Print-ready artwork: the checklist that stops files being rejected
Most print delays are not press problems. They are file problems, and they are almost always one of the same five issues. Ten minutes of checking saves a day of back-and-forth.
1. Colour mode: CMYK, not RGB
Screens emit light and use RGB. Presses lay down ink and use CMYK. If you send an RGB file, someone has to convert it — and bright screen colours, particularly vivid blues and greens, shift noticeably when they do. Convert deliberately and check the result rather than letting the press surprise you.
2. Resolution: 300 DPI at final size
The phrase "at final size" is the part that gets missed. A 300 DPI image is only 300 DPI at the dimensions it was made for — enlarge it and the effective resolution drops proportionally.
| Final printed size | Pixels needed at 300 DPI |
|---|---|
| Visiting card (89 × 51 mm) | ≈ 1050 × 600 |
| A5 (148 × 210 mm) | ≈ 1750 × 2480 |
| A4 (210 × 297 mm) | ≈ 2480 × 3508 |
| A3 (297 × 420 mm) | ≈ 3508 × 4960 |
Large-format work is the exception — posters need around 150 DPI and banners around 30 DPI at full size, because they are viewed from a distance.
3. Bleed: 3mm beyond the trim
Cutting machines have a small tolerance. If your background stops exactly at the trim line, some copies in the stack will show a thin white sliver along the edge. Extending the background 3mm past the trim gives the cutter something to cut into. This is the single most common reason artwork is sent back.
4. Safe margin: keep text 3mm inside
The same tolerance works in the other direction. Text sitting closer than about 3mm to the trim risks being clipped. Phone numbers losing their last digit on a visiting card is a real and expensive failure.
5. Fonts: outline or embed
If the press does not have your font, it substitutes another — silently, and your layout reflows. Outlining converts text to vector shapes so it cannot be substituted. Embedding in a PDF/X file achieves the same thing. Keep an editable copy with live text for yourself before you outline.
The checklist
- Colour mode set to CMYK.
- All images 300 DPI at final printed size.
- 3mm bleed on all four edges.
- All text at least 3mm inside the trim line.
- Fonts outlined or embedded.
- Exported as print-ready PDF/X.
- Crop marks included.
- Spelling, phone numbers and GSTIN checked by someone who did not write them.
We preflight every incoming file
Send us a file and we check all of the above before printing, and tell you what needs fixing rather than printing a problem. Call +91 74055 25038 or send artwork on WhatsApp.