FAQs and Useful Info

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Printing

Unless otherwise stated the published prices are for 4-colour process (CMYK) sheet-fed offset lithography (litho) using computer to plate technology (CTP).

In addition we can also produce:

• Litho print up to six colours in one pass;

• Digital printing in black only, 4-colour process, or a combination of the two (for booklets and newsletters) - double-sided, up to A3 with full bleed;

• Large format posters up to 1400mm wide by any length onto a variety of material such as self-adhesive, clear and exterior vinyl (for exhibitions, shop fronts, POS, etc);

• 1 & 2 colour litho printing up to A2 with full bleed.

• Self-adhesive vinyl lettering for window graphics, vehicles and signage;

• We also have long established contacts in the web offset field for printing newspapers and magazines.

For an explanation of printing processes visit Wikipedia - click here.

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Graphics from web pages

It's not a good idea to simply lift an image from someone's website - and it's almost certainly an infringement of copyright.  

There's no problem printing graphics acquired from web pages but the quality is generally very poor. Images on the web are only 72dpi when, to get maximum quality from commercial printing, they need to be 300dpi or higher.

For top quality results text and headlines should be produced in a programme that can use both vector graphics and bitmap images. Examples are Adobe PageMaker, Quark Express, Corel Draw, InDesign, Microsoft Publisher, PagePlus - and there are many others to choose from.

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Cutter guides and folder templates

We have a variety of cutter guides and folder templates available in either oversize A4 or A5 sizes and in a variety of graphic formats. Email us with your requirements.

Or we can custom-build them to your specific dimensions.

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Can I use Microsoft Word?

Yes. It's excellent for text - but scanned images and graphics are of low quality, usually only 72dpi when, for commercial printing, they need to be 300dpi or higher.

If you send us any high quality graphics separately we can replace them prior to printing - at a small extra charge.  

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Can you print from Microsoft PowerPoint?

Yes we can. Please click here for more information about how to set up your Powerpoint files for high quality printing.

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Can you print from Microsoft Excel?

Yes. Text is fine but scanned images and graphics are of low quality, usually only 72dpi when, for commercial printing, they need to be 300dpi or higher.

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File formats

The best format for high quality printing is PDF (Portable Document Format) with all fonts converted to curves (outlines).

If you don't have a PDF creator we can accept native files from most professional graphics packages (both Macintosh and PC). We'll process them to make them CMYK 'print-ready' and send you a proof for checking. These files need to be checked very carefully for processing errors before printing.

If you are running Windows and using any modern Microsoft software then just send us your documents and we'll do the rest. If you're using older software (pre 95) then that's more difficult. But don't worry, if you supply something we can't read we'll do our best to sort it out.

NEVER enlarge images in your artwork - this can seriously degrade quality. For good reproduction scan/create your images at the size you intend to print them (or do as graphics professionals do, scan oversize and do any retouching and airbrushing before reducing them to the required printed size). 

Create/scan your images at 300dpi and save them as TIF, PSD or EPS formats.

JPG (or JPEG) files are fine as long as you use minimum compression and you don't alter and save the images too many times (you lose quality each time you save).

BMP and PCX formats are ok, but tend to produce very large files.

Internet images: GIF format can only cope with 250 colours so they give inferior results when printed - and most JPG images on the internet use extreme compression which can cause colour shifts and blurriness. Since JPG and GIF are the most common image formats on the web, it follows therefore that it's not a good idea to simply lift an image from someone's website - and it's almost certainly an infringement of copyright.

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Resolution - dots-per-inch - dpi

For photographs, drawings and all colour images scan at 300dpi or higher. For black & white line art use 1200dpi.

Always scan your material at the size at which it will be printed. Enlarging images in your artwork can seriously degrade quality.

In other words don't scan your stuff and then enlarge it in your layout program! This is another reason why you should not use images that are lifted from websites; they are usually only 72dpi and will look very blurry indeed when printed on a 'litho' printing press.

Click here for detailed information about scanning and photo manipulation.

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Digital photographs

Pictures from digital cameras are designed to be printed and generally reproduce very well (much better than the equivalent film camera). As always though, the better the equipment, the better the result.

As a rough guide divide the image dimensions (given in pixels) by 300 to give the approximate 'litho' printing size. For example - a picture of 1800 x 1200 pixels would be adequate for a printed size of up to 6in x 4in.  

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Bleed and Quiet Border

Bleed is the term for printing that goes off the edge of the paper.

We need Bleed to allow for the working tolerances of our cutters, guillotines and folding machines - there is a margin of error with these operations.

In your artwork make sure that any photographs or backgrounds that you want to go right to the edge of the document actually go past the edge of the paper - this is called bleed. After your work is printed it'll trimmed down to it's correct size.

Bleed is normally 3mm.

If your software doesn't allow you to do this then a good way around it is to make your document 3mm larger all the way round. For instance, if the final size is A4 (297 x 210) then make your document 303mm x 216mm. Draw guides on the layout that are 3mm from the edge all the way around and produce your design with the idea that the layout will be trimmed where the guides are.

Quiet Border

Quiet Border is the term for the margin around a printed page that contains no important items (other than bleed elements).

Please don't put anything within 3mm of the edge, fold or perforation. We need to allow for the working tolerances of our cutters, guillotines and folding machines - there is a margin of error with these operations.

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Fonts and typefaces

Fonts are copyright protected and are not automatically copied when you save your documents. Transferring your files will leave the fonts behind.  When the document is opened on another computer the software automatically uses the fonts of the new machine and re-flows the text to suit.

There are a number of ways around this.

• 'Embed' all fonts within your document - search the help file of your application to learn how to do it.

• Use the standard 'open' fonts that are supplied with Microsoft Windows - although the spacing will still vary.

• Convert all fonts to curves (outlines) if you have the facility.

• Convert your documents to 'print-ready' PDFs.

Alternatively email us images of your fonts and we'll substitute them with our closest match.  

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Colour matching

Will my work look exactly like it does on my monitor?

Unlikely, not unless you have a professional calibrated monitor.

Scanners and digital cameras create images using combinations of just three colours: Red, Green and Blue (called RGB). These are the colours that computers use to display images.

Printing presses however print pictures using a different set of colours: Cyan (blue), Magenta (red), Yellow and Black (called CMYK). So at some stage your RGB file must be converted to CMYK in order to print it on a printing press. This is easily done using an image editing program like PhotoShop or Corel Photo Paint.

When we receive RGB images, we do a standard-value conversion to CMYK, which may not be perfectly to your liking. So if you have the facility please convert all RGB images to CMYK before you send them to us.

There are some colours in RGB that you can't make with CMYK. They are said to be 'out of gamut'. CMYK orange and CMYK blue are good examples of this (see below). In these cases the conversion filter just gets as close as it can to the original colour.

Above is an example of a 'before' and 'after' conversion.
The top row is RGB, the bottom row CMYK.

Colour photographs dont suffer very much from CMYK translation -  it's usually more noticeable if you pick very rich, vibrant colours for a background or some other element of your layout. It probably won't look bad, it just won't look exactly the same.

If you see printed material with strong oranges or blue s then the colours are almost certainly printed as extra 'spot' colours in addition to the four CMYK inks. We can print up to six colours in one pass - email for a price.

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Coloured text

Using colours on headlines or type above about 12 point is ok, but smaller sizes can be a problem.

What happens is that printing presses have a small amount of movement in the positioning of the different colours. This is called mis-registration. The cyan, magenta, yellow and black portions of the text characters don't line up exactly - the result is little coloured halos around the characters.

The same thing holds true for white text on a dark or coloured background. You can do it but don't use point sizes smaller than about 12 point.  

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Text over an image

Be careful about using photographs for backgrounds. If you put text (any colour) on top it can be very hard to read. So the secret is to lighten the photograph a lot - much more than you may think is necessary. Use a photo editing program like Paint Shop Pro or Adobe Photoshop.  

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Designing promotional literature

It takes readers just a few seconds to decide whether the stuff they are looking at is worth further attention. Here are a few points that you should think about when producing your material.

Whats in it for the reader?
In other words what are the benefits of your product or service? Can the reader reduce, enhance, build, save or eliminate something? Can the reader profit in some way by coming to you?

Use a photograph of yourself or your product
A picture will help the reader connect with you more easily. A photograph of your products being used by happy, satisfied customers would be ideal.

List your services or products
Make it easy for the reader to see what you offer at a glance. Using bullet points to present your list makes it easy to read.

Use a testimonial
Testimonials increase your credibility. Use the persons full name together with their company name - and ask for their permission. A testimonial that is in italics, with quotation marks will appear as someone is saying it.

Use the word free
I know, you see it everywhere - but that's because it works! Buy one get one free, free estimates, free parking, free delivery, or a free consultation are just a few examples.

Call for action
What do you want the reader to do? Arrange a free consultation? Visit your website? Ask for a free estimate?  

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Adobe Acrobat

If you have Acrobat Distiller then select the 'Press Quality' setting to create Adobe PDF documents best suited for high-quality prepress printing. Created PDF documents can be opened with Acrobat and Adobe Reader 5.0 and later.

Portable Document Format (PDF) has become a world standard for transferring files and documents. Use whatever application you prefer and simply select Acrobat as your output device - and then, depending on the settings you choose, it will embed your fonts and images and convert your work into high quality artwork files for printing.  It can also compress stuff for easier emailing. If you take printing seriously - a PDF creator is a must. Go to www.adobe.com for more info.

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Colour

WARNING: There can be a noticeable difference between viewing your work on a computer screen and seeing the final printed version - this is because computer screens are RGB devices whereas most printers are CMYK (see below for more info). For more accurate viewing use a colour calibrated screen and convert all your RGB images to CMYK.

There are thousands of regularly used colours and millions more that can be distinguished by the human eye. To give a name to each of them would be impossible, so scientists have devised various ways of assigning numeric values to colours.

These systems are called colour models, and they provide precise methods for naming and reproducing exact colours. Some are based on the optical components of the colours and others are based on how people "feel" colours are related to each other.  

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Digital Printing

Technically similar to photocopying and laser printing. Heat is used to bake different coloured powder onto the paper to form the finished image.

These systems work directly from electronic data and avoid the intermediate stage of printing plates. Because these machines use an inherently four-colour process (CMYK) there is no cost saving to be made from using one or two-colour designs.

The quality is not yet up to the standard of modern litho printing - but the man in the street would find it difficult to spot the difference.

For more information about printing processes visit Wikipedia - click here.

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Full colour (4-colour or CMYK) printing

The vast majority of colour magazines, brochures and leaflets are Litho printed using the CMYK 4-colour process. The initial set-up costs are higher than digital presses but because they run at much higher speeds they're more economic for larger quantities. 

'4-colour' printing presses use the CMYK colour model. By using cyan, magenta, yellow and black inks, you can mix nearly any colour.

When preparing a colour image for printing, the operator makes four printing plates. Each plate is for one of the four colours of ink in the CMYK model. When all four plates are aligned and printed on top of each other, the inks will combine to simulate the proper colours. This method is referred to as 'process colour' (or '4-colour') printing.  

For more information about printing processes visit Wikipedia - click here.

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RGB Colour Model  (Red, Green, Blue)
Used for the Internet, TV screens and computer monitors.

In the RGB system, the red, green and blue dots are assigned brightness values along some scale, for example 0 to 255, where 0 is dark and 255 is bright. By listing the three values for the red, green and blue phosphors, you can specify the exact colour that will be mixed.

Additive colours get lighter when mixed. As each component of light is mixed in, the combination becomes a new colour. Red, green and blue are the three additive primaries. You can mix any colour of light with different combinations of the additive primaries. When you mix all three together in balanced amounts, you get white.

These three primaries are the basis of the additive colour model. It's called the RGB model, and it's usually used to create colour on your computer display as well as other electronic devices. By mixing together various amounts of red, green and blue light, you can make almost any colour. The RGB colour space is a multi-coloured cube with different points showing what colours different mixtures of red, green, and blue make.

Television screens and computer monitors make their colours by mixing red,  green and blue lights. A monitor or television screen mixes a colour by illuminating tiny dots of red, green and blue phosphors with an electron gun located at the back of the monitor. By illuminating each of the dots to a different brightness, the monitor creates different colours.

Because the RGB model is only capable of producing a certain range of colours, there are some colours that cannot be reproduced accurately by a computer monitor. The number of colours visible on a monitor is further reduced by the limitations of the video hardware in the computer, which may display anywhere from just black and white up to 16.7 million colours.  

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HSL Colour Model (Hue, Saturation, Luminance)

The HSL model is very similar to the RGB model. In fact, when they're expressed mathematically, they're identical. The difference lies in how colours are expressed numerically. The hue determines which basic colour it is. Red, green, blue, yellow, orange, etc. are different hues. Saturation and luminance tell more about the variations of these basic colours. Saturation is the vividness (or "purity") of the colour, i.e., how much of the colour's complement is mixed in. Finally, luminance refers to the "whiteness" of the colour. It  may also be termed "brightness," "value" or "intensity."

Other models related to the HSL model are the HSB (Hue, Saturation, brightness) and HSI (Hue, Saturation, Intensity) models. These terms are all similar but not interchangeable.  

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CIE Colour Model  (Commission Internationale l'eclairage)

The CIE model is a more subjective description than the others. In 1931, the Commission Internationale l'Eclairage tested many people and found that the sensitivity of the receptors in the eye caused certain colours to be associated with others. The CIE colour space includes all visible colours, whether or not they can be defined in the RGB or CMYK models. Computer printers and other devices for displaying colour have practical limitations that prevent them from making ALL of the visible colours. The colours that they CAN create are collectively called the colour gamut. The CIE model is useful in part because a printer's colour gamut can be drawn on the CIE colour space showing what colours cannot be printed. Other colour models closely related to CIE are UCS (Uniform Colour Space), CIELAB and CIELUV.

PANTONE Matching System  See pantone  

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Payment Options

If you prefer you can post your material to us at the address below.

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Confidentiality 

We never approach your clients directly. This is a confidential service and our contract is with whoever places the order. All work is delivered in unmarked packages except for the courier's consignment labels which makes them difficult to trace.

All customer's material, publications, documents and artwork are archived and stored offline and kept for future reference. This material is not vulnerable to hackers or internet viruses.

We never reveal details to third parties

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Distance Selling Regulations 

Distance selling regulations do not apply to manufacturing sites.

For confirmation of this or for further information click this link - The Office of Fair Trading Exceptions to the regulations.

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