Artworking
What is artworking?
Have you ever had printed products produced only to receive them and have them not be what you expected? This, most of time, can be an artworking issue.
When sending materials to print, whether it is a letterhead, business card, brochure, leaflet, roller banner, stickered vinyl or exhibition stand - it is imperative that your final print ready artwork meets the technical requirements of the supplier producing the finished goods.
Ensuring your artwork meets this criteria is part of artworking. In addition, it is the process of putting this final artwork together - whether it be a multi-page catalogue or a simple flyer.
The team at Sheldrake Hills has been typesetting and artworking products of different kinds since 1986 - our experience ensures that what you want is what you will get.
By now you know we love a list! So here are so important factors that need to be considered when produce final artwork for production:
Production Process: It is important to liaise with the supplier to ensure that a complete understanding of the production process is gained. This can seriously effect artwork production. Different processes can produce different results, both in image quality and colour reproduction - as can the materials to be used for the finished items. Printing ink on paper using digital or offset lithography can give different results than when screen printed onto vinyl or digitally printed onto clothing. All of these factors are to be considered when planning a campaign of printed products - and getting the artwork right is crucial.
Technical Requirements: Each supplier will have their own technical requirements for final print ready artwork - such as screen values, colour settings, trim size, bleed and binding allowances. When incorrect, these factors can result in costly mistakes and time lost. It is also important to ensure that file formats are correct for the supplier to ensure time is not wasted when they say they cannot use the files you have sent.
Purpose: What is the finished product to be used for? If it is a catalogue, for example, decisions need to be made regarding binding styles, lamination to be used to aid longevity if used for regular review, etc, and how much information needs to be in the product. All of these factors can change how the artwork needs to be produced.
It sounds like a nightmare - but as with everything - if you know what you are doing and have experience the process becomes simple and easy. We work on artwork from business cards to multi-page catalogues all the time and do not have artwork errors - and, more importantly - a long list of satisfied customers.
Contact us to see how we can take the guess work out of your artworking requirements.