Printing Elements that an Online Printing Company Would Like You to Know

In creating printed marketing materials, checking if the text, layout and design are perfectly done is an essential part of the process in order to avoid costly mistakes. Other considerations, such as the type of paper stock and coating, are also taken into consideration to ensure high quality results. However there are other elements that warrant similar attention, especially if you are going to be working with an online printing company. Get to know these printing elements so you would know what to when a problem involving any of these arises. You cannot simply put the entire burden to the online printing company.

Bleed
Bleed involves extending an image, color or any design element to reach the edge of the page, beyond the trim edge. The element is needed in order to allow any possible changes in the trimming process. Without the bleed, white area can show at the boundaries of the page although there are times when bleed is purposely included as part of the overall. Keep in mind that a bleed allowance can add to your printing costs because this will require the printer to use a larger-sized paper. To reduce the printing costs, you may trim down the page size in order to fit all the details on a smaller paper, although this will depend on the type of print job. Make sure to check this with the online printing company of your choice.

Resolution
In submitting your design files to an online printing company, it is important to consider the resolution of the photos and images that you are going to include in the material. Photos and images of low resolution can result in blurry or pixelated output upon transfer. Keep in mind that image resolution must be around 300 pixels per inch for offset printing. If you are thinking of using images that you downloaded from the Web, these usually only have 72 ppi so make sure to check that they have the right resolution or you run the risk of getting poor quality pictures.

Rich Black
In printing, black areas should have what professional from online printing services would call, a “rich black.” While there might seem like there aren’t any difference when seen from your computer monitor, large areas covered in black will appear grayish when printed with 100% black ink. It is because the black ink being used in offset printing does not actually create deep black. As a solution to this problem, a certain percentage of other colors are added to the black to produce rich black. Most in-house professional designers from online printing services use the traditional CMYK Formula of C60 M40 Y40 K100 to produce deep black.

File Format
Any online printing company accepts almost all file formats available, regardless of the print job. However, there are still some providers that require their clients to comply their preferred file formats. To make sure that your files will be opened by the printing service provider, feel free to ask whether or not they have a preferred file format so that you can prepare and save your file accordingly.