Home 9 Design and Print Support 9 Art and File Guidelines

Art and File Guidelines

Design & print support

COG Print will only accept the following formats as final artwork. Artwork which does not adhere to these specifications will incur artwork charges.

  • Adobe Acrobat (PDF) version XI or below (PDF)
  • Adobe Photoshop version CC or below (PSD or TIFF)
  • Adobe Illustrator version CC or below (AI, EPS, PDF)
  • Adobe InDesign version CC or below (INDD)
  • COG Print accepts files in PC or MAC format.
  • All images must be saved in CMYK at 300dpi.
  • Make sure all colours are nominated correctly as PMS or CMYK.
  • OVERPRINTS MUST BE TURNED OFF
  • All artwork must include a minimum of 2mm bleed and crop marks.
  • Where possible, please convert your text to outlines or curves.
  • Please supply us with all relevant files, including fonts and links (graphics)

Artwork Specifications

Image Text and Trims
All non bleed images and text should be kept at least 3mm from the trim to ensure trim tolerances are maintained.

Blacks
Solid black areas should be made up of 40% Cyan, 20% Magenta, 20% Yellow and 100% Black to give a strong deep colour.

Booklet Creep
Page creep will occur on booklet jobs. To help with finishing all page numbers, non bleed images and text should be kept at least 10mm from the trims. We advise you to allocate a 5mm bleed on all booklet jobs.

Folding
Fold panels for A4-DL should be set from left to right 98-99-100 (outside) and 100-99-98 (inside). Supplied PSD artwork always remains the responsibility of the customer. COG Print will not accept responsibility for errors due to out of specification files.

Standard Product Sizes

  • Business Cards – 90 x 55mm, 89 x 54mm, 90 x 50mm or 90 x 45mm
  • DL – 210 x 99mm
  • 2DL – 210 x 198mm
  • A6 – 148 x 105mm
  • A5 – 210 x 148mm
  • A4 – 210 x 297mm
  • A3 – 420 x 297mm
  • A2 – 594 x 420mm
  • A1 – 840 x 594mm 

Pre Press Guidelines

Templates

Acrobat Distiller settings and InDesign templates for standard products are available from the COG Print Prepress department.

PDF Compliance

  • Please use PDF Version 1.4.
  • Ensure all files are flattened (flattening options turned on).
  • Supply multiple page PDF with 1 up artwork on each page.
  • Use CMYK not RGB. OVERPRINTS MUST BE TURNED OFF.
  • Supply with crop marks and 2mm minimum bleed.
  • Ensure artwork is centered in document.
  • Text and non-bleed images should be kept 3mm from trims.

Font Usage
All fonts must be embedded, or you can outline fonts before creating a PDF to avoid issues.

Graphic/Images elements checklist

  • Bitmaps images supplied at 400dpi.
  • CMYK images supplied (no RGB, LAB, PMS colours).
  • Combined colour ink density should not exceed 300%.
  • No ICC colour profiles will be used.

Flight Check
We strongly recommend that a flight checking application is used to check the integrity of the PDF prior to sending to COG Print.

Storage of Files
PDF’s will remain on the COG Print system for 1 week following printing.COG Print does not undertake archiving and retrieval of customer data.

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