Image by: gnietsche

1. Paper Stock:

There are a variety of paper stocks to choose from, with a number of variables with paper weight, paper finish (matte/ gloss…), size and more. This is generally determined by the type of job and your budget. Double sided printing requires slightly heavier paper to prevent colour from showing through, matte paper is generally more expensive than its glossy counterpart.

2. Bleed:

I would estimate that at least 70% of printed material has colour that runs to the edge of the paper. If your print job falls in this category, you will need to bleed the colour past that edge. For example if you have a business card design that has colour right upto the edge, you will need to increase the size on all sides by 0.125 of an inch- Normal business card size= 3.5″x2.0″, with bleed= 3.75″x2.25″

3. Layout:

I cannot stress this enough- Use the right tool for the right job, do not use “Microsoft word” to design and lay out your business card design, do not use a spreadsheet program like excel to design a brochure. If you do not have the appropriate software or knowledge to design your business cards / Brochures / Posters etc, I suggest you hire someone to do it for you. Printers generally use standard software’s to set up and print client’s work. Printers set multiple images per sheet, which varies with the size of the sheet to  multiples that fit on a sheet. Some digital printers may use a 11″x17″ sheet while others 12″x18″. Bottom line:- Even if you lay out your design multiple times on a sheet, the printer will have to redo it to accommodate for the sheet size he has in stock, this could cost you more or even worse, it could cause you to loose content during the transfer from one software to another.

4. Appropriate Colour:

Keep in mind what colours you see on your monitor are not necessarily what will print. This is why its always safer to ask your printer for a printed proof, if a job is designed using an RGB colour mode (which is for monitor viewing) you could see a huge difference in colour once printed, this is because most printers use a CMYK colour system. Bottom line: always use CMYK as the colour mode and if possible use a colour from the pantone matching system (pms).

5. Content is king:

Content on your brochure should always be clean and visible, avoid background images or at least watermark those images. There is no point if you have a great design but your content is not readable.

6. But don’t get carried away:

Continuing from the previous point, although content is king, do no go over board with it. Keep content brief and to the point, allowing your content to breath is much better than overcrowding it.

7. Printer knows best:

Want to reduce your cost? Ask your printer what are the alternatives. He may suggest using a different paper stock or printing full colour on one side and black & white on the reverse…