Artwork Guidelines

We work in a PDF  (Portable Document Folder) workflow. PDF’s are the most common and preferred file format for submitting digital documents throughout the printing industry. Creating a PDF locks in the fonts, pictures and graphics; increasing the reliability of the artwork file. Please submit all PDF files for printing using our recommended PDF/X-4:2010 joboptions.

Most of today’s layout programs such as Adobe Indesign have an ‘Export to PDF’ function based on various settings named ‘Adobe PDF Presets’.

Use the PDF/X-4 preset that comes with Adobe InDesign to achieve high resolution PDF files when exporting.

You may preview these settings here: PDF/X-4 Settings

If your version of Adobe InDesign does not have the PDF/X-4 joboptions then you can download the job options here PDFX-4.joboptions

The PDF/X-4:2010 and PDF/X-4:2008 joboptions differ in the PDF version they produce. The 2010 version saves to PDF version 1.6.

Some important points to follow:

• Ensure that all images have been converted to CMYK colour mode in Photoshop.
• All images need to be of a high resolution of at least 300 dpi.
• Text must be at least 10mm inside of the trim line on all sides to assure that nothing will be trimmed off during the cutting process.
• All images or graphics trimming off the edge MUST be pulled out 5mm beyond the trim line (bleed).
• Outline all fonts when working in Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator, embed fonts in other programs and flatten all layers.
• In Adobe InDesign convert all your colours on the pallete to CMYK to ensure you don’t use RGB colours or Pantone colours by accident in your artwork.
• Do not use the colour named ‘REGISTRATION’ or ‘ALL’, anywhere in your artwork. Those are used only for crop marks and they consist of 100% of all four process colours (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black).

In short, printers and monitors produce colours in different ways.

Monitors emit light and use the RGB (red, green, blue) colour model, which usually supports a wider spectrum of colours (GAMUT).

Printers reflect light and use the CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) colour model, which can reproduce only some of the colours in the RGB range. CMYK generally matches 80% of the colours in the sRGB model.

The image below shows the human eye’s full visible spectrum and also shows the reduced colour range of sRGB and AdobeRGB as well as the CMYK colour range. You will notice that the printing process can only produce a small percentage of the colours our eyes are capable of viewing.

The prerequisites to simulate a printing press are as follows:

a) A high quality IPS monitor needs to be used. IPS monitors allow you to view them from different angles will minimal change in appearance.

b) You need to purchase a monitor calibration device and calibrate your monitor regularly as the light bulbs in the back of your screen fade over time just like any other light bulb. After calibration you need to ensure you do not change the brightness and contrast settings as they will invalidate your calibration.

We use the X-Rite i1 Display Pro that costs around $350

c) You need to simulate the printing press or presses as well as the paper type used to print your product.

We use the cold-set web offset method for printing newspapers.

We use the heat-set web offset method for printing catalogues and magazines.

You will need to use one of the following profiles depending on the printing process used:

• Coldset Uncoated (Newsprint between 42gsm and 55gsm)

  • Colour Profile
    • WAN-IFRA-Report-ISO-12647-3_2013-Newspaper-Printing_standard.pdf
    • WAN-IFRAnewspaper26v5.icc
  • Colour Settings for Adobe Products
    • Spotpress Adobe Color Settings WAN-IFRAnewspaper26v5

•  Heatset Coated (High brightness greater than 105gsm)

  • Colour Profile
    • PSOcoated_v3_info.pdf
    • PSOcoated_v3.icc
  • Colour Settings for Adobe Products
    • Spotpress Adobe Color Settings PSO Coated v3

•  Heatset Light-Weight-Coated Improved (Medium brightness between 57gsm and 104gsm)

  • Colour Profile
    • PSO_LWC_Improved_eci_info.pdf
    • PSO_LWC_Improved_eci.icc
  • Colour Settings for use with Adobe Products
    • Spotpress Adobe Color Settings PSO LWC Improved

• Heatset Uncoated (High brightness Wood-Free between 60gsm and 100gsm)

  • Colour Profile
    • PSOuncoated_v3_FOGRA52_info.pdf
    • PSOuncoated_v3_FOGRA52.icc
  • Colour Settings for Adobe Products
    • Spotpress Adobe Color Settings PSO Uncoated v3

Crop marks, also known as trim marks, are lines in the four corners of your artwork indicating where the paper should be cut to produce the correct page size.

These do not need to be in the PDF artwork you provide as our software is guided by your defined PDF trim box. If you decide you need them in your files they need to be at least 5mm away from your artwork.

It consists of the arrangement of the printed product’s pages on the printer’s sheet, in order to obtain faster printing, simplify binding and reduce paper waste.

Correct imposition minimizes printing time by maximizing the number of pages per impression, reducing cost of press time and materials.

To achieve this, the printed sheet must be filled as fully as possible.

 Example:

No. All your PDF files are imposed automatically by our prepress workflow software.

The trimming process process of a magazine or a catalogue at high speed can produce slight variations. This can result in fine white lines on the edges of your publication if you don't provide extra image (bleed) to be trimmed off.

The term bleed is used for all objects extending past the trim border of your document. If any element on your document layout makes contact with the trim box  you will need to provide bleed.

Bleed needs to extend 5mm past the PDF trim box.

Yes! This is extremely important.

Although our prepress software should automatically convert any RGB images contained in your submitted files to CMYK automatically, it is not recommended as the colour of the converted images may be different from your intention.

In rare instances with newer PDF files that contain multiple image layers we have seen our conversion software fail to convert an RGB image to CMYK.

You always should adjust your images to compensate for printing on paper. You can use an image editing program such as Adobe Photoshop to achieve this in combination with the colour profiles located in the DOWNLOADS area.

Your monitor might also be the reason for this misrepresentation. It is imperative you have a calibrated monitor when creating artwork for printing. A monitor that is set to high contrast and brightness can lead a designer to darken a photo and lead to a darker print result.

We recommend that all images be saved at 300 dpi in the final size that they will be used.

Some people download images and graphics from the Internet in preparing their print publication. These Internet images usually have a resolution of only 72 dpi in order for the web pages to load quickly. Avoid these graphics, as they will appear pixelated when printed due to JPEG compression and your will not be happy with the end result. If you need to use these then scale them down by 50% and that will increase the resolution to 144dpi ( 72dpi / 0.50)

“RGB” refers to the primary colors of red, green, and blue. “CMYK” refers to the primary colors of pigment: cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. The CMYK colors are used on printing presses to make any hue possible for “full color printing.”

The issue in commercial printing projects arises from the fact that the RGB colour space does not correspond exactly to the CMYK colour space. It is therefore possible for you to see colours on your computer monitor that cannot be reproduced by an offset printing press.

Our printing presses reproduce colour with the use of four inks – cyan, magenta, yellow and black (CMYK).

Non-CMYK content (such as RGB, Pantone, Lab etc.) might be converted to CMYK by our prepress software but may suffer a significant colour shift resulting in dull, w

ashed-out colours. Many designers unintentionally include Pantone spot colours in their files so we attempt to convert these to CMYK.

If your publication requires printing of a specific Pantone spot colour or spo varnish then this needs to be quoted for and requested from the Spotpress sales representative.

The specific Pantone ink needs to be ordered from the ink manufacturer and a different printing process needs to take place on our end.

Your order to Spotpress needs to clearly identify the fact that you need a specific Pantone spot colour or spot varnish.

Greyscale pages are also known as black & white pages or monochrome pages. To ensure your pages do not contain other colours check for them by using Adobe Acrobat Professional (not Reader) under Tools > Print Production > Output Preview > Show: All > Untick ‘Process Black’.

Any ink applied to areas exceeding these values will rub-off to other areas of the page AND/OR transfer to the adjacent page (set-off) AND/OR pass through the paper to the reverse side of the page. The end product will look dirty and graphics including advertisements and photos may be affected.

The end product will look dirty and graphics including advertisements and photos may be affected.

This means that a 24-page publication must consist of 24 individual PDF files.

Our automated software relies on you to name your files as per the Spotpress Prepress Department's instructions.

These instructions are typically sent to you upon commencement with Spotpress.

Alternatively call the team on (02) 9549 1186 or email them at prepress@spotnews.com.au

All 'vectors' imported into Adobe Photoshop will be converted to 'rasters' resulting in loss of quality and sharpness.

Vectors are lines and Rasters are pixels.

Fonts need to be kept as Vectors to provide a sharp printing result.