Preparing a Document for Print
“Begin with the end in mind,” as stated in the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, by Steven F. Covey. There is nothing worse than spending hours, days, or even months on a project and then finding out that the finished product needs further tweaking. To avoid such an occurrence it is important to have an idea of the end result you are attempting to achieve when preparing a document for print.
If you are creating a trifold brochure it is always good to work off of a template that accounts for the space needed for the folds. Although it seems logical that each section should be the same size, in reality, they should be about one millimeter shorter than the previous section. It may not seem like a detail that would mean that much, but it truly makes all the difference!
(Good Trifold)
(Bad Trifold)
Another challenge that is often encountered is the unforeseen “crops and bleeds” issue. When your product is printed, we typically print it on a larger sheet of paper and then cut that down to the finished size. While we are pretty amazing at what we do, it is very difficult to cut to the exact spot where the image ends. It is also good to keep in mind that if you have text or an image that you don’t want chopped off, to keep it within 1/16 to 1/8 of an inch from the edge of all sides of the document. You can help us make your piece look great by providing a design file that has crops and bleeds. For us, it’s all about helping you look great to your audience!
(Crops and Bleeds)
(No Bleeds)