Screens represent art files differently than actual printing does. So its common for files to arrive at the printer without the correct formatting or proper design for press ready print.

Being print ready means the file has been saved, sized, designed and formatted properly for the printing process. Looks can be deceiving and many files that look great on screen are actually unfit for the printing process as they currently exist.

Ultimately to avoid time delays or the back and forth frustration, it's best to familiarize yourself with this checklist. The following terms and guidelines will demonstrate how to properly prepare artwork for print.

Full bleeds (pictured above) ensure that print documents don't end up with empty paper-colored borders. Bleeds are simply an additional 1/8" added to all sides of your file. This small space accounts for natural movement of the paper during the final trim and for any design inconsistencies that may potentially occur.

If your file contains artwork with color that flows to the edge of the paper, you need bleeds.

To add bleed settings to your artwork, simply add 1/8" to all sides of your document size. The size of the bleed stays consistent regardless of the files dimensions. If your final print size is to be 5" x 7", adding bleeds will increase the file size to 5.25" x 7.25" when sending it to print.

Width: 5" + .125" left side + .125" right side = 5.25"

Height: 7" + .125" top + .125" bottom = 7.25"

After increasing the document size, pull the color that sits along the original edge of the file across the additional 1/8" empty space on each side. Your artwork and background colors should consistently flow across the bleed area.

To set up Bleeds:

• Adobe Illustrator > File > Document Setup > Bleeds
• Adobe Photoshop > Image > Canvas Size > Increase Height & Width each 6 mm
• Adobe Indesign > File > Document Setup > Bleed & Slug
  
  

Crop marks (pictured above), commonly referred to as trim marks, are short, thin, solid, horizontal and vertical lines placed just outside of the trim area at the corner of each page. These small lines when properly added to your artwork will print and act as a guide indicating to the printer precisely where to trim the paper.

To set up Crop Marks:

• Adobe Illustrator > Print > Marks and Bleeds > Trim Marks
• Adobe Photoshop > File > Print > Printing Marks > Corner Crop Marks
• Adobe Indesign > Export PDF > Marks and Bleeds > Marks > Crop Marks
  
  

The safety area (pictured above) of a file is the 1/8" inside the trim edge. Ideally, there should be no important text or images inside the safety area to ensure that nothing of importance is lost during the printing and trimming process.

To avoid pixelated, blurry or distorted prints, the standard DPI for images and art is 300 DPI. This means 300 tiny dots of ink will be deposited to fill every inch of print. Typical presses cannot accurately reproduce resolutions above 300 DPI, which is why this has become the industry standard. 

Now that we know how absurd it is to try and improve the quality of a low resolution raster image, let's explore alternative options. First, do you happen to have the original image?

If yes, then check it's resolution and hope for higher quality.

If no, you may be stuck using the raster file within its limited capabilities. Or a better alternative, would be to replace the image with a similar, high quality raster image.

Suppose you are trying to use a low resolution raster artwork on a large banner... no bueno.

If this graphic file is your only choice and it must be used, opt for a creative work around. Reduce the size of your raster image on your banner. Making it smaller will improve its quality, since its not being stretched as far.

Then fill in any empty space with creative effects (swirls, bubbles, lines, shapes, etc.) anything that will complement your overall theme. So instead of your banner being just an image, maybe there's text or a repetitive design filling in the empty space.

There's a reason that vector file types are widely preferred for quality applications, it's as if they are immune to distortions and poor quality. Unlimited in capability, vector images always appear crystal clear regardless of how large/small they are stretched or how much they've been edited. Vector graphics have the unique ability to proportionately recalibrate when their size is adjusted, like magical genius voodoo!

Whenever you have the choice between vector and raster, its usually best to choose vector file formats.