BYO Artwork
Brief Summary
If you are providing your own business card artwork then you should read and follow our BYO artwork guide to ensure that you get the best possible results when printing with PADO. This includes things such as correct colour format, size, image quality, font preparation and even what file formats we accept. If you have further questions you call us on 1300 472 788 can email us here.
Bleed: 3mm All Round
Colour: CMYK
Resolution: 300dpi
Fonts: Converted to outlines, flattened, or embedded
File Format: PDF, PSD, AI, INDD, JPG, TIF, EPS, DOC, PUB, PPT, DOCX, PUBX, PPTX
Artwork Size
The final printed size of your artwork depends on the product that you are setting it up for. The list below will explain what the correct size is for your artwork:
| Product | Artwork Size | Final Print Size |
| Business Cards | ||
| Business Cards | 92mm x 60mm | 86mm x 54mm |
| Stationery | ||
| A4 Letterheads | 216mm x 303mm | 210mm x 297mm |
| DL With Compliments Slips | 216mm x 105mm | 210mm x 99mm |
| Magnets | ||
| Small Magnets | 76mm x 56mm | 70mm x 50mm |
| Regular Magnets | 96mm x 61mm | 90mm x 55mm |
| Large Magnets | 176mm x 86mm | 170mm x 80mm |
| DL Patch Magnets | 105mm x 216mm | 99mm x 210mm |
| Flyers | ||
| Trifold Flyers | 303mm x 216mm | 297mm x 210mm |
| A4 Cutdown Flyers | 251mm x 181mm | 245mm x 175mm |
| DL Cutdown Flyers | 201mm x 93mm | 195mm x 87mm |
| DL Cards | 216mm x 105mm | 210mm x 99mm |
| Postcards | 156mm x 106mm | 150mm x 100mm |
| A4 One/Two Sided Flyers | 216mm x 303mm | 210mm x 297mm |
| Invoice Books | ||
| A4 Duplicate/Triplicate Books | 216mm x 303mm | 210mm x 297mm |
| A5 Duplicate/Triplicate Books | 154mm x 216mm | 148mm x 210mm |
| DL Duplicate/Triplicate Books | 216mm x 105mm | 210mm x 99mm |
As shown in the table above the artwork size is 6mm wider and higher than the actual final print size. This is because it includes an extra 3mm bleed on each edge, which must be included. The purpose of bleed is to ensure that if the artwork is printed slightly off that there are no tacky white edges. The chances of the artwork printing slightly off is no more than 2mm, but the extra 3mm bleed is an extra precautionary measure and industry standard used by all printers. It is also recommended to keep all text or important information within 3mm from the trimmed edge of the card to avoid anything important being cut off. Please see the example to the left to see how bleed should be setup.
Artwork Resolution
If your artwork includes images or photos, they are required to have a resolution of at least 300dpi (dots per inch). If you use any images less than 300dpi you may risk the final print result of your business cards appearing pixelated or blurry.
If you are unsure of the resolution you can determine if the images are of a high enough quality by their pixel size. In order to be considered high resolution an image of 100mm x 100mm would roughly equal to 1181 pixels by 1181 pixels. If the image is taken from the web it may also have been optimised for web. Image optimisation can hinder the quality of artwork when it is printed. The example to left demonstrates a high resolution image on the top and a low resolution image on bottom.
Colour Format
PADO uses a CMYK colour format to print all products. This is actually a standard practice for all offset printers. However, computer screens use a different colour format called RGB. Unfortunately with RGB certain "screen" colours cannot be reproduced in CMYK, that is why it is always important to work in a CMYK colour format if using Adobe software. However, if you use a Microsoft program you can only work in RGB.
CMYK Colours
CMYK is the colour format used for print processes. It is made up of four colours; Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black (commonly referred to as the 'Key'). This is the colour format used by all offset printers and it can restrict you from using certain RGB colours. The easiest way to know what colours can be reproduced in CMYK is to use a Pantone Process Guide, which is used by most printers and graphic designers.
CMYK is the colour format used for print processes. It is made up of four colours; Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black (commonly referred to as the 'Key'). This is the colour format used by all offset printers and it can restrict you from using certain RGB colours. The easiest way to know what colours can be reproduced in CMYK is to use a Pantone Process Guide, which is used by most printers and graphic designers.
RGB Colours
RGB is the colour format used by all televisions and computer screens. It is made up of Red, Green and Blue. RGB will often produce extremely vibrant colours on screen that cannot be reproduced in CMYK print. These colours include fluorescent colours and very bright greens, blues, and reds. Some colours can be reproduced using a "Spot" colour. We can use spot colours on request, however it costs an additional $150 per spot colour.
RGB is the colour format used by all televisions and computer screens. It is made up of Red, Green and Blue. RGB will often produce extremely vibrant colours on screen that cannot be reproduced in CMYK print. These colours include fluorescent colours and very bright greens, blues, and reds. Some colours can be reproduced using a "Spot" colour. We can use spot colours on request, however it costs an additional $150 per spot colour.
Font Preparation
When preparing your artwork for print, we prefer that you supply artwork with your fonts either rasterised/flattened or converted to outlines. However, this option is only available to people using Adobe products such as Photoshop and Illustrator. If you are using a Microsoft software product such as Word, Powerpoint or Publisher, you won't be able to do either of the mentioned options. In this case you are just going to have to use as common a font as possible, such as Times, Arial, Helvetica, Papyrus, Verdana, Trebuchet, Georgia, Gill Sans, etc. Alternatively you can supply the fonts as well as your artwork. This will assist us in matching the fonts you have used in case we don't have them on file. The right preparation of fonts ensures that you get no unexpected print results.
The example to the left demonstrates two correct formats and one incorrect format. The top correct format is outlined, and the lower left correct format is rasterised and the lower right incorrect format is editable text.
File Formats
You can provide your artwork in variety of different file formats. PADO accept the following formats: PDF, PSD, AI, INDD, JPG, TIF, BMP, EPS, DOC, DOCX, PPT, PPTX, PUB and PUBX. It is preferrable that you submit your artwork as PDF to PADO, but any of the mentioned file formats are fine.