Artwork Requirements

Artwork that has been produced in Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw, Photo-Paint, Photoshop, or on any other quality arts package on a pc (or Mac, which must be prepared for printing on a pc), can be sent on a floppy, cd or by email.

There are two types of artwork that we can print: Vector Outline Format or Bitmaps

Vector Outline Format In Adobe Illustrator (CMYK not RGB), InDesign, Corel Draw or other similar quality arts packages, all artwork produced using text or the square, circle or pen tools at the side of the page is saved automatically in vector format. Fill all text and shapes with the appropriate colour. You can also incorporate a photo or drawing as a bitmap. Select all text in Illustrator or InDesign and create outlines. In Corel Draw select all text and convert to curves. Please ensure that all the artwork i.e. clipping masks or parts that are hidden from view are contained within the cut shape or including any bleed. Save the whole job actual size as a .ai .pdf in Illustrator CS or lower, as a .pdf in InDesign or as a .cdr in CorelDraw 11 or lower. Send a .jpeg by email or a print in the post so that we can visually check that nothing has moved. Artwork produced in vector format will result in much sharper printed text, particularly very small lettering.

Bitmaps In Adobe Photoshop, Corel Photo-Paint or other similar quality arts packages, generate all photos and images actual size, add text and colour backgrounds etc and save the whole job as a .jpeg at 300 dpi, Photoshop (.PSD .PDD) CPT Corel PHOTO-PAINT image or .tiff* .gif .png or .bmp etc.

Cutting Shapes: In Illustrator InDesign or Corel Draw (not PhotoShop or Photo-Paint) use the square, circle or pen tool at the side of the page to create the desired shape to be cut, as a fine stroke/hairline in any colour. We manually change the colour to a special colour, our cutter follows these vector outlines.
We will do the artwork for all simple shapes such as rectangles, circles or ovals etc. We can create complex cutting shapes subject to quote.
Do artwork actual size, include exactly 1mm for any bleed.

Colours The full Pantone solid coated colours and Pantone Metallic ranges are available
We are unable to print white or shiny gold or silver

We prefer artwork produced in Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw, Photo-Paint or Photoshop as above.

Artwork produced in Word, Publisher, PowerPoint or Excel can often cause us problems and often we have to reset it in Illustrator or Corel Draw. If we don't have the exact font that you have used, it will be substituted with one that may be totally different.
We use Word, Publisher, PowerPoint, Excel and the full Microsoft Office XP on Windows XP Professional.
Please send all images in the artwork separately as a .jpeg

We work in Adobe Illustrator CS, Adobe Photoshop CS, Corel Draw 12 and Corel Photo-Paint 12 all on a pc.

Adobe PDF We can accept .pdf files, but please ensure that all text has been selected and outlines created. Please send actual size.

We output from Corel Draw 12 or Adobe Illustrator CS on a pc directly to our printers.

Special notes:
*A .tiff can result in dramatic colour changes when we print, of which we may not be aware. We prefer bitmaps to be supplied as a high quality .jpeg

If you are befuddled by the information on this page, but want to prepare artwork for us to print and need a little help, please phone Rita Whitmore on 01908 520920 (Direct line Monday to Friday 9-5)