Print Ready

WHAT WE CAN WORK WITH

We would request press ready PDF files for all generic work where possible although we can accept Adobe Indesign, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop and Microsoft Word. If supplying a job that is to be personalised then we would request Adobe Indesign files where possible or a press ready PDF file if the job has been created in another application. Please contact Andy if you are unsure. Email: Andy.dawe@pro-activeuk.com,
Telephone: 01243 783611

FONTS

Without a doubt, fonts are the number one problem encountered by printers when attempting to process files in native application files, or PDFs. If you are supplying files as Mac InDesign, please ensure that all fonts being used in the project are supplied with the main document. Your 'Times Roman' may be slightly different to Pro-Active Prints 'Times Roman', which may result in reflowing of text or text 'dropping out'. Furthermore, it is also important that both screen and postscript/printer fonts are supplied.

IMAGES - RESOLUTION

Images that look great on the Web, placed into your project and viewed on screen may look sharp, this may not be the case when printed; the resolution that your monitor uses to display (usually 72-100dpi), is different to the resolution used for printing. As such, it is important that image resolution is considered within your workflow to achieve optimum quality images. The optimum resolution for printing is 300dpi, albeit that many images will print without any problems at 150dpi, but this will be significantly influenced by the quality and content of the original.

IMAGES - FORMAT

There are many different image formats available: Tiff, Eps, Bmp, Gif, Jpeg, RAW etc. Not all are suitable for print purposes. In addition, different applications will process and/or convert these images in different manners. To ensure that images are supplied in the best quality possible for printing purposes, we would recommend supplying them in either Eps or Tiff format.

TRANSPARENCY

Many photographic and illustration applications currently have the option to use transparency within files to achieve different effects. We always highly recommend flattening transparency prior to saving files or exporting to PDF. In this way, more consistency and control is retained at source, which will deliver a more reliable result at printing stage.

BLEEDS

Any images or colours that run up to the edge of the page, need to be extended or 'bleed' off the page to prevent white edges showing in the final printed product. The optimum bleed required for print is 3mm for text pages, 5mm for cover pages.

VARIABLE DATA/PERSONALISED JOBS

One of the major advantages of digital print is its ability to personalise every sheet that comes off the press. Utilising variable data in marketing and advertising campaigns can offer significant returns that increase response rates and customer retention. Pro-Active Print is well equipped to meet this need. In order to create personalised print, all that is needed is a database, artwork and if necessary, a selection of relevant images. However, this can be quite a complex and time-consuming task. As such, we would always recommend that you contact us prior to creating a personalised job. In this way, we are able to advise on what is required from the database, and the best methods of creating and personalising artwork.

PREFLIGHT

Preflight is a process whereby files are checked for problems prior to going to press. An integral component of Pro-Active Print's workflow is the preflighting of every file. Pro-Active uses Enfocus Pitstop as a default preflight package. Pitstop is able to check and potentially correct a PDF file for over 150 points, including font embedding, image colourspace and resolution, the presence of bleed and trim boxes and transparency, indeed all conceivable technical factors that can impact upon the successful processing of a file.