PDFs are by far the most useful format to get your documents to your printer. Irrespective of how the file was created, the formatting can be preserved, colour accuracy taken care of, print-ready aspects like bleed and trim included and all of this with the added advantage of some file compression as well. However, not all PDFs are made equal and there are some key considerations one needs to remember to ensure success. Not taking care of these aspects can lead to less than perfect results, delays and a likelihood of a re-print being required.
As a printer, we prefer one-up pages centred on the page so that we can do all the required imposition to suit the printing method being used. With that as a departure point one also needs to take care of the following aspects:
- Bleed & trim marks: Including a bleed ensures that the design extends beyond the final trim size, allowing for any slight variations during the trimming process. The trim marks indicate where the document should be trimmed after printing. Most design software allows for this feature but when it doesn’t one needs to manually change the page size to include bleed and make sure there is a safe area for trimming [See https://revprint.capetown/getting-the-most-out-of-your-printing-experience/]
- Colour space: A lot of programmes work in RGB which is a screen colour space and conversions to CMYK, the printing colour space, can introduce undesirable results. It is therefore best to convert to CMYK and adjust for best results before submitting to the printer.
- Image resolution: For the best printing results we recommend using 300 dpi images and, where large images have been reduced in size, we recommend adjusting to 300 dpi at the final size. Lower resolutions may result in pixelated and or blurry images and excessively high resolution may render the file unprintable.
- Embedding of Fonts: This ensures that no font substitution takes place, and the look of the original design is maintained.
- Compression: Choose an appropriate compression method for your PDF to balance file size and print quality. For images, consider using lossless compression or down-sampling to reduce file size without significant loss in image quality.
- Flattening of effects: If the design contains transparent elements, such as overlapping objects or drop shadows, it’s important to flatten transparency to avoid unexpected results during printing. Transparency flattening ensures that the transparent elements are correctly rendered.
- PDF/X Standards: Consider using PDF/X standards, such as PDF/X-1a or PDF/X-4, for print-ready PDFs. These standards provide specific guidelines and restrictions to ensure compatibility and accuracy in professional print production.
By paying attention to these aspects of PDF creation you can be more assured that the result will be high-quality prints that match the intended design. If, however, these technicalities seem a little daunting, one should not panic, as the printer offers an in-house service to re-work your files into a print-ready format. The printer’s pre-press service is probably the best insurance of predicable results you can get.
Leave it with us, you are in good hands!
