Designing for Print: It’s Different from Digital

#1 Use the Correct Color Space

One of the print design basics you simply have to know is color space. For print, you’ll be designing in CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow and black). For digital, it’s RGB (red, green and blue). Why is this important? Because printers display colors one way and digital screens display them another – the color spaces are designed specifically for their respective formats.

If your design includes specific colors that need to be produced precisely (like your brand colors), use Pantone spot colors that are named by a number, and we’ll color-match them as closely as possible.

#2 Include High-Resolution Images

When designing for print, your images need to have a high resolution – there’s no getting around it. To be considered a high-quality, high-resolution image, it needs to be at least 300 DPI. With 300 or more dots per inch, your images will look sharp (not fuzzy!) when printed.

Smartpress recommends your images be in the vector format because the points and lines that make up the graphic elements remain smooth no matter how large or small the image is scaled.

Get more graphic design tips for print with the seven principles of design.

#3 Legible Fonts Only

Another one of our favorite graphic design basics is about fonts. Specifically, font size. For this, we recommend taking a Goldilocks approach: not too big, not too small. Our just-right size recommendation? At least 6 pt. for a readable, get-your-message-across-able design.

Use vector-based text so it’s clear at any size, and we don’t recommend flattening your text into a raster format – you’ll lose editability and quality.

#4 Be Choosy with Your Paper Stock

You can’t print without paper, but how do you choose the right one? First, consider your design intent. How are your clients receiving it? What are they supposed to do with it?

If you’re printing direct mail postcards, you might want a coated paper stock with a heavier weight so it stands up to the mailing process. If you’re designing a branded notebook for employees, you’ll want interior pages that are uncoated (or even recycled).

See and feel our selection of stocks, weights and finishes with a FREE Paper Sample Book.

When you’re creating print marketing with an online printer like Smarptress, you’re also creating a print-ready file. Also known as a design file, this PDF is what our experts follow when they’re printing your projects. See below for a few elements of your file that you’ll need to account for, then watch how to save your file as a PDF.

Bleed, Safety Margin & Cutting Tolerance

Before you upload your print-ready file to Smartpress, you’ll want to make sure it includes the following elements in order for us to print your project quickly and correctly:

• Bleed: Bleed is the area of your design that extends beyond the trim line (the actual finished size of your design). Your artwork must have a minimum bleed of 0.125” or 1/8”. For large format projects, like signage, include a 0.25” or 1/4” bleed.
• Safety Margin: This is the area that you want to keep all of your essential text and graphics within. It should be a minimum of 0.25” or 1/4” away from the trim line to prevent anything from getting cut off.
• Cutting Tolerance: This is the slight variation that can occur due to shifting of printing presses when your project is trimmed to its finished size. This variation can be within 1/16”, so we recommend adding a 1/8” border to prevent this.

Learn all you need to know about print-ready files.

Our last tip for designing for print is to proof your design slowly and meticulously. Online printing with Smartpress means you can choose what type of proof you’d like to receive and approve it before we do our thing.

If you’d like to see your colors and image resolution in person, we recommend ordering our Print & Coating Sample Sheet. It’s a great option when you’re testing out stocks and coatings, too.

It’s also a great idea to print out mockups of projects with multiple or complicated folds, like any of our brochures or Designer Folds, to make sure your content lines up and is arranged correctly.

One other option is to print a small quantity of your project first to verify everything looks A-OK before placing a large-quantity order. (That’s a little trick to our business printing services we know you’ll love!)