A Guide to Preparing Files for Print

With this guide, we are going to examine ways to prepare files for print, covering
applications in the Adobe Creative Suite. The examples used are for InDesign, but can
apply to Photoshop and Illustrator. This is a basic guide aimed to help people just
starting out in the print design business or are looking to learn more about preparing
files better to send to press.

Understand the Basics

With most print jobs, you should have specifications to adhere to. These specs work
for preparing advertisements, brochures, business cards, and other printed mediums.

CYMK vs RGB
A lot of the colors you create in RGB mode are not achievable using standard four-
color process printing. It is always best to create your document from the start in
CMYK color mode to ensure that you have a better idea of how your colors are going
to print.

Some exceptions are tradeshow signs or large format prints, but the best way to know
for sure is to check with the printer.

Four over Four (or 4/4)

If you’re printing a flyer, you might be printing 4/4, which essentially means you are
printing four color on the front and four color on the back. If nothing’s on the back,
then it would be 4/0.
For postcards, you might print 4/1: four color on the front and 1 spot color on the
back.

For business cards, you might print 2/2: 2 spot colors on the front and back.

Print Layout
Here is a diagram of a typical document for print designs.

Trim Line: This is the finished size of the piece.

Live Area: The area that is considered safe to keep any important information within.
For example, if an ad’s trim size is 8.25 in × 10.25 in, the live area might be 7.75 in ×
9.75 in. This takes into consideration the binding if the ad is placed on the left or right
of a spread and you don’t want copy to be unreadable if it is too close to the spine.

Bleed Area: The more bleed you can offer, the better.The minimum bleed you need
for a printed piece is 0.125 in (1/8 in) but some specs require more than that. So if you

are working with an image in Photoshop and you’re placing it in InDesign for print
preparation, keep in mind the area you might need to use for the bleed.

Crop Marks: Indicates where to cut the paper.

Deciding to Use Black or Rich/Packed Black

When printing with black color, there are two types of black you can use.

Black – 100 K: can be used for body copy and barcodes

Rich Black – 40 C 40 M 40 Y 100 K: should be used when using blocks of black

Note: Rich/Packed black specifications may differ from printer to printer, so you
should ask your printer what they recommend.

Rich Black vs Black (100 K)

Below, you will see the difference between rich black and black.

It may be hard to tell the difference when preparing files on your monitor screen
depending on your monitor type and monitor calibration since PC screens show
richer colors in RGB. Therefore, it is wise to get a press proof when printing blocks of
black.
Here is a sample of a flyer using the 2 blacks. The live area is denoted in green and
the dashed, pink line is the trim area.

Download the InDesign template for the flyer above.

Preparing a File with UV Varnish/Coating

If you decide to use a UV varnish/UV coating on your printed piece, all you need to do
is select the image or text you want the varnish on.
To keep your work organized, I’d suggest creating a layer and a spot color named
"varnish/spot" and then make sure this spot color you create is not already used in
the file.

Here is a piece without a UV varnish layer.

First, create your spot color in your Swatch Panel.

Then select the image/s and text block/s you want to apply the UV coating on.

Add a new layer, duplicate the elements (Ctrl/Cmd + J), and then apply the spot color
to the elements on that new layer.
Extending Design Elements into the Bleed Area
If you haves a design that has type that’s flush with the trim, one suggestion is to
rasterize the type and pull the paths out beyond the bleed.

Here is some text that’s flush to the bleed line on the left.

Here, we extend the letter "D" to the bleed area so that we can ensure that the text is
going to be printed right at the edge when the piece is trimmed by the printer.

If we don’t extend it into the bleed area, the text might have a gap at the edge of the
printed material.
Download the InDesign template for the UV varnish/UV coating piece above.

Using Spot Color

If you need more vibrant colors or exact color matching (e.g. for consistent company
branding) than what CMYK inks produce, spot colors/PMS colors is the way to go.

Example of a Flyer with 2 Spot Colors

Here is a sample of using 2 spot colors in InDesign (the design is 2/2).
Download the InDesign template for the 2-spot color flyer above.

If you are doing spot colors in Photoshop, make sure all objects and type that are in
the same color are merged on the same layer and named with the spot color they
should be printed in so it is clear to the printer.

Also, provide a layered PSD or TIFF file and rasterize your type and vector layers. This
can also be applied to files set up in Illustrator.

Additionally, remove any unused colors before packaging file.

Collecting Files in InDesign
In CS4, collecting files is known as Packaging (in previous versions it was known as
Preflight).

To collect and package your files in InDesign, go to File > Package.

A summary screen will pop up. Here, you will see any spot colors used, RGB images,
image sizes and fonts in the file.

On the image below, you will see that there is 1 font used, 2 linked images, no RGB
images, 4 color process and 1 spot color.

For a more detailed overview of each component, click through the navigation menu
on the left side of the Package window. It is good practice to check these.

Fonts
Check the font/s you used in the document in case you need to remove anything
saved on the pasteboard.

Links and Images

In the Links and Images section, you can see the file type is a TIFF with CMYK value at
300 ppi.

If you only want to see errors such as RBG linked files, check the Show Problems Only
option. If everything looks good, hit the Package button.
When collecting the native files for the packaged folder, make sure the links below are
clicked on.

Your final packaged folder should resemble this:

Preparing Print Files in Adobe Creative Suite

Applications: Summary
Photoshop InDesign Illustrator

Create the file in Create a file with a Create the file in

CYMK color mode bleed CYMK color mode
Remember to include Remove unused Remember to include
a bleed colors a bleed
 Add Guides to show Name layers clearly if Add Guides to show
trim area or crop UV varnish/coating trim area or crop
marks Package the file marks
Rasterize type Check colors, images Rasterize type
Name layers clearly if and image sizes Name layers clearly if
using spot colors and Save Packaged folder using spot colors and
UV varnish/coating Zip the file if you are UV varnish/coating
Rasterize vector uploading to an Link files and provide
layers online printer a folder with linked
Provide a layered Most printers will files to the printer
PSD file if you have accept high Most printers will
spots colors resolution PDFs and accept high
Most printers will collective native files resolution PDFs, AI,
accept TIFF, EPS, PSD, from InDesign and EPS files from
and PDF files created Illustrator
in Photoshop

Tutorial Summary
This tutorial outlined processes for preparing your artwork for traditional printing
presses to ensure the best possible results. I’ve included the templates used as
examples in this guide. We focused on InDesign, but the process is very similar
amongst other Adobe Creative Suite applications. You can see the similarities and
overview of the process above in the summary table with the heading "Preparing Print
Files in Adobe Creative Suite Applications: Summary."

Download Tutorial Source Files

prepping_files_print_flyer_template (ZIP, 6.5 MB)
prepping_files_print_uv_coating_template (ZIP, 35.8 MB)
prepping_files_print_2_spot_color_flyer_template (ZIP, 1.2 MB)

Author: Ciara Panacchia

Ciara Panacchia is a graphic artist transplanted from Carlow, Ireland
to Illinois. Inspired by her daughter and her heritage, she began
illustrating a series of bilingual books to help teach her daughter the
Irish language. She recently started the site eliesbooks.com in the
hopes of someday self-publishing the series. Follow Ciara on Twitter
@ciarasworld and see her work on Flickr or her website.

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94 Comments (Add yours)

@hygorbudny Why you don’t make this article before?! Impressive

May 26 2010
work, congratulations. You make point about
everything that we need to finalize an artwork. =)

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