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Artwork Guidelines

Dear Customer,


Here we have a short guide for making high-quality print data, which you can create directly with our online designer or externally with other (graphic) programs.

If you do not find all the answers to your questions regarding the correct printing data here, you can contact us by phone: +49711707 99 00 or email: onprintshop@lacerda.de

Please prepare your print data according to the specifications as described below. If these requirements are not met, we will not take any responsibility for the printed result.

 

Quick-Checklist


The following points should be considered by you for both data with one of our online designer or by external programs, in order to have the best print quality.

 

1.)

 Tips for using our online designer print data:

•The font size is easy to read - especially in relation to the final print size as well as for longer text areas.
•The page size must be selected properly before beginning layout to obtain
the desired output format.
•Please note the outer guidelines - the trimmlines (red dashed outer line) and safety lines associated with safety edge (green dashed line inwards) which are explained in the following section in more detail. Inserted images to be printed to the edge of the paper, must have a bleed of 3 mm all around (depending on the print product), so that the final result of the print is borderless (after trimming the print). A more detailed explanation can be found in this  PDF file: Safe and bleed design area
•

The inserted images (photos) should have a resolution of 300 dpi. This is especially recommended for small-format printing up to A3 (210 x 420 mm). For larger print sizes

(> DIN A3) it is recommended a 200 dpi resolution.

•For image file with line art (drawings), up to max.1200 dpi recommended, depending on the template.
•After successful completion your artwork with our online designer, you can choose a "soft proof" of your PDF file in order to have a brief impression of what it will look like after it is printed. Please double-check your artwork and check the text, the size and correct position of your graphic elements in your layout. More about it in the section "color".
Please mind that the color impression depends on your screen and does not exactly fit with the final print product.

 

2.)

 Additional tips when creating print-layouts with other graphic programs

•The preferred file format is Adobe Acrobat PDF. (PDF version 1.3, Acrobat 4)
The data must meet the PDF/X-3:2002 standard. Furthermore, please observe the following guidelines:
- No encryption (password protection)
- No comments or formulas fields
- No transparencies
- No tile patterns and pattern cells
- No OPI comments or links to external data
- No transfer curves

Please add an Output Intent on (output profile, see Color Mode)
In addition to the PDF/X-3: 2002 standards:
- no  rotated pages in the PDF document
- the document must not contain  layers
•All fonts used in the document must be completely embedded!
(Please refer to this, if necessary, to our help guideline pdf converter.) Alternatively  we recommend - especially for documents with low  number of pages  (up to 12 pages) to convert all fonts to paths / curves.
•Note: The resolution of the images might be greatly reduced when converting to PDF file with the wrong setting parameters!
•Please send us the pages in chronological order, starting with the title page.
For multi-page documents, we recommend  the Adobe Acrobat PDF format, where the page order is fixed.
For other data formats with single pages they must be named  each with sequential numbering, in addition with name and number representing  page order
(eg: wedding newspaper page-001.JPG corresponding to the front page, all other pages would be  as a wedding newspaper page-002.JPG , wedding newspaper page-003.JPG ... etc .)
•Alternatively we also accept JPEG files:
- In standard format, not JPG 2000 files
- For best quality we recommend conversion parameter when you save the file in the following settings:
  Baseline with max. quality and lowest compression factor
•or TIFF files.
- image reduced on background layer
- no alpha channels, no clipping paths, no compression.
•Color mode should  be CMYK or grayscale, 8 bits / channel
- Color profile ideally ISO Coated v2 300% (ECI), available at www.eci.org
- In PDF files this color profile is anyway  as output intent.
•A more detailed explanation can be found in this  PDF file: Safe and bleed design area

 

 

 Data check

 

We offer the print data check in 2 versions.

 

1.)

 Our free basic data check is always included and covers  the following points:

•

Correct file format (PDF, JPG, EPS, PS, TIFF)

•Correct size of the artwork, as specified in your order. Please note that can be a degraded resolution when any necessary scaling from a smaller to a larger format
(eg, from A6 to A4) is required
•number of pages as indicated in your original order
•Automatic conversion of your print data from the RGB color space to the CMYK color space, if it has not been  converted. Note: It may be  color variations! More details  in the  "color” section
•You can contact our Customer Service at anytime by e-mail when you encounter any other difficulties.

 

2.)

 Our paid professional data check  includes in addition to the basic data check  the review the following points:

•Check for any transparencies and layers.
•Correct typographical necessary bleed of at least 2 mm, or betterl at 3 mm all around.
•Correct type of fold / fold position of flyers that requires folding.
•Adequate separation of text and graphical elements (eg logos) for trim box / trim area.
•The resolution and quality of images or logos if  they are as pixel graphicsthe resolution and quality of images or logos if  they are as pixel graphics.
•Specification of the colors in CMYK mode. If this is not the case you will be promptly notified
by our Customer Service. You can then decide whether we should perform the conversion for you.
Note: It may be color variations! More about in the "color" section.
•

You can contact our Customer Service at anytime by e-mail when you encounter any other difficulties.

On request, we examine whether individual corrections of us are necessary and make them if possible. if the necessary processing to create the correct printing data requires a lot of extra work it might be extracosts to charge but you´ll be notified of this before. Then you can decide for yourself if we have  to correct the data for you or if you want to send us a new  one again.

 

 

Color

 

Colour - theory and practice.

 

If it is possible for you, the data should be created in CMYK color space. Screens and office programs work with the RGB color space, therefore, on the screen,the color reproduction are
different from printed ones. Spezielle komplexe fillings, transparecies, lens-effects und colour gradients aren't always to be printed as they are visible displayed on the screen:

Special complex fillings, transparencies, lens effects and scale gradients make the print layout look different  on the paper as on the screen.

 

  

Additive color mixing:

Amounts of light are added together. All three colors mixed together make white color. With a prisma  man can break down the basic colors of the visible light into its colors.
The three primary colors are Red, Green and Blue, accordingly this is the RGB color mixing. This Color mixing system applies in all screens, in the human eye and also  the sensors of digital cameras. Even the appearance of the rainbow is based on this color mixing.

  

Subtractive color mixing:

that means the light values are subtracted. The three primary colors cyan,
magenta, and yellow correspond to the basic colors in color printing.
All three colors printed over one another give a dark brown gray.
In order to optimize the contrast of the images / photo printing a pure black is required.
Therefore, the four basic colors found in print: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and black (K). This is known as CMYK color, the black stands for Key or contrast.
 

 

 

 

Color wheel


 

 

 

 

Paper and media sizes

 

Did you know ...

...that you can place a sheet of DIN A4 paper 16 times into DIN A0 paper ?
...that a postcard DIN A6 format has 25% of the area of an A4 sheet, but the zoom factor decreasing  from A4 to A6 is only  50%?
...that you need a scale factor of 283% from A4 to A1 ?
...that an inch (zoll) is 2.54 cm long?
These and  other more important and interesting parameters and figures in the world of printing can be found here.

 

 

 

The German DIN  (stands for German Institute for Standardization)  paper sizes formats have been standardized in the international ISO. Everywhere where the metric system is used there
are 3 different classifications. ISO formats DIN  A  and  the information relating to their sizes you  can see in  the attached figure. The largest standardized format of the class A is ISO A0, but more often still referred to as DIN A0 and has a size of 118.9 x 84.1 cm.  A0 surface is exactly 1m ². The next smaller size is DIN A1 and has a size of 84.1 x 59.4 cm therefore only 0.5 m².

 

 

Here is an overview of the ISO / DIN sizes and their relationship to each other:

 

Format DINSize in (mm)ZoomfactorSize in (inch)Size in (Point)
A0841x1189400 %33-1/8x46-1/42385x3330
A1594x841283 %23-3/8x33-1/81683x2385
A2420x594200 %16-1/2x23-3/81188x1683
A3297x420141 %11-3/4x16-1/2846x1188
A4210x297100 %8-1/4x11-3/4594x846
A5148x21071 %5-7/8x8-1/4423x594
A6105x14850 %4-1/8x5-7/8297x423
A774x10535 %2-7/8x4-1/8207x297
A852x7425 %2x2-7/8144x207
A937x52 1-1/2x2108x144
A1026x37 1x1-1/272x108

 

Special formats:

 

FormatSize in (mm)Size in (Zoll)
Letter216x2798,5x11
A3+ (Oversize)305x45712x18
SRA3320x45012,6x17,7

 

 

Folding types

 

   
Zick-Zack-folding 6-pages Wickelfalz 6-pages
   
 
   
   
Zick-zack-Falz 8-pages Doppelparallelfalz 8-pages
   
 
   
   
Altarfalz einfach