in the future.

Please read our guide and save yourself valuable deadline time and money and if there's anything at all that you don't understand – please contact us.

Olympic has its own full-service, in-house, digital artwork studio for producing even the most complex artwork requirements. For more details, email studio@olympicpress.co.uk.

Of course, many customers prefer to create and supply their own artwork, in which case the following guidelines might prove useful. They will also help ensure we provide you with the best possible service…without unnecessary delay.

First…the basics

A very high percentage of jobs that won't print are from incorrectly prepared files.
Artwork doesn't print how it looks on-screen or on a basic non-Postscript colour proof.
Even top designers, agencies or people who create stunning artwork sometimes send us unprintable files. Even if you are a professional, our requirements may be different to other print companies. So please take a little time to read the following:

BEFORE STARTING

If, after reading this guide, you are still unsure, you can avoid potential problems by calling our studio on 0161 775 2555. We’ll be happy to help.

NB New software becomes available all the time. If our studio encounters any problems with it, we will update this page for your reference.

CREATE YOUR ARTWORK IN A USEABLE APPLICATION

Our preference is for artwork set-up in MAC format, using QuarkXpress up to version 7, with Illustrator and Photoshop links up to CS3. With the print options and inposition software we have in-house, this keeps our repro time down. However we can accept from the following files:

For Mac

Quark 6.5 - 7, Indesign CS3, Illustrator CS3, Photoshop CS3, PDF (with bleed & crop marks, in fairly high quality)*

For PC

PDF (with bleed & crop)*, Word**

We do not accept:

Please note, we cannot accept: PowerPoint, Excel, Publisher or anything not mentioned above. If you have a file not mentioned, please call. We may be able to test it for you by alternative methods.

* We accept PDF files and can print successfully from them. However, all repro requirements lie with the customer to set up correctly before we receive the file. Changing a PDF can be time consuming and will incur extra charges. Many PDF's, on output, produce several plates of different spot colours, blacks made up of CMYK and text can reflow. If a mistake is noticed on press, i.e. spelling or a design element within the PDF causing a problem, the job will be lifted as we can’t quickly make a change. If possible, we prefer to be supplied with the original files the PDF is created from.

** Word can cause problems and in many cases we have to reset artwork at extra cost. We will advise beforehand. We can resave Word files as a PDF to output from, but sometimes this is unsuccessful on output as it can produce several plates of different spot colours, blacks made up of CMYK and text can reflow.

GENERAL LAYOUT AND BLEED

It’s always best to keep your artwork on one document and put all pages in running order from Page 1 or front cover onwards to the back cover. This helps us when imposing artwork for multiple page documents and booklets. It’s okay to put the front and back cover over pages 1 & 2 of your document.

Keep your document page size relevant to the final job size e.g. an A4 Letterhead at 210x297mm Portrait.

Any part of the artwork that runs to the edges of the page requires ‘BLEED’. To add this, our standard recommendation is to carry your artwork beyond the page area by 3mm. If this is not applied you may have thin white perimeter areas when your job is cut to size. This will look very unprofessional. Do not alter your page size to do this - our print options make sure this is printed beyond your correct page size set-up.

Be careful of your margin sizes from all edges inwards. We recommend you keep important objects like text at least 4mm from the final trim size.

INTRODUCTION TO SPOT COLOUR

Many standard stationery sets are printed as spot colour (commonly 1 or 2 colours). All artwork must be set-up only with the colours used, set to their Pantone® spot value. Only one version of each colour should be created and not repeated or commonly used in all imported graphics/images from other applications. It is also possible to use the same spot colour with a slightly different ending to its name. If this happens it will create extra plates when we process your job.

INTRODUCTION TO 4 COLOUR PROCESS

Everything digital, like cameras, monitors and some scanners, etc., works in 3 colours Red, Green & Blue (RGB).

Printing presses use 4 colours Cyan, Magenta, Yellow & Black (CMYK) also known as 4 COLOUR PROCESS. This 4 colour combination creates all the colours you see in everyday full colour print. We also use (CMYK) with Pantone® spot colours if a specific colour is required.

SAVING RASTER IMAGES (Photos, Scans etc)

Using RGB images can cause the final output of your job to print in Greyscale or even looking very washed out due to Rip software misunderstanding it and trying to convert them to CMYK. Below we explain how to save your images correctly.

At some stage of artwork creation any RGB images must be converted to CMYK. As an industry standard application this is usually done in Photoshop. It is always best to save the file as a .eps or .tiff, with no halftones, LZW compression, ASCII or JPEG encoding selected in the saving options. If possible, files must be saved at a minimum of 300dpi at 100% of the size they are being used for.

For images in B&W, Greyscale mode is sufficient and a tiff or JPEG file is acceptable if the quality is high. Files must be saved at a minimum of 300dpi at 100% of the size they are being used for. All DCS files, LAB colour and Duotones must be converted to CMYK before saving unless the Duotone is for a spot colour job. It’s also advisable to keep an original copy to revert back to at any time.

USING COLOUR

We often use Pantone® spot colours when printing as these match a universal reference number and are mixed in-house. They can be printed out of CMYK, but a high percentage of them do not reproduce effectively.

4 Colour Process jobs require all spot colours, in all links including the main file itself, to be converted to CMYK before artwork is submitted. Any spot colours that are to be printed as a special colour, in addition to the process colours, must be clearly labelled as a spot colour reference and appear throughout the artwork with the exact spelling on all the linked files to avoid creating more than one version of that particular spot colour. If these details are on your order, and a mistake within your artwork occurs, we can rectify any errors before proceeding.

Many RGB and spot colours do not have a direct CMYK equivalent, but most software applications will automatically choose the closest CMYK colour value. This can sometimes be very different from the spot colour you intended, but is something that everyone should be aware of. If your spot colour is very important, you may wish to consider an extra colour.

If you don’t convert spot colours to process, extra separations can appear, as well as your CMYK printing plates, when we process your job. This can be complicated and time consuming to change, especially for multiple documents, as there can be many inconsistencies within linked files.

You may be able to check potential colour problems by printing your document as ‘separations’ from your desktop printer. See the help guide that came with your printer for more details.

TIPS

Values. Any colour, for example PANTONE Red 032 C (which is made up of Cyan 0% Magenta 90% Yellow 86% Black 0%) prints better if the Magenta value is nudged up to 100%, as a tint this high can fill in inconsistently at 90% and cause a patchy colour – especially if it’s a large, solid filled area. We would also put the yellow to 100% as well to create a richer red. It’s always best to have at least one high colour that’s around 80-85% changed to 100% to provide a better quality print.

USING TINTS

Tints look fine on screen but can reproduce too pale, too dark or not at all. The print process in all cases is never WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get!) when viewing on screen or as a hardcopy printout as explained below.

When using Pantone® colours, especially light colours, it’s best to avoid tints that contain less than 5% of a chosen colour as they usually print much lighter than they appear on screen. Similarly, it’s best to not go beyond 80-85% with darker tints as these will more than likely fill in as an inconsistent solid (see Tip No 1).

When using CMYK tints don’t try to create tints of a tint, i.e. a 5% tint value of PANTONE Orange 021 C converted (which is made up of Cyan 0% Magenta 53% Yellow 100% Black 0%). This will make Cyan 0% Magenta 2.65% Yellow 5% Black 0% which will show as a 5% tint of yellow and not orange.

MANAGING TEXT AND FONTS

Text with menu styles can revert to their original state, alter your artwork and, in most cases, even reflow your text. Fonts supplied without printer descriptions can revert to courier or become pixelated (jagged) when printed.

Some text effects or ‘Print Styles’ are known to cause problems, so it’s best not to use underline, shadow, strikethrough or any other item from the text effects menu. Also plain, bold and italic styles are not reliable. Try to use the complete font family for different styles if required.

All fonts used within your artwork must be included when you submit your files. Postscript fonts come in two parts – the screen font and the printer font. We need both to process your job, so please make sure that these are collected as other versions of the same font used in our studio may cause your text to reflow differently. True Type fonts only come in one part. QuarkXpress and InDesign both a useful collection for output option which also collects all your other links, but please double check it has collected everything.

When using a vector programme, like Illustrator, it’s okay to convert your text to curves, paths or outlines. This means you don't need to supply the particular font used, unless it’s on another part of your job. But remember, if we spot a spelling mistake or any other error, we need the original file supplied to revert back to in order to amend it.

We do not recommend setting paragraphs of text in a raster application like Photoshop as the text may not be as clear as if it were vector text.

WORKING WITH PDF’S

See CREATE YOUR ARTWORK IN A USEABLE APPLICATION

TIPS & THINGS TO AVOID

Graphics applications can be quite advanced and software is updated more frequently than ever before. In many cases new software may contain features that may not be compatible with other software used in the processing of your artwork. These tips are based on daily experiences in our studio and any new information not covered will be regularly updated.

Here is a list of a few things to avoid...

Hairlines

These are commonly used for the drawing of tick marks. ‘Hairline’ lines are ‘device dependent’. This means they print at different resolutions on different machines. Use a custom line of 0.25pt instead.

Compression

You can use Winzip, Zipit or Stuffit to compress your correctly set-up files for email transfer or to burn to CD/DVD. Never compress images by saving them as a jpeg or by using LZW compression or JPEG encoding. This will only cause the problems outlined above and may result in your file not printing at all.

If you need to send a large file to us, our email typically accepts files from anywhere up to 20mb but we also have an FTP section on our website where you can upload files to and we'll retrieve them, check them, and delete them from the server. Please talk to us about this if you need to.

Trapping - Overprint

Be careful with overprint and other trap settings (especially in QuarkXpress). If you set objects to overprint, they will not ‘knock-out’ the background and will look very different to what you see on screen or a basic proof. Our proofing system will show incorrect trap settings as well as many other potential problems with your files.

For example, Yellow text overprinting a blue solid area will produce green text. Black text is generally set as default to overprint. This produces a better quality of print. (Please refer to your application manual for more information. Or, if you are unsure, call our studio for assistance.)

Adobe Acrobat and InDesign have an 'Overprint Preview' mode if you want to double check for things overprinting.

Trapping - Knock-out

Knockout is fine for parts of many print jobs, but a slight misregistration on print can show other colours or white areas if used incorrectly.

For example, light text on a dark background might require a standard +0.144pt trap value to be added to the text when selected so that the light coloured text will spread over the darker fill to produce a better quality of print.

A standard trap value of -0.144pt for darker text on a lighter background will make the lighter colour underprint behind the darker text to produce a better quality of print.

Gradient Fills

These are best avoided, they sometimes have a tendency to show ‘banding’ and can look unprofessional.

An EPS within an EPS

Postscript errors are more frequent when this is done. EPS’s can cause problems in QuarkXpress.

Duotone/RGB Images

These will either print in black and white or with very washed out colours – always convert to CMYK unless it’s setup correctly for a spot colour job.

Website Images & GIF's

Try to avoid downloading website images for your artwork. The resolution is set for optimum viewing on a monitor at 72dpi and in many cases do not print very well on press. Use these images only if you know that the finished print will look professional enough.

YOU’RE READY TO SUBMIT YOUR ARTWORK!

FIRSTLY - You need to make sure that your artwork is setup correctly as outlined above. Then make sure that all links to your main document are up to date and proceed to collect your whole job into a single folder. Some applications have an easy option to do this, but you may still be required to find fonts and links that may be linked to your linked files aswell. Files that are stored on different hard drives or disks than where you're working have a tendency to be missed by collection features.

It is essential that you supply an up to date hard copy of your final artwork and make a mock-up if necessary before you send your artwork. This enables our studio and printers to check your artwork from the start to finish of your job. Any approved digital proofs must be returned for our use in printing your job.

SECONDLY - We cannot start production of any job until we receive your purchase order or Olympic’s own purchase order which you can download from our downloads page.

WE NOW HAVE YOUR FILES

We do basic checks to be sure that our customers files meet our production requirements as outlined above, but we don’t go as far as checking spelling or grammar. Very often we do find mistakes at various stages before print and in turn notify our clients and advise on any extra cost if necessary before proceeding.

PROOFING

If colour or any concerns are important you may wish to consider having an accurate CMYK colour proof produced using Best Colour Technology or a high quality proof off our digital press. This proofing process can show incorrect trap settings as well as many other potential problems that can occur with your files.

You should use your proof to check that text hasn’t reflowed and no items are missing or not reproduced as expected. The proof is a guide to show you how the finished print will look, and is also a good guide to enable us to print your job as you would expect.

A very high percentage of artwork created here in our studio is approved through email as a PDF for visual reference. By using this process we cannot colour match as monitor colours differ from screen to screen and are not optimised to CMYK. We therefore recommend a proof if necessary dependant on your type of job.

Olympic Press are not held responsible for incorrect jobs once they have been signed and approved as okay to print.

If you have any questions or queries regarding our guidelines, please contact us

All Products are printed at our production unit in South Manchester

OLYMPIC PRESS LIMITED
Unit 34
Irlam Business Centre
Manchester
M44 6GP

Main Telephone:0161 775 2555

General Enquiries: sales@olympicpress.co.uk
Quotes: jim@olympicpress.co.uk
Artwork & Production Queries: studio@olympicpress.co.uk
Email Orders: orders@olympicpress.co.uk