How to prepare a print-ready file

Most files that arrive at a print shop are not print-ready. The three problems we see most:

No bleed

If a colour or image runs to the edge, leave 3mm of bleed on every side. The guillotine can shift by fractions of a millimetre; without bleed you get a white line at the edge.

Sending RGB files

Screens work in RGB, presses in CMYK. The vivid blue or neon green you see in RGB has no CMYK equivalent and fades in conversion. Prepare the file in CMYK from the start.

Fonts not embedded

Export the PDF with “Press Quality” settings and make sure fonts are embedded. A font that is not embedded opens with a different typeface on our machine, and catching that before the run is not always possible.