Creating a stunning catalog starts long before the actual printing process. Ensuring your artwork files are perfectly prepared is the crucial first step to achieving professional, high-quality Catalog Printing. At Amazing Print, we’re dedicated to making this process smooth and error-free. This guide will walk you through the essential file guidelines to prepare your catalog for printing, guaranteeing exceptional results every time.
Preparing Your Files for Catalog Printing: Essential Guidelines
To ensure your catalog printing project proceeds without any hiccups, it’s vital to submit print-ready files. Following these guidelines will help you avoid delays and extra costs, ensuring your catalogs are printed exactly as you envision them.
Preferred File Format: PDF is Key
For the most seamless catalog printing experience, we strongly recommend submitting your files in PDF format. PDFs preserve your design elements, fonts, and layout, minimizing the risk of unexpected changes during the printing process. While we can accept other file formats, they may lead to additional charges and potentially increase turnaround time.
For those using Adobe applications like Illustrator, InDesign, or Photoshop, you can easily export your designs as PDFs. Refer to our comprehensive File Set-Up Checklist for detailed instructions on exporting your files correctly.
High-Resolution Images: Quality Matters
The visual appeal of your catalog heavily relies on image quality. For the best printed results, always use high-resolution images that are at least 300 ppi (pixels per inch). Low-resolution images can appear blurry or pixelated when printed, detracting from the overall professional look of your catalog.
Bleed: Ensuring Edge-to-Edge Printing
A bleed area of 0.125 inches (1/8 inch) is required on all sides of your catalog pages. Bleed is the extension of your backgrounds and images beyond the trim edge of the page. This is crucial for preventing unprinted white edges after trimming, ensuring your images and colors extend seamlessly to the edge of the printed page. Make sure any design elements that should reach the edge of the page extend into this bleed area.
Page Order: How to Arrange Your Catalog Pages
Organize your catalog pages in a single PDF document in the exact order you want them to appear in the finished product. Your document’s first page will be the front cover, followed by the inside front cover. If you desire a blank inside front cover, simply insert a blank page in your document accordingly. Similarly, the second to last page will be the inside back cover (again, add a blank page if needed), and the final page will be the back cover. We handle the imposition, arranging pages for printing, so you just need to provide your pages in sequential order.
Print-Ready Files: Streamlining the Process
Our pricing and turnaround times are based on the submission of print-ready PDF files that are free of errors. Submitting files that do not adhere to these guidelines or contain errors may result in increased costs and extended turnaround times as we work to correct them. By carefully following these file guidelines and providing print-ready PDFs, you ensure the best possible price and the fastest turnaround for your catalog printing project.
Feel confident in your catalog printing project by preparing your files correctly. And to truly experience the quality we offer, order a sample kit today. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to give us a call at 1-800-655-5833. We’re here to help you create amazing catalogs!
