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Preparing Artwork

Artwork is what printers call the files we are meant to print. Graphic artists are indeed artists, and what we do here is a form of industrial art. Our goal is to take your art and produce a flawless printed piece from it.

Working with a printer to get your artwork printed exactly the way you're expecting is not always as simple as you'd think, but we try our best to make sure to deliver as close to what you see on your screen as we can. Here are a few helpful ways to make sure we can get it right the first time, saving us all time and money:

Quick Tip Checklist

  • Be sure to design to the actual size you will want us to print at - it is not easy for us to convert without your input, and if there is too much work to be done we may have to bill you for additional pre-press work. Change your document, page or artboard size to be the correct size, or use the templates we have here to confirm your sizing is spot on!
  • Use templates whenever available - some products, like door hangers and direct mail, have areas that cannot be printed on. You'll save yourself a good amount of wasted energy and time by checking this before you begin designing.
  • Make sure that any print work has bleeds - we prefer 1/8" (0.125") on each edge of the sheet. For more about bleeds, see our explainer article here.
  • When designing your work, make sure to leave somewhere for our union bug! People often forget to leave space for this crucial part of the Union-printing magic formula. We only need about .25" tall by .5" wide somewhere on your page. 
  • Fulfill your legal requirements - does your state require a "Paid For By" disclaimer on campaign materials? Know your local rules and regulations - ask others or find out online. We can help you find advice, but we are not lawyers and cannot be held responsible. Many states require that your disclaimer be at least 7pt font on most items.

Notes on Color

  • Printers use two methods of ensuring colors are as close as possible from one printing press to another - CMYK values and Pantone colors. No printer can match ink colors to an RGB or Hex value, as these are heavily dependent on your perception of your own computer screen. To printers, comparing CMYK colors to Hex codes is like translating Esperanto to Aramaic - highly subjective and practically impossible.
  • We use highly advanced digital printing presses for nearly all of our work, and while they do 99% accurate color work, there is still the possibility you will not like their interpretation of the colors you have selected. If you plan to be highly sensitive to color shifts, consult a Pantone swatchbook and give us exact colors to use, and let us know ahead of time; we will pull out all the stops to make sure your colors match our Pantone swatchbooks. We are not responsible for color variances (unless they are wildly out-of-wack!)
  • Select common colors for your logo - our Standard Ink Colors page is a great place to start. When selecting colors, be forgiving across media - Pantone 185 Red looks a lot different on letterhead than it does on a yard sign.
  • Save your campaign money and limit yourself to one or two colors in a logo. Some items, like t-shirts and yard signs, are priced based on how many individual ink colors we must mix to print. If you look around, most successful campaigns stick to this two-color rule. For example, Mike Bloomberg's failed presidential campaign had a three color logo, probably costing him thousands (if not millions) on his yard signs alone - for no good reason. You're better than Mike Bloomberg, right? 

Specific Design Software

Like most commercial printers, our shop works natively with the Adobe suite of products, but we can work with almost anything you throw at us. Here are specific tips for some typical design software packages you might be using:

Canva.com

  • When you create a new file for printing, click Create a design in the top right corner, select custom size, select Inches for units of measurement and create your new file to the correct size (see Templates for help)
  • Under File, ensure that Show print bleed is selected (for more about bleeds, see our explainer article)
  • When you're finished with your design, export by clicking Share, then clicking Download. Select PDF Print from the File Type dropdown, check the Crop marks and bleed and Flatten PDF boxes, and select CMYK as Color Space. Then, click Download. This will be the file you send us for printing.
  • If you'd like, we can help you with this process at no charge - simply share the file with our team and we'll log in and check it all over for you. Click Share, then enter our email address (hello@gibsonprint.com) into the Add people, groups or teams box and click Send. When you submit your order, let us know your files have been shared in the Additional Information box on the product order page.

Adobe Illustrator

  • When you create a new file for printing, make sure to use a CMYK colorspace, inches as your unit of measurement, and set a 0.125" bleed (for more about bleeds, see our explainer article)
  • When saving your file to send our way, we always prefer PDFs - there are a number of reasons, but chiefly PDFs are designed to look the same on every device (hence their name, Portable Document Format) and this keeps surprise issues from popping up that we'd have no way of knowing about.
  • Before you save, select all text on your artboard(s) and Create Outlines (in the Type menu) - this will make sure we can print your file even if we don't have the same specific fonts you used.
  • Save a copy of your document with the Press Quality PDF Preset, but be sure to click the Marks and Bleeds submenu and check Trim Marks (no other marks are necessary) and verify that your bleed settings are .125" on all sides. This should be the file you send us for printing.

Adobe InDesign

  • When you create a new file for printing, make sure to use a CMYK colorspace, inches as your unit of measurement, and set a 0.125" bleed (for more about bleeds, see our explainer article)
  • When saving your file to send our way, we always prefer PDFs - there are a number of reasons, but chiefly PDFs are designed to look the same on every device (hence their name, Portable Document Format) and this keeps surprise issues from popping up that we'd have no way of knowing about.
  • Export a copy of your document with the Press Quality PDF Preset, but be sure to click the Marks and Bleeds submenu and check Trim Marks (no other marks are necessary) and verify that your bleed settings are .125" on all sides. Under the General submenu, make sure Export As is set to Pages, not Spreads.
  • If you'd like, instead of exporting a PDF you can select Package in the File menu and send us the folder (compressed to a ZIP file) which should contain an INDD file, all your linked images, required fonts, and everything we will need to load up the file exactly as you left it. However, this is still less efficient than just sending a Press PDF file.

Adobe Photoshop

Photoshop is not a design or layout tool, and we do not recommend using it as one. However, if you're really dead set on it, you can make some beautiful stuff in Photoshop. Just make sure you don't want us to make any changes, because PSD files are not portable and are often difficult to print from. Use the following rules to make sure your files are usable:

  • Set up your file as 1/8" larger than the intended cut size. This is because it's difficult to make bleeds in Photoshop. See our templates for sizing on most standard items, and read our explainer on bleeds.
  • Make sure your color mode is CMYK and your resolution is 300 dpi. Any lower than 300dpi and your printed product will look pixelated or fuzzy, any higher than 300dpi and your files will be unmanageably large. 
  • Export your files as Photoshop PDF before sending. Use the Press PDF preset in the Save panel.

Microsoft Word or PowerPoint

Word and PowerPoint are not print design tools, but they can be useful in their own way, especially for simple things like letters. We will accept some designs from these applications but please make sure the following rules are followed:

  • Make sure your page is the correct size. This setting is in the Page Setup settings, in the File menu.
  • Export to a PDF before sending. Word and PowerPoint files look different on every computer, and we may end up printing you something in a different font, color, layout etc. without even knowing.

Microsoft Publisher

Do not use this application! Publisher uses a proprietary format for its files that we can neither print from, edit or even view on our workstations. If you are in such dire straights you feel you need to use this to design something, hire a local graphic designer or get a quote from us on custom design. There are far, far superior programs for this work, many of them free. There is no excuse to be using this software in the modern era.

Adobe PageMaker

Don't use this one either. PageMaker was discontinued in 2004, nearly 20 years ago. If you have PageMaker files you have been using for decades, we may be able to convert them to InDesign or something else, but do not continue to produce work in a program this old. If a designer tells you this is the platform they work from, politely yet firmly let them know this is ridiculous.

We are here to help!

Whether you're overwhelmed by all that info, or just don't have the time to fuss with all this, don't sweat it! Our team of folks are always ready to assist you. We offer total design services on simple items like signs and banners as an orderable add-on for between $20-100 flat rate, and sometimes are able to give a little help at no extra cost at all. Just get in touch and let us know you're in need but want some assistance, and we'll gladly get you something that you'll be proud to call your own!