Pro edition
Print Notes.
Sent with the files, to whoever is producing the job. Every item on the last list arrives as “the illustration looks wrong”, and not one of them is a drawing problem.
What to send, per output
| Output | Send | And |
|---|---|---|
| Offset or digital press | CMYK PDF/X-4, 300 ppi effective, 3 mm bleed | Fonts outlined or embedded, overprint set on the black line work, and a flattened preview beside it so nobody opens the wrong layer. |
| Newsprint | Same, plus a 20% lightened version | Dot gain on uncoated stock runs 20–30%. A file that looks right on screen prints muddy, and the lightened version is the one that comes out correct. |
| Risograph | One greyscale PDF per ink, named for the ink | Not a colour file. Each plate is greyscale where black is 100% of that ink, and the overlap areas are drawn deliberately rather than trapped automatically. |
| Screen print | One vector layer per screen, 100% flat | No gradients, no transparency, no anti-aliasing. Halftones are the printer’s decision and they will ask what line count you want. |
| Embroidery | Simplified vector at stitch weight, plus a colour list | The digitiser will redraw it into stitch paths whatever you send. Sending something already simplified means the redraw matches your drawing. |
| Vinyl cutting | Single closed path, no strokes, bridges drawn | Convert every stroke to an outline first. A stroked path cuts as two lines and the shop will call you. |
| App icon | SVG plus PNGs at every required size | Do not let the build scale one PNG. Check the 24 px by eye — that is where three shapes becomes two. |
Six things to check on a proof
In this order. The first one is most of the value and it takes ten seconds.
- The thinnest lineFind it and look at it. If it has filled in or vanished, that is the whole proof and everything else is fine by comparison.
- The registrationOn a two-colour job, look at the overlaps rather than the edges. The overlaps are where the drawing was designed to absorb the error.
- The darkest areaTotal ink coverage over about 300% will not dry on uncoated stock and will offset onto the sheet behind it.
- The smallest reversed textWhite type in a coloured area closes up faster than anything else on a page and is the commonest print complaint.
- The same colour twiceIf a colour appears on two pages, compare them. Consistency across a signature is a press decision and it is worth asking about.
- The trimHold the proof up against the trim marks. Anything within 4 mm of the edge is at risk regardless of the bleed.
Eight things that go wrong after approval
- RGB survives into the PDFSomething on a layer is still RGB and converts unpredictably at the RIP. It always looks like the illustrator picked a bad colour.
- A gradient gets flattenedTransparency flattening rasterises a region at a lower resolution than the rest. The seam is visible and unfixable at proof stage.
- Rich black on thin lines4-colour black on a hairline registers imperfectly and fringes. Line work wants 100% K alone.
- Overprint left on whiteA white object set to overprint disappears entirely. Nothing shows this on screen in most applications.
- The wrong paperA drawing built for uncoated printed on coated is not a better version of itself — it is a harder, colder one, and the line weights are now too heavy.
- Scaling after approvalPlacing a 100% approved drawing at 60% halves every line weight. Approve at final size or approve nothing.
- Somebody re-exports itA designer downstream opens the file, exports "the same thing" from a different application, and the separations change. Send flattened references so a difference is visible.
- The screen was not calibratedNot fixable and worth naming out loud early, because it is the source of most disagreements that feel like taste and are not.