Business Card Artwork Specifications
There is no extra charge if you wish to supply
your own artwork for us to print. But this is a self serve service.
ie You need to know what you are doing.
If you are a graphic artist or just have a bit of
a flair for graphics, then you are more than welcome to upload your
own artwork files to our website for use on your business cards.
We have costed our service that all orders are taken via our website.
As such, you must upload your files for printing using the options
and sections on our website.
Uploadable File Types
You can upload tif, jpg or pdf files. These are described in more
detail in specific sections in our FAQ.
Best file type to use
For a complete business card with text in your file, the best file
type to use is a pdf. If your software can save as a pdf, then use
this option always where there is text in your file. Otherwise,
if you are just uploading a logo or photo to use on a card design
from our site, then tif or jpg are great.Use a tif file for logos,
line art and text. Always use LZW compression.Use a jpg file for
photos or images with graduations of colour. Use high quality, low
compression.
Important Information
Read through the following notes which outline some minimum requirements
for images. We strongly suggest people consult a graphic artist
to achieve the best results from uploaded files. It can get expensive
via trial and error. Please note that WE DO NOT CHECK YOUR FILES
prior to printing. You will get what you give us.
Suitable Resolutions
All images must be of a suitable resolution for printing purposes.
Images you see on your computer screen are 72dpi and are NOT a high
enough quality for printing.
Line Art images. If there is text in your image then 600dpi.
Grey Scale images. (Black and White pictures) If you have text in
your image it must be a minimum of 600dpi.
If it is just a photo, 300dpi.
Photographic Colour image If your image is just a colour picture
then 300dpi is the optimum resolution. This means if you are using
a computer screen image which is 72dpi, it is too low resolution
to print with.
Image Size
The finished trimmed size of your cards will be 89mm x 53mm. If
you want your image to go to the edge of your card (bleed off the
edge) you must overhang it by 1mm. So your image must include 1mm
around any edge that will be cut off. A full size image would therefore
be 91mm x 55mm.
Your image must be positioned Left -1mm and Top -1mm to bleed correctly
on our site.
If you supply a PDF file, we insist on this full size and we will
trim 1mm off all the way around.
Make sure your text or logo is 2-3mm away from the edge of your
card. If you have it too close to the edge, IT MAY BE CUT OFF in
the trimming process.
File Size
The maximum allowable file size is 2 megabytes. If you exceed this,
your file is deleted and not accepted. Use compression on any images
to achieve the best possible result.
PDF
Checklist
1) The file has no OLE images.
2) The file size is 91mm x 55mm allowing for 1mm bleed.
3) Images and Colours are all CMYK and not RGB.
4) The resolution of images are at least 300dpi.
5) No ICC colour profiles.
6) Convert all text to curves, if not, make sure fonts are fully
embedded with subsetting OFF.
7) Ensure that included images do NOT have alpha chanels.
8) Program specific:
All programs - Flatten transparency and remove layers.
InDesign (Use v2 and above only) MUST convert text to Outlines.
Illustrator below v9 cannot use gradient fills. They are not CMYK
compatible. Use v10 and above.
Illustrator saving pdf from SaveAs - Acrobat 4, Preserve Illustrator
Editing OFF, Embed All Fonts ON, Subset fonts OFF, Generate Thumbnails
OFF.
9) Note: That the above 8 points ALSO apply to ANY embedded EPS
files inside your PDF.
JPG and TIF Checklist
1) The resolution of the file is 300dpi (or 600dpi if it contains
text).
2) The file is CMYK not RGB.
3) Do not include any alpha chanels or masks.
4) If the file is a TIF, save it using LZW compression.
Distiller Settings for pdfs
We have outlined the follow Acrobat
Distiller settings for optimising your pdf files. |
