Strut Cards

When you prepare a job for printing, first of all, make sure it is the proper size. Browse through our product’s selector to find out what’s the right size for your job.

If you’re using images make sure they’re at 300dpi resolution (600 dpi for line art). Images with resolution lower than this will print jagged, even though they looked OK on your screen.

Most of the applications used by designers will let you ‘overprint’ any object inside artwork. By default, each object ‘knocks out’ background below, but when set to overprint it prints on top. While with blacks you won’t notice any difference, anything lighter will blend with the background, producing unexpected results. Please refer to your software manual for details. Always check an overprint preview of your artwork before sending it.

Use our design templates to the right to ensure everything lines up.

RGB refers to the primary colours of light, Red, Green and Blue, that are used in monitors, television screens, digital cameras and scanners. CMYK refers to the primary colours of pigment: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black. These are the inks used on the press in “4-colour process printing”, commonly referred to as “full colour printing”.

The combination of RGB light creates white, while the combination of CMYK inks creates black. Therefore, it is physically impossible for the printing press to exactly reproduce colours as we see them on our monitors. For this reason, we request that you convert your colours from RGB to CMYK if your tools allow you to. By doing it yourself, you have maximum control over the results since you can do adjustments if a difference in colour occurs during the conversion.

As with RGB, spot colours were not intended for the process (four colour: CMYK) environment. Although we can use spot colour, if required, it’s not a standard job so contact us for pricing and availability.

If the coloured background of a layout extends to the edge of the sheet it is necessary to have the colour extend or bleed over the intended trim marks or line. This produces a far more finished result on the edges of the page.

Crop marks indicate where a page will be cut (or trimmed) after printing.

If your job involves folding mark it outside the cut line of your artwork before you start the design process, keep the text in a safe distance from the fold line.

Our design templates to the right are set with the correct bleed and margins to get you off to the right start.

To ensure we receive your file without issue it is best to compress your files into a .zip file for upload.

Although we are trying to match the colours as closely as possible, the colours of the final piece might differ from the colours you see on your screen or a printout from an inkjet or laser jet. Because of the wide differences in monitor calibration and the different technologies used, some printed colours may not exactly match the colours on your specific monitor. Unless your screen is calibrated by a professional, what you see on screen is not what you get in print.

If you are really concerned about colour matching please order a proof printout from us before we start printing. In case of a job being re-printed, we would require a sample from a customer to match previous colours.