How to prepare artwork for your Coil, Wire or Comb Bound Books.General informationFirst of all - DON'T PANIC. It's not rocket science and we'll always warn you if your file fails a pre-flight check! We hope this guide is useful. If you need more help, or anything is not clear, just ask. The prices you see on the web site are from your print ready PDF. We don't include any design work in these prices, we don't add photographs or illustrations, we don't alter layout or correct any text. If you need us to, we're very happy to quote for any additional work you need, for example graphic design. If you need this, please call to the helpdesk on 01452 751900 to discuss. The "Top Ten" Most Important Bits!(1) Supply Your File as a PDF.You can create a PDF from any software you use and it won't cost you a penny. See the section below "What Electronic Format Should the Book be in" for more details on how to do this. Submitting your file as a PDF has many advantages, but the main benefit is that it's a "stable" format, which ensures that what you see on your screen is what is actually transmitted to us! If you can't supply your file as a PDF then call us to discuss before placing your order. We can usually help, but there may be a small charge to get your file into a printable format. (2) One PDF, Seperate Pages.You would not believe the number of variations that people can come up with! The problem is that we have to keep inventing the wheel each time, so the process takes much longer and it's much easier for errors to creep in. So please stick to:
Your PDF creation tool may ask you if you want to use a "preset". Most do not and cutepdf does not. This is a handy way to group together a number of settings for a specific purpose. If you have this option, choose PDF/X-1a. This is designed to create a PDF to a "commercial print" standard. (3) Make sure you include bleeds.Unless every page has a clear white border (margin), each page should have a minimum of 2mm bleed all round. If you don't know what bleeds are, please read the seperate section. (4) Always embed fonts.When you create your PDF, make sure that you embed your fonts. This means that if you use a font which we don't have installed on our computers here, it will still print properly. We will always check this and tell you if the fonts are not embedded. Tip: if you are using cutepdf, this is generally enabled by default. (5) Aim for 300dpi resolution for your images.300dpi is ideal for printing, but realistically anything over 200dpi will usually look fine. Below this you may start to notice some deteriation in image quality (pixellation). Don't panic if you only have - for example - 150dpi, it may be perfectly fine for your print job. Print it out on a desktop colour printer and if it looks OK to you there, it should look fine in the finished article. We will warn you about any very low resolution images, so that you are aware that there is a potential issue, but you can still approve your job to print. (6) Flatten transparencies and layers.Before a printing machine can print your artwork, the PDF needs to be converted into the native language that drives the print engine. This is done by a dedicated computer running specialised software called a RIP (Raster Image Processor). Transparencies and layers need to be decoded by the RIP and in an ideal world there would be no two ways to interpret them and all software would be bug free. Back in the real world, it's much more sensible to avoid the whole problem altogether. Transparency and layers are completely useless in print-ready files and can introduce errors. So, just flatten them! When you select autoproofing (if available), we will automatically flatten transparencies and layers for you, however it is still a good idea for you to do this yourself as you can instantly see if there are any problems. (7) If designing in CMYK colours use the FOGRA39 profile.If these terms are unfamiliar, we recommend that you stick to RGB. (8) if designing in RGB colours remember that they will be converted to CMYK.If your artwork is designed in RGB colours, we will automagically convert it to CMYK in the proof we send back to you. We do this because CMYK colours are what are used for printing and the colours achievable in CMYK are not the same as RGB. What you see in your proof will be much closer to the finished item (depending on your monitor's colour accuracy). Always check your proof carefully. (9) Make sure you use a safe copy area.Put simply, his boils down to: don't put text or images too close to the edge of the page. It looks amateur and you run the risk of bits being trimmed off. The exception is background images that you specifically want bled off of the edge of the page. There is more about the safe copy area later in this guide, including some templates that you can use if you wish. (10) Make sure that you understand where the punched area is.With punch bound documents, you have an area that is taken up by the punched holes used for binding. You don't want to end up with holes punched through some of your text, so please make sure that you factor this in to your design. The exact positioning of the holes depends on the thickness of your book, however if you leave at least 10mm margin on the bound edge then the holes will not intrude where they shouldn't. What electronic format should the book be in?Unless you have made special arrangements, you should supply us with one PDF file. Make sure you read Point 2 in the "Top Ten" list! If you have ended up with several PDFs and are scratching your head over how to merge them into one, read the help section (from the left hand menu) help > artwork > COMBINING PDFS. There are some easy to use and completely FREE utilities to do this for you. PDFs are best, you will get better and more consistent results by supplying PDFs. If you don't have a PDF creator, you can download a free one from called CutePDF from the nice folks at Acro Software Inc. Many of our customers use this and we even use it ourselves on PCs without an Acrobat licence. There are clear instructions on their web site, please follow them! Here is the link to web site for CutePDF:- http://www.cutepdf.com 
A few tips to remember:-
TIFFs or JPEGThese formats are not accepted for books. If this is all you've got, don't despair, have a chat with the helpdesk before placing your order and we'll see what we can do to help. PublisherPlease create a PDF and send this to us. A few tips to remember:-
InDesignPlease create a press ready PDF and send this to us. Remember to read all of the "Top Ten Most Important Bits"! Microsoft WordPlease create a PDF and send this to us. If you don't have PDF creation software, please read the note above regarding cutepdf. If you need us to print from your Word files then we can do this, but there will be a small extra charge, and you will need to send us all the fonts that you use. Please contact the helpdesk to discuss this if you cannot supply your artwork as a PDF. Make sure that you set the correct page size! This is one of the most common problems and can be difficult to fix properly if you don't set it right in the first place. Everything ElseConvert it to a PDF! If you have your file in a different format and you cannot create a PDF, then please call the Help Desk for advice on how to proceed, we can help in nearly all cases. What are bleeds and how do I apply them?One of the topics that we get asked about most frequently is "bleeds". A bleed is an "extra bit" of artwork that extends past the edge of your design and is usually expressed in millimetres, i.e. "2mm bleed". The bleed area normally contains part of the background images and colour. In the example below, the crop marks (small black lines at right angles to each other) show where the trim line will be and the pink transparent border shows the bleed area. 
You don't always need bleeds! If your artwork has a clear white border all the way around, you don't need to worry about bleeds. Why are bleeds necessary? We print on large sheets of paper with multiple sets of artwork “imposed” on each sheet. These then need to be cut up on a large guillotine and may go on for further finishing. Very slight variations in the positioning of your job on a sheet may creep in during the printing and finishing processes. For instance, we might get paper “stretch” on a litho print or paper shrinkage on a digital job. Now imagine a leaflet with a solid blue colour all the way around the edge. Without bleeds, your eye would be drawn to a white line on one or two edges. Your eye will pick up even fractions of a millimetre! With bleeds you get blue solid colour all the way around. How much bleed? Please supply artwork to us with 2mm bleed all the way around. How do I create bleeds? This depends on which application you are using to create the artwork. If the application "understands" about bleeds, then there will be a write up in the manual or or a section of the help facility. If you are using an application that was not designed to print from (like any Microsoft product) then you will need to "cheat"! Here's a couple of most common tricks:-
Do I have to supply my file in CMYK?No, if you supply your file in RGB we will convert it to CMYK as part of the proofing process. The bluffer's guide to CMYK vs RGB colour spaceRGB (Red, Green, Blue) are the basic components of the colours emitted by your monitor. All the colours that you can see on your monitor are made up from RGB in different proportions. CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and blacK) are the ink pigments used to reflect light back to you from the printed sheet. The full colour images that you see on a printed sheet are actually made up from complex patterns of CMYK. RGB colours must be converted to CMYK so that they can be printed. This conversion is usually hidden from you when you are using a desk top printer. Because RGB has a wider gamut (range of possible colours) compared to CMYK, not all RGB colours can be printed accurately in CMYK. For this reason, professional designers will usually design their artwork in CMYK and preview it on screen in simulated CMYK. Colour ManagementThis sounds like a harmless little bunny of a topic, doesn't it? If you're not a fully paid up colour management expert, this is in fact the most foul, cruel, and bad-tempered rodent you ever set eyes on. Run away! Design your artwork in RGB and the nice people at Inky will convert to CMYK for you. Still here? Then you must be an expert. Inky uses FOGRA39 for digital print on coated and uncoated paper for all job preparation. Whatever you do, don't turn colour management on and leave the default profiles in place. You'll most likely end up with U.S. Web Coated (SWOP) v2, which really isn't that close. If your job is colour critical, always get a hard copy proof. Laying Out Your Pages.(1) Page TemplatesYour specific page size may not be included here. If you can't see what you need here, contact the helpdesk for assistance. Note that these are TWO page templates. Page 1 is the "right hand" page, page 2 is the "left hand" page - this is important because of the punching on the bound edge.
Use these templates to help you lay out your artwork. Remember that they are not there to be printed, so don't include them with the artwork you send us! Information contained in the templates:-
Why are do we have all these pesky guidelines? Take a look at the diagram below. The top row shows artwork with a correct bleed and the safe copy area used, "before" and "after" trimming. Even though the trimming is slightly out on the finished item, it still looks great. The bottom row shows what can happen with no bleeds and no safe copy area. There is a fraction of a millimeter of white space showing, plus part of the "T" is trimmed off. Of course, we've exaggerated a little to make the point!
(2) Page Numbering
-V1- |
