Luminaire Printing & Publishing Corp

Print Guide

Check our handy print guide for an easy, efficient, and trouble-free printing experience each time.

Print Design Terms

When taking your design to the printer, always check for the following:

Resolution

Design resolution is an important factor in creating high quality prints. For your printing requirements, the resolution must be 300 ppi (pixels per inch) or 300 dpi (dots per inch) or higher.

Trim Marks

Add trim marks as the cutter’s guide when trimming the printed material. These are short horizontal and vertical lines at the corners of your image, and is usually placed on or outside the bleed area.

Bleed

If your design extends until the edge of your paper in its finished size (trimmed), you must include a bleed to avoid unwanted white spaces during the trimming process. A bleed is made by overlapping the artwork and the trim margins in order to create an allowance.

Margin

To avoid accidentally cutting the important elements of your design, apply margins within your trim marks where all the elements of your design should be placed.

Font

Always be sure we print your exact design by converting text into outlines. Alternatively, you may also provide us with the fonts you used so that your design will not be altered.

Text and Images

Go over your design before giving us the file for reproduction. Proofread your text and check your image sizes as editing finalized files will be laborious.

Color chart (CMYK)
Before sending your image to the printer, always convert it to the industry standard CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) color mode. Images seen on computer screens are in RGB mode, which combine three color components (red, green, and blue) to create a variety of color shades. However, most printers use four color process printing or CMYK to produce different colors. That is why it is important to convert your files to CMYK in order to achieve the exact colors you see on your screen in the printed product.We use the industry standard CMYK four color process printing and we do not use PMS, Spot color ink, or RGB color modes.
Preparing your files
Offset printing (aka lithography) is one of the most common printing techniques used today. It starts when your inked image is transferred from a plate to a rubber blanket, then it goes to the printing surface, which, in our case, is paper. Four plates (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black — CMYK) are used for a full color print. If you have a special color in mind (like a specific Pantone color or a spot color), that would just require one plate. The process is very technical and would require the print operator’s skills and techniques to get it right.
Artwork requirements

Make sure that your design is ready to print before you give it to us. Revising work during printing time can cost you time and money. Keep in mind the other pertinent details such as color, resolution and format.

The acceptable file formats for high resolution printing are the following industry standards:

  • Adobe Photoshop (*.tif, *.jpg, *.jpeg, *.psd, *.bmp)
  • Adobe Illustrator (*.ai, *.eps)
  • Adobe Acrobat (*.pdf)
Programs / Softwares

Prepare your artwork in the right programs best suited for the tasks. Each type of software should only be used for what it is intended. Bad use of software can create major problems.

  • Drawing Programs – CorelDRAW, Adobe Illustrator (ideal for logos, packaging, posters, etc)
  • Image Editing / Processing Programs – Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Lightroom (for photos)
  • Layout Programs – Adobe InDesign, CorelDRAW (for page layout or imposition)

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