How to set up a booklet
Booklets and magazines are quite tricky to set up correctly to get them set up so that we can get your booklets printed for you correctly, and don’t have to send them back to you to change and resubmit, which is always annoying and slows down the project.
Print-ready artwork
If you provide us with ‘Print ready’ artwork this means you will have provided us with a file that we are going to print from. Be aware, that we do not look at any content, but we do check the quality of your pictures, and that the work is good to go to print. If you have employed a graphic designer, we would expect your work to come to us “Good to go!!” (Warts and all!) We will have a cursory look at your booklet to check that the images are high resolution, but print ready means GOGOGOGOGOGO!!!!
Why not use our graphic design team?
We have a team of graphic designers and can help you get your work print-ready. Sadly, if this is more than just superficial changes, we will have to charge you, but we will always let you know before we do anything. Click HERE to go to our webpage, or call me (Guy) on 0421 840 465, so that we can chat about your project.
Select the size of the booklet, and send us the first page
It is always a good idea to send us the first page of your booklet before you spend hours designing your work. We will then check to see that it is all ok, and you can then go ahead fairly confidently that the rest of the book will be set up correctly.
Each page must be separate.
No spreads please, send each page separately, all in one file, so if you have a 32 page booklet, you will send us 32 separate pages in one file.
Sounds obvious, but we will consider the order that we receive the pdf’s the order of the document, page 1 will be considered to be the cover, and the last page to be the back cover of any multi-page document.
For saddle-stitched (Stapled) booklets you must supply us with multiple of 4 pages e.g 4 pages, 8 pages, 12 pages, 16 pages etc.
Once again.. with booklets, NO SPREADS PLEASE, we want separate pdf’s, saved in one file. If the file is less than 8Mb, just attach it to an email and send it, if over 8MB, please go HERE – which works a treat.
If your file is over 100Mb, please call us before you send the file, as we will need to discuss this, and see why the file is so big. Big files are a big problem, but we can handle them!
Please supply artwork at the correct size (with bleed and trim marks if needed)
External Bleed
4mm bleed on every page. For booklets, if you are able to give us 5mm bleed on the front edge, that is great, but not absolutely necessary.. If you are uncertain what bleed is, please call me, and I’ll explain.
Internal Bleed
For booklets, internal bleed requirements are different for different sizes of booklets, but as a guide for A4 booklets, if you can give us 10mm bleed all the way around, that gives us the best result, as this will keep your work around from the back fold. If your content is to close to the back fold, it may get “sucked into” the fold. Obviously, this is not the case for the center page.
Cut or Trim Marks
When you save your document in Indesign, please select trim marks only. Please do not select all the other marks (registration marks, printers marks, etc.) they just get in the way.
Please outline all fonts/text if you can.
For your booklets, set Black Text at 100% K only.
If you are looking for a background black colour, please use “rich black” = 65% C, 50% M, 50% Y, 100% K to give a good solid coverage.
Everything must be hi-Rez, so 300dpi at 100% is what we are after. The better the quality of the pdf’s, the better the result you will get. IT IS YOUR GRAPHIC DESIGNER’S RESPONSIBILITY TO ENSURE ALL YOUR WORK IS 300 DPI!!
It may seem trite, but please check all your pdf’s before you send them, as work can change in the process of converting a file to pdf’s. We cannot be held responsible for errors, as we will print what is supplied on your pdf.
We really don’t want your Illustrator (.ai) file.
It is dead easy to save the file as a press quality file when you are in Illustrator, please get this done, as we will return your ai file, as we are unable to use it to print.
Convert all text to ‘outlines’ and embed all images. All colours need to be CMYK – don’t mix with spot colours. Save as a pdf.
We really don’t want your InDesign (.indd) file.
It is really easy to save the file as a press quality file, and remember, please click on the crop marks only, we don’t need all the other marks.
We really don’t want your Photoshop (.psd)
Again, it is easy to export and save the file as a pdf, remember cmyk, hi-rez, outlined text.
Word – Publisher – Powerpoint – Excel: No thanks
We really don’t want these files, but can work with them, sadly we will have to bill you to get your artwork print-ready.
Your time is worth something – use us!!
If you value your time, ask us to make your booklet print-ready, we will look at the project, and will make it print-ready if we can. This will save you hours, of frustration and heartache. The cost to do this is time-based, so we will quote you on your project. Remember, at any time, give me a call on 0421 840 465 and let me help you with your project.
