What Are Common Mistakes To Avoid When Printing?
Mistakes can happen even in the most perfect files ready for printing; one can easily make simple, avoidable blunders. We, humans, are prone to mistakes. You may think that your design looks perfect, but after getting it printed, you may find the errors.
Printing holds a special place in book marketing, whether it’s a business card, brochure, catalogue, or book. A little mistake can be frustrating, especially one that could have been avoided.
The most focused person can also make a minor mistake, but it can cost businesses a significant amount. It is crucial to understand common pitfalls to save time, cut costs, and achieve desirable results.
Some Major Mistakes You Cannot Make While Printing
Not Proofreading Thoroughly
One of the most common mistakes that people often make is not proofreading the digital work properly. It is crucial to review properly before the final run for printing. You may get the help of a new pair of eyes, whether a colleague, friend, or a professional.
You may miss this error because of working on it for so long. Your brain reads what it expects instead of what is on the page. A new person may find the mistake instantly, whether it’s about spelling, grammar, or layout.
Not Checking for Bleeding
In the printing world, bleed is the area of your edge that is cut after printing. Guillotine machines are now smart enough to cut accurately, but there is a possibility of a difference of one or two millimetres.
Incorrect bleeding or not accounting for bleeding can cause a fine white line on the edge of your artwork. There may be a degree of movement, especially when it’s about book printing Canada. You must add a ⅛ inch (3mm) of space on the edge of your artwork to ensure the safety margins when it is trimmed.
Text is not Embedded
Not embedding the fonts can cause typography inconsistencies or layout issues. Suppose you have sent a file for printing, and when it opens on a new computer that doesn’t have the original text files, it will substitute the text with the accessible fonts.
Must outline the text and send the editable file for printing, along with all the necessary font files. If you want exact fonts after printing, you must embed your text.
Overcomplicated Designs
It is good to be creative with your designs, but it can overwhelm your design and confuse your readers instead of impressing them. Using three to four fonts, background or pattern elements competing with the text, and no focal point for the eye can result in a cluttered design.
Less is often more. Create a simple design, use white space strategically, limit fonts to two to three, follow the hierarchy of main heading, then subheading, and then paragraph. Show your design to someone who has never seen it. If they can decode the main message within 5 seconds, your design wins.
Low Resolution
The most common overlooked blunder in printing is using low-resolution designs. Images often look good at high resolution and sharp on the big monitor screen, but they may get blurry and pixelated after printing.
It is crucial to check the properties of your artwork before final printing. Use 300 dpi (dots per inch) no less than that when designing, and ensure that images, graphics, and text are set to 300 dpi before adding them to the file.
Leaving Guidelines in the File
Adding guidelines to your file is a great way to avoid losing any important instructions while creating the artwork. Forget removing the guide from your design can print them on the final product.
Best to add your guidelines on its own layer and then remove it from there to avoid any issue on the final design.
Printing in RGB Instead of CMYK
You might have experienced that printing flyers, business cards, or post cards show different colors as it is on screen. The reason can be the use of the RGB color mode. RGB is made for the colors looking on the screen, not for printing.
Ensure to set your digital file to CMYK color mode for printing. Some colors in RGB are not available in CMYK, which is why it shows different color in hard copy. Best to use CMYK mode for printing.
Choose the Wrong Binding When Printing a Book
Not every binding method can be ideal for every type of book. You need a significant, easy-to-print option according to the file. If you need a novel or report, perfect binding is great for rare use. Documents that frequently swap hands and need to be preserved as keepsakes require thesis printing and binding.
Wire binding for workbooks to lie flat and saddle stitching for short-form-like brochures are best. Match the type of your book with the binding options before printing.
Incorrect File Format
A wrong file format can cause printing issues or low-quality results. Always send a print-ready PDF including the embedded or outlined fonts, color mode in CMYK, embedded images and graphics. This print has the clarity of layout, text, and images.
Avoid PNG, JPEG, or GIFs with low resolutions that are used for web purpose not for printing.
Skipping Test Prints and Feedback
A test print is crucial to avoid unnecessary issues like alignment, readability, and color problems. Before investing in a full run, must print a single copy to check color accuracy, visibility of small text, alignment, and trimming, and final finishes.
Seek feedback from multiple team members to identify the issues from their perspective.
Frequently Asked Questions
How to avoid typing mistakes in my artwork?
Typing mistakes happen to anyone, and you may not notice them if you stare at it for hours or days. You may ask a colleague or friend for a fresh pair of eyes, as they can instantly spot grammar or spelling issues.
How can overlooking paper quality affect my print?
The type of paper you pick for printing can affect the look and value. A design may seem high-end on a thick matte stock and cheap on a thin, glossy paper. Feel the paper types and finishes before making the final selection.
What is a safety zone in printing?
After printing, the product’s edges are trimmed. To avoid the images and text from being cut, it is necessary to set them within the trim line, with a minimum of 3mm to 5mm.
Conclusion
Printed material always stands out even in the digital world, as it is permanent and tangible. At the same time, they cannot be easily modified or changed like the website or digital prints. A small mistake in printing can cost businesses a lot and affect their reputation.
Preventing the common mistakes is critical before finalizing the long run. Proofreading, bleeding, text embedding, simplifying the design to be legible, and using a high-resolution 300 dpi file are vital for printing. Must remove guidelines before final sending, use CMYK color mode and the correct file format, select the appropriate binding methods, and run test prints.
Avoiding common pitfalls can save you time and money. It will also have a long-lasting impression on your audience.