Printing Services Questions:

  • How can custom book bindery make my booklet look more sophisticated when I use printing services?

  • How do I avoid transparency, overprint and other issues with printing?

  • I’m not sure whether to choose digital printing or offset printing. Which one is best for me?

  • It’s important that my blues don’t turn out purple. How do I change color settings in order to prevent color issues from happening before sending my files for printing?

  • What are the steps to setting up an Akuafoil file for printing? What’s the difference between Akuafoil and cold foil printing?

  • What is Pantone color matching? Do using Pantone colors change my printing job?

  • What kinds of files would you allow me to send for printing and is there a specific color mode requirement? Also, how should my bleed marks and crop marks be arranged?

  • What's color banding in printing and why does it happen?

  • What’s a good rich black formula and what are the advantages of using it for printing services at J.M. Field Marketing?

  • What’s a grayscale image? Before using printing services at J.M. Field Marketing, how do I convert to grayscale in a document with CMYK?

  • What’s the difference between digital printing and offset printing?

Answer:

When you’re ready to send us your files for printing, we recommend saving them and sending them as .PDF files. However, if you feel like sending them in other file formats such as jpg, jpeg, eps, tiff, tif and png you can. If you decide to send .PDF, then remember to include embedded or outlined fonts. As opposed to sending a CMYK file (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Key), an RGB file (red, green, blue) could produce a color shift. In order to avoid this circumstance, we recommend that you use CMYK color mode for your printing designs.

If you’re not sure what bleed marks and crop marks are, they are terms that exist in the world of printing that are important when you’re setting up and arranging your files for print. The area of paper that’s going to be trimmed off once the print job is finished is referred to as the bleed. In order to properly and accurately trim the paper, crop marks are used to specify the spots where the trimming will take place on the paper.

Printing Services Bleed and Crop Marks

Identifying the bleed marks and crop marks are important tasks when you’re sending over files for printing because they notify the printer about the boundaries on the paper and what needs to be trimmed. Both the bleed marks and crop marks serve an important purpose because they are printing elements that ensure that your job will be printed properly. Bleed needs to be stretched past the cut-line so that it gives the final product a finished look. Also, crop needs to be included (if you send an .eps or .pdf) so that we know exactly what needs to be done to the printing job.

What kinds of files would you allow me to send for printing and is there a specific color mode requirement? Also, how should my bleed marks and crop marks be arranged? was last modified: February 24th, 2015 by Kara