Care should be taken when setting up your files prior to sending to ColourChiefs. For complex jobs we suggest sending us all the native files and links, otherwise supplying print-ready PDF is suitable. Regardless of which method you choose, please keep the following points in mind.
Colour
All content should be in either CMYK, spot colour(PMS specified) or greyscale. Using an RGB workspace can produce unexpected results, and should only be used by experienced artworkers.
Images
All images should be at an appropriate resolution and scale for the output device. For best results your raw images should be at least 300dpi. 'Rezing-up' of images does not always create a better image. Either does scaling or enlarging. The smaller the image, the less it can be enlarged via scaling or resolution.
Fonts
All fonts should be embedded as standard. There should be no exceptions.
Bleed and Trim
3mm bleed should be allowed in all artwork, and trim offset should be set to 4mm. Having a Trim offset smaller then the bleed amount will defeat the purpose of allowing bleed at all, as your trims will be inside your bleed area.
PDF compression
For our internal workflow we use ZIP compression on PDFs. ZIP compression, while retaining the most amount of image data, does not always create a file size suitable for transfer. If you have a number of PDFs(or have few large PDF's), then sometimes the use of Jpeg(Maximum quality) will be more appropriate.
PDF version
For the most predictable results, we recomend using either PDF version 1.3 or 1.4.
We also support the use of the PDF/X-1a and PDF/X-3 settings which are preloaded with all Adobe Software and most other DTP authoring applications. If you have any doubts, please feel free to contact us or simply electronically package your job so we can work with the native files.
