5 Reasons Why PDF Files Are Best For Final Print

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Being a Graphic Design and Print Specialist and running DC-Graphics, I thought I would explain why PDF files are best for final, professional quality print reproduction.

When designing work for clients, I email them low resolution PDF files just so they can receive the files easily and view them. They can then print them out if need be, check and finally approve my design work. Because I supply a low quality PDF at this point, I often have to assure new clients that once the job is approved by them, I will be making a very high quality, high resolution version of their job. This means I will be adding the relevant bleed and crop/trim marks that the print company needs to print the job to the highest standard. It’s a well known fact that PDF files are now the industry standard in the professional world of printing.

The Adobe Acrobat PDF

PDF stands for Portable Document Format created by the Adobe company and you probably already use Adobe Acrobat Reader (if not, go here) to open and view PDFs already. If you haven’t used or worked with PDF’s before, the following information will help you understand why designers and professional printers prefer to receive final approved artwork as a press ready PDF file.

1. With many elements used in a graphic design document, such as fonts, logos, photographic and even scanned images especially, a multi-page document like a newsletter, magazine or book means it will now be quite a considerable file size. Often too large to send by email.

2. Print companies used to require you supply all these elements as separate files on disk, but saving the whole job now as a PDF file means that not only are all these elements embedded, but it will also compress the combined data. So the final PDF when saved, is considerably smaller in memory size enabling it to be easily emailed to your chosen printer.

3. There are no cross platform issues with PDF files as they can be opened and viewed on PC’s as well as Apple Mac computers.

4. Correctly made PDF files can speed up the print process and most professional graphic design software lets you make your PDF from within that package.

5. One last tip – if you are making your own PDF’s – ensure all colours used are in CMYK format and your images, logos and scans are no less then 300dpi (dots per inch) resolution as this will mean less chance of your final printed job ending up with a pixelated, jagged edge look to all images. Don’t worry about the sharpness of the fonts, they will be fine.

Free Advice from Doug at DC-Graphics

There is plenty of other reasons why PDF’s are a printer’s preferred choice of artwork format. The information above is just a brief, basic outline. If you are not sure about anything, then please contact me on: 0208 440 1155 or email me: doug@dc-graphics.co.uk and I will give you some free advice over the phone. Or, if you prefer, like all of my satisfied clients, (see some testimonials here) - let me design your project for you, set up the artwork in the correct way and I’ll arrange the printing for you and get it delivered to any location of your choice.

Printed Leaflets – what they’re called and how they fold…

When a client contacts me here at DC-Graphics and tells me that they want a folded leaflet, a conversation often ensues with me trying to fathom the type of folded leaflet they have in mind.

A good example would be a document requirement of 6 pages or more. Documents such as these are normally designed to either be finished with a Concertina Fold (also called a ‘Z’ Fold) or a Roll Fold. Both names are quite close to what the finished outcome would look like. What follows is normally a series of questions from me to try and find out exactly what the client has in mind, what they have seen and if they have a sample leaflet for style in their possession. This can slow down the start of the design and print process, as they may have to mail the sample leaflet to me, or I have to travel to them to pick it up. One client tried to speed things up by actually photographing their sample leaflet with their Smartphone and then emailed the image to me! But if they had have had access to my handy guide below, a lot of time could have been saved. So below is a list and description of the most common types of folded leaflet used:

The Z Fold Leaflet

The Z Fold Leaflet is folded in equal parallel parts much like an accordion and will look like a ‘Z’ when viewed from above and opened out. This zig-zag style of leaflet is much easier to set up as it requires the flat page to be divided exactly into the required number of panels and will back up perfectly on the reverse. Example: A typical DL sized Z fold with 6 pages will fold into three equal sections measuring 99mm x 210mm. This leaflet size is very common as it originates from an A4 page which is in effect just folded twice. See the diagram. Because of this, the guides and back up will be exactly the same on the reverse.

The Roll Fold Leaflet

The Roll Fold Leaflet is a little more involved. The largest two panels being the same size at one end with the rest of the panels being slightly smaller so that they can fold into each other and line up correctly. This means each panel is slightly different in size and the designer has to consider the back up very carefully. Example: A typical DL sized Roll Fold will have three sections, two of which will make up the front and back cover and are the largest at 100mm each. The third panel needs to fold inside neatly without buckling the leaflet and therefore needs to be slightly smaller. As this leaflet will usually originate from an A4 sheet, so the last measurement must be 97mm. The first diagram shows the outside spread of the leaflet which includes the front and back cover on the right. The second diagram shows the inside spread which is the exact inverse and reverse of the measurements on the front. This is where most people slip up. The outside spread must start with the lowest measurement on the left and the inside spread, the lowest measurement on the right – remember, they have to back up correctly and so they are not the same on both sides!

The best and most simple way of checking that everything works is obvious. Print one out, cut it out and fold it up! If the margins and text line up correctly and the folding is flat without buckling, you have successfully created a correctly folded leaflet. Now call me on 0208 440 1155 or email me and I can start on a design and print your folding leaflet.