Last updated on March 5th, 2020 at 05:19 pm

All successful and effective print projects start with well organized, press-ready design files. Insuring that your files are in proper order can help you steer clear of any unforeseen delays or problems.

At U-Printing, we offer our famous Free Project Review where our pre-press team identifies potential print problems with your design files before you go to press.

However, taking the time to prepare your files before uploading to us will help you get the exact results you are looking for.

The following are some general tips to help you prepare your files before sending them to U-Printing:

File Preparation

• Make sure that your design files are properly setup for the size of your final prints.
• Check to be certain that you have the appropriate bleed size – 0.25” bleed all around.
• Try to keep a 0.125” distance for the trim area to help avoid text or images from being accidentally cut off.
• Center your documents or design properly within the live area.
• For folded prints, insure that important text or details are not placed where the folds will be and that the content in each individual panel is centered.
• If your prints are a 2-sided job, check your page orientation.
• For optimal results, we recommend downloading and using the templates found at www.uprinting.com/templates

Graphic Elements
Images and Resolution

• Images or photos must have at least a 300dpi (dots per inch) resolution.
• Print design files must be set to CMYK (not RGB).
• Submit the original copies of images you used in your design. All of these should be in CMYK color space.
• It is ideal to save your images in the .TIF and illustrations in .EPS formats. Using these lossless file formats maintain the accuracy and quality of your images and vectors.
• If you want “rich” blacks for your prints, a 100% black (K) color value will not suffice. Set all CMYK values to 100% to achieve a darker deep black color.

Text and Fonts
• Remember to embed the font you used for your design.
• Archive the font files in .zip format.
• It helps to have named folders to easily identify your fonts.
• Fonts should be set at 400 dpi.
• Always check for your texts for typographical errors, misspellings, grammar, punctuation, and the like.
• Check to see if your fonts or text can be printed legibly. Consider your text’s or font’s spaces and if they are vector or raster.

Putting the extra work in file preparation will go a long way in preventing any problems with the print project. The better prepared the files are before they are sent to U-Printing, the more likely that you will have a smooth, stress-free printing process.

Check out our custom printing options.

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