There are several common errors people make when ordering printed material. This article has outlined some so you don’t make the same mistakes.

Crop Marks and Bleed

Crop marks are the coloured strips at the edge of a design. They are not included on the final design and are there purely to show the printer where to make a cut. Often people do not realise how important they are, and just put them anywhere on the edge. However they need to be put in precisely the place where you would like the edge of the page to be otherwise your document can look off centre or have unsightly white areas at the edge.

They also have to take into account ‘bleed’ which is where each dot of ink printed onto the page will slightly expand leaving a frayed-looking edge. Crop marks should be placed in advance of where this line would be to avoid the colour tapering off towards the edge of your document.

Colour Disparity

RGB colours are used by a computer monitor by mixing Red, Green and Blue to send a wide range of colours to your eye. CMYK colours are used in printing and use Cyan, Magenta and Yellow but produce a smaller range of colours. Therefore there is often a difference between the colours on screen and the colours when printed.

Resolution

A similar problem occurs with the resolution of an image. A computer screen requires a much lower resolution – around 76 dpi. However an image printed at this resolution will not look as good, and the image will require a higher resolution to give a high quality image.

Proof Reading

It doesn’t matter how good the printing quality is and how stylish your document looks, if it is littered with spelling mistakes or has pages in the wrong order, it will give a bad impression of your company – exactly the opposite of its intended job. Proof Reading is a simple step, but one of the most important ones in printing.

Stationery Vs Stationary

Finally, a common mistake is the spelling of the s-word. The two spellings mean different things. Stationary, with an ‘a’ means something is static and not moving. Stationery with an ‘e’ means papers, pads, brochures etc.

So, Business Stationary Manchester would be wrong, but Business Stationery Manchester would be correct.

For help with these issues and any other problems, visit our website www.appleyardpress.com