Artwork Setup
Resolution- 300 dpi is the recommended resolution. The more dots/pixels the image contains, the sharper the image will print. As a result, printing may look blurry if a 72dpi image is used as compared to using a 300dpi image.
Bleeds- Files must include a 1/16” bleed area, if bleeds are desired. For example, an 8 1/2” x 11” full bleed document will actually be 8.625” x 11.125”, to account for a 1/16” bleed on each edge.
Safe Zones- All non bleed items (text and photos) must be within the safe zone area.
Full color .125” from the trim. Booklets - .1875 in” from the trim. One color - .312” from the trim.
Color Mode- All files should be provided in CMYK mode (unless we are running a spot color) When we receive RGB images, we do a standard-value conversion to CMYK, which may not be perfectly to your liking. We cannot be responsible for results if you furnish your images with RGB.
Avoiding Purple-ish Blues- Anything high in magenta and high in cyan will print purple. If you want a more true blue color we recom- mend keeping cyan and magenta 30% apart from each other to create a blue.
Pantones- All of our printing is done in CMYK. If you use Pantone colors in a job that will print CMYK, your job might print with undesirable colors. We have a program that converts any PMS files to CMYK using the conversion process from the files native program, and the results are not always what customers expect. That’s why we highly recommend that customers convert all their files to CMYK before uploading their art. GH is not responsible for product that has experienced a color shift during the conversion to CMYK format.
Black Text- For best results, black text should have a CMYK breakdown of 0 Cyan, 0 Magenta, 0 Yellow, 100 Black. We cannot guarantee the quality of 4 color black text.
Rich Black- For best results on printing large black areas, rich black (30C, 30M, 10Y, 100k) should be used, for uniform ink coverage. Using only 100k can result in uneven ink coverage, and a black that is not as dark as it could be. Using a higher value mix such as 75 Cyan, 68 Magenta, 67 Yellow, 90 Black can result in high ink coverage, causing ink to smear.
Transparency issues- Sometimes using shadows, glows or other transparency effects on top of a spot color creates white boxes or other unwanted results. The best way to avoid issues like this is to convert all spot colors to CMYK before sending artwork in.
Overprint Issues- Overprint settings are typically used to intentionally overlap inks for a number of reasons but overprint can cause unexpected results so we recommend that you turn o all overprint objects before submitting les. Always check logos and other artwork before submitting.
