Introduction

At Upper Case, we want to ensure that print/design professionals and also those having a go for the first time, get all the information they need for perfect results.
Supplying artwork to us is as simple as reading our guide, confirming that you are happy to proceed to print and have conformed to the simple steps outlined.
If in doubt, always request a press proof. Where the particular print process permits, we are always delighted to provide one. We offer proofing on diverse items like CDs, display stands, books and all small format digital print, so don”t be afraid to ask.
Supplying your own design can seem simple at first. The wealth of software available which claims to offer professional design capabilities on a home computer can easily lead one to believe that what they see on screen is exactly what will be printed. However, chances are, even if you have a lot of experience preparing artwork for print, there may be something you”ve forgotten or missed. Its handy to have a list to check against and ensure you”ve dotted every I and crossed every T. And if this is the first time you”ve designed anything, then reading this guide before you start could save a lot of trouble – or even having to start again from scratch.
The list below summarises our basic requirements for print files. If you are confident you can supply your artwork to these specifications, then you are more than welcome to supply files straight to us for printing “as-is”. If you feel you would like more of a helping hand, we offer a rigorous advice and “pre-flight”ﾝ checking service for all print work for a small fee. For any other larger or specialist work such as books, magazines or displays, our print price will generally include a prepress check and advisory service, but our print management team will not generally edit your artwork for you; at this level it is assumed you have the software and know-how to make edits, and prefer to make them yourself – and it is always better that we produce prepress proofs straight from your supplied print-ready artwork without editing.

Digital Print- Five Point Artwork Checklist:

1. Resolution
All files should be supplied at 300dpi (dots per inch).
Bleed – all files should be supplied with 3mm bleed on each edge, and 3-5mm from the trim edge before important text, features or logos.
Hardcopy proofs- We recommend that hardcopy proofs are supplied with your work or alternatively that we are requested to produce press proofs.

2. File Types
TIFs, JPEGs and EPS files with the fonts converted to paths are ideal. PDFs and InDesign or Quark files are acceptable also. Layup – Include crop marks with all PDF & EPS files. No crops on Quark, InDesign, Illustrator or TIFF files.
Sending your files – you can email (must be under 30Mb) or supply them on CD/DVD if you wish. For larger file transfers we recommend you use the free FTP service available on www.yousendit.com.

3. Colour Matching & Colourtype

All full colour files must be CMYK when supplied to us. If you supply RGB files and we convert them and the results are not what you would wish, we cannot be held liable. Clients should be aware that their monitors and printers are in all likelihood not calibrated to our systems and that we will not be held liable to a presumed colour space based on home or small business monitor reproduction.

4. Finishing
For stitching(staple binding),

check our binding and finishing requirements in the section below. If you require a special die-cut, emboss, hole drilling, folding or other finishing, call us first to discuss.

5. Resolution
Printers refer to resolution in dpi, or dots-per-inch. This is exactly as it is stated, the minimum number of dots per inch that your artwork can contain. We require artwork exactly at 300 dots per inch. Any lower and your quality will suffer. Any higher and one increases processing time unnecessarily. It is also worth noting that resolution cannot be added at a later date.
Take a look at the examples below (figure 3 & figure 4) of the letter ”A” at low and high resolution.

Simply increasing the noted resolution of the file after the image has been scanned in, rasterized, or otherwise entered into the graphic design program, will only increase the gaps between the dots, as it were. You would need to redraw the ”A”, rescan your photo, or otherwise restart your drawing at the higher resolution. The only other way of increasing the resolution of the ”A” shown below would be to zoom in and re-draw the edges at the new higher resolution.
So to conclude, always start your document as you mean to go on – with 300dpi templates, images and scans.

Everything you need to know about…

Bleed

Bleed is the most important and least understood facet of print artwork, and yet it is a very simple concept. When you have a stack of printed paper, it must be trimmed to size.
There MUST be 3mm bleed on each edge + an extra 3mm margin for error on each edge. The paper is clamped and a guillotine edge forced down onto the paper at the trim edge point. As the guillotine is pushed down, the point at which it cuts the paper will vary by a very small amount – this creep or slippage is why we need bleed.
The diagram above shows a corner of a DL document. The dark area shows a subsection of the actual printed area (210x99mm),

the lighter blue area shows the bleed you require. The inner black line between is the trim line where the cutter aims for. The bleed exists for two reasons. As the cut aims for the exact trim edge, the cutter may move further out or in. If it moves out, if you do not have your background extending out into the lighter area, your document will end up with a blank (light blue) edge – which looks messy. Ditto, if it moves in, any text that butted right up to the trim edge would be compromised. Also, text right to the edge of the artwork looks odd in most cases. Keeping your text 3-5mm or more from the trim edge will keep your document neat.

Artwork Dimensions

You should send artwork to us as standard dimensions, plus 3mm bleed – on each side. So you add 6mm in total to each document dimension. So A4, which is 210 x 297mm, will be produced at 216 x 303mm and trimmed down. If you want to know more about the concept of bleed, you will find it in a previous section. If you are supplying multi page documents in PDF or EPS format please use the appropriate imposition (e.g. perfect bound, saddle stitch) including bleed and crops. On all other file formats, supply files as single pages with bleed but without crops.
Most print is first laid up on sheets and then cut to size. This ensures clean edges and avoids thin white strips at the sides. The extra overflow of the image is referred to as the ”bleed”.
The diagram below shows how a document should be set up to allow for this bleed. It also indicates where to arrange text to avoid it being clipped.

White line
This is the document edge (size plus bleed e.g. A6: 111 x 154.5mm).
Green line
This is the finished print size (size after cropping e.g. A6: 105 x 148.5mm).
Red line
This is the document margin. Any text or important information should be placed within this area (approx. 6mm from document edge).

Large format artwork

This applies in general to most printing that is A2 or over.
Such files should be supplied at 25% of the actual print size at 300dpi.
File Types
Generally accepted file types: PDF, TIF, EPS, JPEG, QUARK,

In Design & Illustrator

PDF”s can just as easily and more reliably be saved as EPS”s with the fonts converted to paths (or outlines). We advise that this is done as best practice. We do however, still very much accept PDF”s for all other jobs, so long as all fonts are outlined. As mentioned above, TIFF, JPEG and EPS files are also acceptable. TIFs and JPEGs are bitmap format files – they store the information of all data as small dots. So when you expand the document, the dots expand and the perceived resolution drops. Both formats have inbuilt compression – this will reduce the quality of your documents gradually, so try if you use JPEGs to keep the compression set to maximum. TIFs LZW compression is usually not a problem, but if concerned, save your files as uncompressed TIFs, and burn them to a CD and post them to us.

While we obtain good results printing from these formats for posters, flyers, leaflets and other single-sheet print, if you are producing a brochure or other document with multiple pages, EPS, InDesign or Quark files are preferable. These formats contain bitmap format, but also contain vector data – data that contains paths or expandable curves, straight lines and angles which will remain razor-sharp at any sizing. Be sure to include your fonts with Quark or InDesign files. Alternatively export to EPS with the fonts as vector data, or EPS pages with the fonts converted to paths.

Sending your files

Getting files to us should be easy – you can email them with your order, to a maximum file size of 30MB. Files can also be transmitted by using the free FTP service on www.yousendit.com. Please understand that we receive 100s of files a week and without a limit on emails, our system would quickly grind to a halt. If you wish to send files via FTP then please mail us or call us when its been done and we will start downloading. Please include a detailed purchase order and uppercase quote reference if possible.
Please ensure you inform us when you have sent the files. An order form which states in the comments field that your files are sent is sufficient for this purpose.
Delays can occur at the clients end for numerous reasons and due to commitments to other clients we are unable to continually check for your files appearing. Please also check you have read carefully our artwork guidelines so that your files are print ready and do not incur delays or extra costs before we can print them.
Should none of the more hi-tec options prove possible and the post is your only option. Please, please use swift post or registered post rather than standard post, better still use a courier.

Colour Matching & Colourtype

You probably already know this but colour pictures displayed on screens are RGB – made up of red, green and blue light – but when we print, we use Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and black – the CMYK system.
Full colour files must be CMYK when supplied to us. If you supply RGB files and we convert them and the results are not what you would wish, we cannot be held liable. RGB files CANNOT be printed from directly.
Colour matching is a thorny issue. Everybody’s monitors and printers will display different colours. Complex blends like burgundies, maroons, greens and browns may suffer more than others and unfortunately we can take no responsibility for mis-calibrated monitors or printers being cited as correct when their display differs from our printed material.
Our print is technically ”correct” to about a 99% tolerance. This means that the levels of Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black inks on the page are tested every centimeter and continually adjusted to +/- 1% of the values displayed on your artwork. Remember even a 1% colour variation can make a big difference in some cases.
It is all a question of understanding the limitations of the processes used. Full colour print is just that – an economical way of producing print in full colour.
There are other considerations when producing in full colour:
– avoid tints that contain less than 10% of either cyan, magenta, yellow, or black, as they will print much lighter than they appear on screen.
– watch your blacks! 100% K is very different from ”full colour black” (also know as rich black) – generally 40/40/40/100 C/M/Y/K, and much fuller and richer. You may not be able to tell the difference on flat screens or laptops so use your colour picker.
– try to avoid large areas of the same colour, as colour variation may become noticeable.
– colours will appear different on different paper stocks, much more so than you would imagine.
In short, excellent results are obtained daily with an understanding of the limitations of the machinery we work with. If you have a particular requirement (a rich purple sky, a violent orange, a particular red) then we can advise if you forewarn us – but we can”t accept complaints afterwards if we weren”t made aware of specific requirements and your colours aren”t quite as you expected them based on your monitor or printers” performance.
If in doubt ask for a press proof…
Where the process/print press allows for economical press proofing we are happy to do so. You will then possess a 100% colour accurate proof of your work, in many cases it can also be printed on the correct material stock also.
If you have exact colour requirements we may advise printing a series of test strips showing several colour options, shades or percentages of your desired colour
Particular colours to look out for are blues and purples. Blue and purple are in a very similar range of colours and can be easily miss-represented by your computer monitor”s calibration. Therefore it is worth (as with any colours you use) checking that the CMYK balance is correct. Eg, purples should have more magenta than cyan, blues should have more cyan than magenta. A printer will print the information supplied, a monitor only gives a representation.

Multi-page Documents

Multi page documents are accepted in Quark, InDesign and multi page PDFs. When sending PDF or EPS files please impose pages appropriate to the binding style(perfect bound,saddle stitched etc). If sending Quark, InDesign and all other formats, please supply as single pages with bleed but without crops.
Finishing
If you require a die-cut, hole drilling, folding or other finishing, please contact us with your specific requirements. For binding, read this section.

Binding

We may be perfect binding, or wire stitching your document. Accordingly there may be a difference in spine widths from what you might expect and it is wise to design with a view to the creep and bleed implications of your binding.
We prefer to calculate any spine widths and then adjust your file for you. To this end you should provide us with your original editable files i.e Quark/InDesign.
Remember to allow for binders creep on all saddle stitched work, otherwise page numbers may be cut off. To play it safe you can centre page numbers and keep a generous side margin on all pages, helping you sidestep both issues.

Binding Type

Double-wire stitched: stapled – the most common and suitable for up to 48pp, possibly higher dependent on paper weight.
Wire-o-bound: spiral binding – suitable for short runs or for special effect.
Canadian bound: Wiro binding where the wire is mostly hidden by a wraparound spine.
Perfect bound: like a paperback book – 68pp minimum, variations such as “thread sewing” add strength.
Rivet bound: Using metal screws/rivets – for high quality, high impact items.
If you would like another binding type just ask us.
Print Both Sides (Folders)
Printing both sides refers to the whole flattened sheet. If you imagine your folder opened out and require any part of the inside to be printed then select ”Yes”.

Business Card Slot (Folders)

If you want to be able to attach your business card to your folder then the slots are usually put on the bottom flap.
Creasing. If you wish to be able to fold your menu or flyer then state here how many creases you require. Be sure to take into account the thickness of the paper/card – obviously 300gsm card will not fold on itself as many times as 130gsm.

Die-cut or Cutting

If you would like any part of your print to be cut to a certain shape you will need to have a die-cut made. This is a custom made cutter which cuts the print to the desired shape. It is not just custom shapes that require a die-cut: any shape of print that is not a rectangle or square will require one.
Upper Case can however produce most work with round corners without resorting to a die cut. This is a very cost effective way of giving your printed piece a customised look without the extra cost normally associated.

Finished Size

These dimensions are those of the finished printed item. For example: if you need a number of A5 size booklets then the finished size is A5 (148.5 x 210 mm). If the size of your job does not come under a standard size then indicate ”Custom Size” . For folders, choose the size according to the material you wish to keep in them (if any). A4 inserts will fit into an ”oversize A4” folder and A5 inserts will fit into an ”oversize A5” folder.

Gusset (Folders)

If you intend to put more than 5 sheets inside your folder it is advisable to put a gusset on the folder. The diagram below shows how a gusset adds more space to accommodate more inserts.
Lamination & Encapsulation
A lamination is a thin plastic coating that protects the print surface. This is wipe-clean but not completely waterproof (see encapsulation below) You can have either matt, silk or gloss. Matt is a dull, smooth looking finish, Gloss is shiny, Silk is somewhere in between.
Encapsulation is similar to lamination but the edges are sealed as well as the surface. This is recommended for outputs that require to be weatherproof or waterproof.
Materials
Adhesive Label: supplied on silk paper with a permanent adhesive. These stickers are not waterproof and are therefore more suitable for indoor use.
Self adhesive Vinyl: Usually either white or clear vinyl – ideal for outside use.
Banner PVC: Durable outdoor grade PVC for banners etc
Mesh: Perforated version of banner PVC. Used for building graphics where wind is a factor.
Corriboard: corrugated PVC (usually white)available in various thicknesses
Foamex: Rigid PVC display board
Centre foam: lightweight, foam centered display board

Number of Pages (pp)

Booklets and brochures can only be made up of pages that are a multiple of 4 when saddle stitched and multiples of 2 when perfect/wiro bound. This is because of the way they are constructed: if you imagine a sheet of A4 paper folded in half to make an A5 booklet, you are left with 4 printed pages (pp). In order to add more pages you need to print and fold another sheet, therefore you add another 4 pages each time. Be sure to detail whether the cover is included in your overall page count or additional to it.
Print Resolution
In order to ensure a sharp printed image the source file needs to be supplied in a high enough resolution. 300dpi (dots per inch) is the resolution used for most print as it gives a good quality image whilst not causing huge file sizes.
A common mistake made when producing designs for print is to use a source file as a starting point. If the source file is the incorrect resolution (for instance 72dpi in the case of images downloaded from the internet) then the design is going to be the wrong resolution from the start.
Special Finishes
Special finishes can include spot varnishes, signature strips, barcodes and embossed logos or text.

Delivery

Your delivery will be made by courier. This will be usually be an overnight service – ensure that you are aware that the date of dispatch is not the same as the date of delivery.
Couriers will come to your address between 9am and 6pm. If the delivery is not there by 4pm it is probably a good idea to ring the courier for a delivery status update.
In the unlikely event something has gone wrong then we will always ask you to ring the courier direct. Your knowledge of your local area is much better than ours, and relaying information between clients and couriers will only lead to confusion. We can provide your consignment number and this can be used on the couriers” websites to track your delivery.
If you are unable to receive deliveries during business hours (9am – 6pm, Monday to Friday) then you should find a business address for your goods to be delivered to. Our couriers will not guarantee deliveries to home addresses due to the trouble associated with such deliveries, and due to their high workloads they will not specify delivery times as a matter of course. Should you wish a specific delivery time e.g. pre 10am, we can arrange this for you subject to checking with the courier. We are unable to specify afternoon deliveries or any ”post-2pm” delivery times.
If you decide to change your delivery address, we are unable to guarantee success unless this is done the day BEFORE we dispatch. On the day of dispatch your consignments are already booked, boxes bar coded and goods may be packed off as early as 11am and shrink wrapped onto pallets for transfer to our courier depots.
Please note that our terms of service are such that we undertake to do our job, and the couriers undertake to do theirs. Thus, legal liability for your order passes to the couriers when we have the goods picked up. We undertake to print your work in good time and to have it ready for uplift on the date of dispatch. However we cannot be held liable for actual or consequential loss, damage, or third party costs incurred by loss or damage by any courier firm or after delivery to you. If such a disaster does happen, any insurance, damages or reparations claim would be covered by the terms and conditions of the courier firm. We are not under obligation to reprint/replace goods that are damaged or lost in transit and advise that you insure valuable cargoes.
If goods appear to have been damaged during transit you must sign for the goods as “Damaged” or “not inspected” to have any chance of compensation from the courier.