How to Prepare Your Artwork for Offset Printing

If you’re not a professional graphic designer, prepping your art for offset printing may seem like a daunting task. Heck, even the pros get tripped up from time to time. It can be a fussy, even mildly annoying process. However, doing it right means the difference between perfection and disappointment, so it’s worth taking your time.

We’ve created this guide to help you prepare your design the right way for offset lithography. Following these tips will ensure everything is lined up, correctly formated, and error-free come press time.

Get your Files Right

Depending on your design, there are different file format standards you need to be aware of.

Raster Files

For raster images like photographs, your main concern is resolution. To prevent pixelation, you should aim for a DPI between 300 and 600. However, your print partner may have more exact specifications they want you to follow. If so, you should defer to their guidelines. Ideally, raster files should be formatted as TIFF (Tagged Image File Format), which is the recommended format for high-quality photography and print production.

Vector Files

As for artwork that uses solid colors like logos, charts, and certain illustrations, they should be formatted as vector files. Vector graphics can be resized without ever getting pixelated or blurry, letting you take full advantage of offset printing’s precision and clarity. The most common formats for vector files are EPS, PDF, AI, and SVG.

Set Appropriate Bleeds and Margins

In the printing world, ‘Bleed’ refers to a portion of your design that extends past the final trim line, ensuring your imagery continues to the edge of the print. You should design your bleed to extend at least .125” beyond the trim line, to give your printer a bit of leeway.

On the other hand, ‘Margin’ refers to the space between your critical design content (like text and foreground images) and the edge of the final print. Regardless of whether you have a bleed or just a plain background, the margin is effectively negative space. There are no industry standards on how large your margins need to be. Just focus on giving your critical content enough space to be easily understood by viewers.

To learn more about print formatting concepts, Check out our post Bleeds, Margins, Creeps and Gutters…Oh, My!‍

Be Intentional with Typography and Fonts

Because offset printing is so good at capturing fine detail, any font can be used in your prints. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s time to hog wild. Keep these four basic design principles in mind: Alignment, balance, clarity, and consistency. For typography, this means:

1.) Use a font size and spacing that keeps your content within your chosen alignment.

2.) Choose fonts that complement your design’s overall look and feel.

3.) When in doubt, use simpler fonts and high-contrast font colors that favor readability.

When possible, use established fonts from your brand standards or previous design work.

Review, Revise, and Review Again

Finally, don’t rush the design process. Once you have something you like, it’s helpful to take a day or two away from it and then look it over again with fresh eyes. Bring in other stakeholders and ask them for feedback. Review each component – text, images, layout, etc. – for accuracy and consistency. And, once you think it’s done, ask your printer to do a review as well. They can ensure everything’s set up correctly for a good result.

Some of the most common errors you need to watch for include:

- Typos

- Incorrect or outdated logos

- Incorrect brand colors

- Incorrect brand fonts

- Wrong image versions

- Wrong copy versions

Remember that once it goes to print, there’s no going back. So take your time and ask for double and triple checks before you go ahead.