Artwork Supply / Guidelines

Guerrilla Print has a battle plan to help you understand the most suitable ways to turn your ideas into mind blowing print solutions for your marketing.

 

Please note: To keep our prices ultra-low we ask you to prepare the artwork. If you are unable to do this, we do have specialist graphic designers, writers and photographers who can produce artwork for you but even Guerrillas have to earn a living so it will cost you more.

 

Artwork is usually produced as ‘print ready' files that can be produced using software programmes such as MS Publisher, Quark, Serif and Adobe In Design. Before sending us your files please check that they are ready to use by following the guidelines below. If we need to make any adjustments to your files this will delay your project and will keep us away from our other frontline Guerrilla marketing duties. It is in your interests to ensure that when you are ready to hand your artwork to us it is exactly how you want it to look and ready to print. Ensure that any annoying little things such as spelling mishstakes (oops! See what we mean?), incorrect telephone numbers, opening hours and other errors have been put right before your artwork reaches us because they cannot be rectified later. Artwork charges normally are charged at £50 per hour.

To ensure your file is "print ready" and avoid any extra charges, please review and ensure your artwork meets the following requirements before uploading your files.

 

File format: We can only accept artwork as ‘print ready' if it is in PDF format.
The majority of graphic manipulation tools will allow you to save or print your artwork in standard PDF format. Most appropriate software programmes also allow you to save to a PDF file. Adobe Distiller is the well known commercial version that is packaged with Acrobat, but there are also free or shareware versions available. If you need any Guerrilla advice on this please let us know.

 

Resolution: (No – NOT revolution – that comes later) Files, including any images, need to be at least 300 dpi to print sharply. Anything of lower resolution is unsuitable for commercial printing and the images will pixelate (breakdown and go blurry for want of a better term).

 

Colours: We aim to reproduce your colours as accurately as possible within the parameters of the 4-colour printing process. For colours to reproduce accurately they must be saved in CMYK format. Files that are sent to us using RGB, Pantone, or spot colours will be automatically converted to CMYK and may cause some shifts in your colours.

 

If you require us to match any colours, please send an example of what you want to have matched and we will do our best. Please note however that not all colours are printable using CMYK. If we cannot match you colours precisely we will let you know before printing.

 

Fonts: Although we try to match your specified fonts (typeface styles) this may not always be possible. If we don't have the font you want we will aim to use one that closely matches.

 

Bleed: Bleed is something Guerrillas are familiar with but in printing terms it means something entirely different. In printing it means extending the dimensions of the artwork beyond the edges of the printed area so that when the item is trimmed the content reaches the edges. This is more difficult to explain in words, so to help you understand the principles we have added a diagram below.

 

Any type needs to be within a parameter so that in the trimming process you will not lose any important words – but it can apply to a colour background or a photograph for example that will benefit by not having space around it.

 

As an example, an A4 document measures 297 x 210mm in its finished form. But with bleed added to allow for trimming an extra 3mm on each edge will be added to the artwork dimensions bringing the size up to 303 x 216mm; to give a document size that is 6mm larger in both height and width. This would be described as an A4 document with bleed. The same sizing rule can be applied to any page size to allow for bleed.

 

It helps to know a little about the finishing process that we use. There is an assumption that commercial printing is produced in the same way as on a standard printer attached to a computer; one sheet of paper for one job. But this is not the case; if it was then prices would have to be very much higher than even the rip-off merchants out there are charging. Your print job will be just one of several jobs that will all be printed at the same time on a single sheet of paper that is much larger than standard leaflet sizes. How many jobs are included on each sheet will depend on the printing press being used but it can be ten or more.

 

Once printed the blade of a large guillotine will cut through an entire stack of paper (these are far more useful than the guillotines used in French Revolution that could only behead one person at a time!) However, as with beheading, the blade does not always cut as efficiently as might be desired. When it cuts through a hefty pile of paper some of the sheets may move slightly leaving white excess around the edge of some of the leaflets.

 

This is where bleed comes in (Guerrilla guesses it may derive from beheading) Imagine if a document has a solid colour background that reaches the edges but the imprecision of the blade might not trim the paper exactly and will leave a miniscule white edge behind. You would not want this appearing on your leaflets - no would we as it would make us look unprofessional. What excess area on the dimensions of your artwork (the bleed) is there to allow an excess for the guillotine blade to cut into – a margin for error if you like!

 

Suppose you are using photographs on your leaflet; can they be bled as well? This is not a problem because illustration can be bled in the same way as a olid colour. The example below will illustrate how this works. Any elements that need to reach the edge of your leaflet will need to extend by the same 3mm beyond the edge to allow for any slight shift in the paper during the cutting process. With photographs and illustrations however you will need to ensure that nothing of importance falls within the bleed area as it will be trimmed off. As Guerrillas we have to be careful when we publicise our victories we must ensure that everyone in a our battalion group photograph is well within the main artwork; if they happen to be standing at the end within the 3mm bleed excess they will be eradicated!

So, a little care needs to be exercised when choosing type, illustration and photographs to ensure that you don't mind losing anything that enters the bleed area.

 

The black box and trim marks show the final business card size after trimming. Notice how the picture in the top left overlaps the trim marks. This is called the bleed area. The overlapping part of the picture will be trimmed away when the cards are finally cut.

 

Hopefully this will give you some idea on how bleed is set up and why it is needed in design and print.

 

Text: Text must be at least 5mm away from the edges of the finished size to avoid being lost during trimming.

If you have any problems understanding any of this information, please contact our translation unit who will be pleased to explain in plaint terms.