We get print files sent to us for review fairly regularly, usually by clients who have had something designed by a studio that works primarily in digital. The files look fine on screen. Then they go to the printer and something goes wrong: the colours shift, the edges are wrong, the fonts have not been embedded. Print has its own rules and they are not forgiving.
Bleed and safe zones are not optional ¶
Bleed is the extra 3mm of artwork that extends beyond the trim edge of a printed piece. It exists because cutting is not perfectly precise. If your design goes right to the edge and there is no bleed, you will get a white sliver on one side. Safe zones work the other way: keep important content at least 3mm inside the trim edge so it does not get cut off. These are not stylistic choices. They are technical requirements.
RGB and CMYK are not the same ¶
Screens display colour using RGB (red, green, blue). Commercial printers use CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black). The colour spaces are different and the conversion is not always clean. Bright blues and vivid oranges are particularly prone to shifting. If your brand colour is a specific Pantone reference, make sure your designer knows the CMYK equivalent and has set up the file accordingly. Checking on screen is not enough.
Resolution matters more than file size ¶
A logo that looks sharp on a website at 72dpi will look soft or pixelated when printed at A3 size. Print files should be set up at 300dpi at the final output size. If you are working with vector files (AI or EPS), this is less of an issue because vectors scale without quality loss. If you are working with raster images, check the resolution before you send.
Always ask for a proof ¶
A digital proof (PDF) is useful for checking layout and copy. A physical proof is useful for checking colour. For anything where colour accuracy matters, whether packaging, brand materials, or event print, request a physical proof before the full print run. The cost of a proof is small. The cost of reprinting 500 brochures because the colour was wrong is not.
If you need print-ready files and are not sure whether what you have is correct, we offer a file review as part of our Packaging and Print Design service. Send us what you have and we will tell you what needs fixing.