THE THREE MOST IMPORTANT PRINTING CONSIDERATIONS

Allow for bleeds

Anytime you see a printed image or color that extends from one end of the page to the other, it has been created with a bleed. A bleed is basically an extension of the image which will be cut off. Create your piece with an extra 1/8th of an inch on every side.

RGB & CMYK

One of the most misunderstood aspects of printing in color, RGB and CMYK are the color palettes used in graphic design. Most art programs will use the RGB color palette because it is standard for many photos and web graphics. When setting up your files for printing however, you must convert the color palette from RGB to CMYK. Most design software programs offer color selection via the Pantone Matching System (PMS), which is easily converted to CMYK or RGB.

All commercial printing presses use CMYK, which stands for the four base colors of cyan, magenta, yellow and black. All colors are derived from the combination of these base colors. Unfortunately, when you convert the color pallet to CMYK, sometimes the color looks different than what you see on your monitor. Achieve the greatest accuracy by using the CMYK palette from the start or have DIGITAL IMAGE BUSINESS SOLUTIONS' design it for you!

What is DPI?

DPI, or dots per inch, measures the sharpness of an image. The more dots used, the sharper the image. Web graphics are usually created at a low resolution of 72 dpi so they can download quickly. Images for color printing are at least 300 dpi. Color printing will look blurry if the resolution is too low.