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31
votes
8answers
5k views

What kind of black should I use when designing for CMYK print?

my question is what kind of black should I use when printing. At the moment I use this black (split into CMYK) : C:0% M:0% Y:0% K:100% It looks fine in InDesign or Illustrator but if I save a PDF ...
15
votes
4answers
3k views

What's the difference between CMYK Black and RGB Black

I know this sounds a stupid question, black is black right? Wrong: It's black right? so why are the CMYK Values so far away from black?
15
votes
3answers
953 views

How do I make screenshots look good when printed in CMYK?

Whn printing screenshots alongside black text, black areas of the screenshot look a washed out muddy dark grey - what causes this and can I improve matters?
12
votes
9answers
39k views

What resolution should a large format artwork for print be?

For wall sized graphics and large banners (e.g 3m x 5m), what is an acceptable PPI for print. As i understand it 300 PPI is the typical for 'small' artworks (esp. for clean text resolution), however ...
10
votes
4answers
4k views

How can I have prints with white ink?

Say, I have a small business card that has solid, dark background and white text. Registration, ink amount and look & feel -wise I'd prefer the paper itself be dark and the text printed in one ...
9
votes
5answers
4k views

What is 5-colour printing?

When my print rep talks about five-colour printing, what does he mean? I know you have cyan, magenta, yellow and black - but what's the fifth?
9
votes
1answer
105 views

Justification and hyphenation without proper time and tools?

In my computer science studies we are being forced to write a report every now and then. I have a background in web development and have worked closely with both print and web designers for many years ...
7
votes
2answers
11k views

What are the dimensions of a business card?

As per the title. What are the dimensions of a business card that fits in a wallet? (i believe it is a global standard?) Bonus marks if you can give the history behind how it arrived at that ...
7
votes
3answers
1k views

Do you use colour lasers for proof printing?

I own an EPSON Stylus Photo RX640 printer which prints really good on special paper media, but is rather poor when it comes to normal (>75%) printing on plain papers. Beside that it's also quite ...
6
votes
3answers
659 views

What size should I make my gatefold brochure?

I am a web developer who now needs to create a brochure, so excuse me if fumble some terms. It is a gatefold brochure and the requirement is that the central piece is as close to square as possible. ...
6
votes
1answer
177 views

What is page bleed and how can I avoid issues with it ?

I have never had problems in the past with printing documents, but ever since I started doing posters or mockups.. somehow I end up unconsciously cropping or padding (I am not sure it that is the ...
6
votes
1answer
3k views

Best practices around creating LARGE poster image 24X36

I need to create a large image (for print) at 24X36 inches. It is a seating chart poster for a wedding. What settings in Photoshop would I set for an image this size (DPI, etc.)? I would need it to ...
5
votes
3answers
156 views

Black & white photocopies as posters?

The non-profit organization I contribute to has decided to stop spending money on professional print services and use black & white photocopys for any campaign (recruitment, fund raising, etc.). ...
5
votes
4answers
888 views

how to keep printed documents accurate color reproduction

Is there a way to widen the gamut of a cmyk print so that the darks stay dark and the lights stay light? I suspect it has something to do with color space being exported, but I don't know how to ...
5
votes
4answers
153 views

When should I use rich black?

What kind of black should I use when designing for print ? explains what rich black is, but when should it be used? If it gives a "blacker black", why not use it for all black elements in a CMYK job ...
5
votes
3answers
273 views

Is there something like smashing magazine.com for the Print Industry?

I know the print industry isn't probably changing as much as the web stuff nowadays but Im just wondering were do print graphic designers get their inspiration, latest news and that kind of stuff. ...
5
votes
2answers
329 views

How to specify a repeating pattern for textile printing

I've tried searching for an answer to this, but I have no idea what terms to even search for. I'm creating the artwork for a repeating pattern that is going to be printed on a large quantity of ...
5
votes
1answer
46 views

How to optimize the packing of multiple shapes inside a page for print

Is there a tool inside or outside of Adobe Illustrator which packs custom shapes inside an (say) A4 page? This would be an optimization for printing the same element multiple times on the same page. ...
5
votes
2answers
288 views

What are my options for gallery-quality prints of digital artwork?

I have some traditional media artwork that I'd like to scan and then have printed to be shown in an art show. I'll be doing the scanning. Where do I go to get this done? (What is the generic name ...
4
votes
2answers
97 views

How can I make Symbols in Illustrator like I would in Flash?

I have a quite complex draw in Illustrator (let's say, lots of vectors and that), and I have to make a mosaic for printing a hole page of them. It's complex enough to be memory-heavy, so when I try ...
4
votes
3answers
8k views

Exporting to High Quality Print InDesign - preserving all fonts/text - Create Outlines?

I'm just about to export a brochure for printing in InDesign (CS4) What is the correct way to export the document so that the fonts used throughout will display properly at the printers. I have used ...
4
votes
1answer
3k views

Illustrator EPS File To PNG Web Logo - Print Quality

I have been provided a typographic logo in an EPS format and I am creating a PNG with it (File | Save For Web & Devices) to be used on a web site. One of the pages on the web site is a "print ...
4
votes
1answer
361 views

Colouring illustrations - RGB or CMYK?

I am in the process of colouring a series of hand-drawn illustrations in Photoshop using a graphics tablet. The colouring process takes place mostly using Photoshop's native drawing tools - the ...
4
votes
2answers
116 views

Printer Resolution

The Windows 7 printer preferences dialogue box tells me: Print pixels: 1416 x 2152 dots Does this mean that I should always provide an image of 1416 x 2152 pixels to achieve max quality? How is DPI ...
4
votes
1answer
646 views

Print outline preview in illustrator

Is it possible to print only the outline preview (View > Preview) of an artboard? Taking a screenshot and printing is not an option for me.
3
votes
3answers
12k views

Can you convert a neon RGB color to CMYK for printing?

I have a logo that was done with RGB colors, now I have to work with this logo to do something for printing purpuses, the problem is that in the RGB version of the logo I have a shade of green I ...
3
votes
2answers
80 views

is there a way to ad hyperlinks in a illustrator document?

I am creating a CV in illustrator and exporting it to a PDF. I just read an article which stated that it is a good idea that we use hyperlinks in the CV so that the employer can just click and not ...
3
votes
1answer
330 views

What's the best way to print a mostly black 8.5“ x 11” page?

I'm making a brochure for my company, and I went with white text on a black background since it looks the best. There's also a picture, so color is required. At any rate, after a few test prints of ...
3
votes
1answer
177 views

“Black text has been set up so it prints as 4 colours, rather than just black” - what?

I'm currently dealing with a printer, who I've been working with for a year or two. We've sent off to had one of our brochures reprinted - the same files as last time, except now they're having some ...
3
votes
1answer
223 views

Define crop marks for each design that is 4-up on a letter size page.

I'm trying to print a birthday invitation, 4 to a letter size page. I'd like crop marks for each. How do I set crop marks without having to draw them by hand? Is there a feature when printing or ...
3
votes
2answers
360 views

What is a spot/Pantone colour?

When should I use them, and how do I pick one? (NB: I know the answer, but think this question fills an important gap.)
3
votes
1answer
392 views

Designing forms for printing in InDesign

I have to make a lot of forms in InDesign. Not interactive forms, just forms that need to be printed. It's really a pain making all the checkboxes, radio buttons, lines and text fields and ensuring ...
3
votes
1answer
3k views

How to see an embedded image's dpi in a pdf in Acrobat Pro?

the following situation baffled me slightly: After preparing a pdf in a different program I wanted to make sure the dpi of an embeded image in the pdf file had the right dpi, yet I found no way in ...
3
votes
1answer
253 views

Digital pen with realtime viewing

I've looked for this online forever but can't seem to find it. Is there a digital pen that doesn't need special paper, uses easy to replace cartridges, and let's me see what I'm writing on a screen ...
3
votes
1answer
91 views

Printing an 8ft X 4ft design

So I have a friend who wants a vector image done for a wall print in their karate studio. But they want the image 8 ft high and 5ft long. Do you actually make a file that big then draw the design then ...
3
votes
1answer
602 views

Problem printing PDF from Freehand-10 via Acrobat X

When I go to print a pdf file with "Adobe PDF printer", I get the following error: cannot complete command because read or write access has been denied. This very strange error only appears if I ...
2
votes
2answers
644 views

Inept knowledge about dpi and ppi,please help?

I have designed a web header 1000x98 at 72 ppi using Macromedia Fireworks for our website and we are planning to print a billboard using that header? The printer has told us that he needs the image ...
2
votes
3answers
143 views

Is there an easy and cheap way to print qr codes on post-it notes?

Is there an easy and cheap way to print small quantities of qr codes on post-it notes? Would need only a few post-its with same qr code, but overall quantity might be a 100 a day.
2
votes
3answers
388 views

Insert a variable on many pages in Adobe InDesign to fill in when printing PDF

I have a "Name" field on many worksheet pages which I want automatically filled in with a particular student's name when printing. I know in InDesign I can just create a master page that those ...
2
votes
2answers
102 views

Crediting a typeface in a finished work

Hey does anyone know how you are supposed to credit (if you are supposed to) the typefaces you have used in a printed work (case in point - design exhibition catalogue for my BA) I've been using ...
2
votes
2answers
843 views

Where do the various international business card sizes come from?

According to the Wikipedia entry on "Business Cards", various countries employ several standard business card sizes. US/Canada use 3.5 x 2in, UK uses 85 x 55mm, ect. Apparantly, the following ...
2
votes
2answers
235 views

Are there some standard sizes when it comes to square page layouts?

I am designing this luxury product catalogue and I was thinking to make the pages square so it would somehow be a little more unique and stuff... The way I have it set up now is 8in x 8in(about 20cm ...
2
votes
2answers
4k views

What resolution do I need for images placed in InDesign?

I am creating a A4 Print PDF file from InDesign. From the InDesign file I am doing the following : File > Adobe PDF presets > [High Quality Print] Doing this exports a PDF file from InDesign pretty ...
2
votes
1answer
69 views

Textures for city facade design such as roofs and walls?

I have used textures from services such as SXC and different bundles but is rarity that they connect well together. This print design resulted in odd lines and some bad textures where the images do ...
2
votes
1answer
540 views

Can digital presses print right up to the edge of a sheet?

I wonder whether it's possible to print completely to the edge of physical paper (not print with bleed that will be trimmed/cropped), because with laser printers it can't be done. Toner would burn ...
2
votes
1answer
2k views

Saving a document in photoshop CMYK turns SOME black into gray

I am creating a rather big photoshop document 3000x3000 which i want to print. I thought i took all the precautions: CMYK color mode 300ppi save as pdf and so on Still when i save the picture as pdf ...
2
votes
4answers
371 views

Small-run or DIY printing solutions for packaging design?

So, about a year ago, I taught myself Illustrator. I am still bumbling along and experimenting with what it can do. I recently bought a new book that has templates for packaging design and I am going ...
2
votes
1answer
69 views

How can I print vinyl stickers without using laminate?

I would like to use a consumer grade inkjet printer (entry to mid grade) to print on self-adhesive vinyl. These labels would be for outside use, so the ink could not simply sit on the surface of the ...
2
votes
1answer
31 views

PMS on a Roll-up?

I heard most of the Roll-ups are printed in CMYK. I am wondering if it is possible to print with a Pantone on a Roll-up (canvas)?
2
votes
1answer
91 views

Illustrator - Print copies with sequential numbers

I have an Illustrator document, which has a text field with a number. How do I print X copies of it, so each copy has a different sequential number on it, say from 0000 to X ?

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