We have provided Indesign templates for all our print items. This template is sized correctly, and shows bleed and margins.  Should you wish to use photoshop or other graphic design software, we have provided a PDF file. 

Process Colours are referred to as CMYK, Cyan (C), Magenta (M), Yellow (Y) and Black (K), four colour process or even just process.  These different colours are used to reproduce a colour image.  Combined together in varying proportions CMYK produces the full colour spectrum.

Pantone colours are often specified for printing as a ‘spot colour’, a specific colour printed using an ink made exclusively and typically for jobs which require no full colour imagery like colour matching for corporate branding to ensure consistent colour reproduction.

• Pantone spot colours that are intended to be four colour process and litho printed should be converted to CMYK using the Pantone+ Color Bridge^® library.  This is not necessary for digital printing as our digital presses create a colour simulation for spot colours.
• Convert all RGB colours to CMYK as colour separations for printing cannot be made from RGB files.
• If your job is full colour, please ensure that you work entirely in CMYK.  If your program does not support CMYK or Pantone, we will need to convert your colours before printing.
• Please bear in mind that monitors and desktop printers do not produce accurate representations of the press printed colour.

If you are using black text, you should use the colour value C:0 M:0 Y:0 K:100, however we only recommend using solid black for text under 12pt in size. 

Images must be no lower than 300 dpi to print well.

If you use a lower resolution the images will pixelate and give a very poor final product. If you are taking images from the internet you need to be aware that images on websites are generally 72dpi, and are set lower to allow them to load quickly on screen, therefore these are not suitable for print (it should also be noted they may be subject to copyright.)

We recommend using professional images as low quality images can only downgrade your design.  There are many companies that supply stock image galleries online for example, Shutterstock or Getty Images.

PDF’s are the best format for you to provide your artwork, please make sure your images are at least 300dpi, all colours are correct, and all the fonts are embedded and only correctly licensed fonts should be used.

If supplying original artwork all the images and font files must be included within a clearly marked folder within the main artwork folder.

To prepare your files for print, for the best results we prefer to receive artwork as a press ready PDF.

• All PDFs should be set to high resolution to be press ready
• All PDFs must include 3mm bleed and crop marks
• All fonts must be embedded within Adobe Acrobat: the ‘File > Properties > Fonts’ tab shows a full list of fonts used in the document. Every font should show as embedded or an embedded subset
• Any process colours are converted to CMYK prior to creating a PDF. Converting spot colours to CMYK after creating a PDF may produce unexpected results (especially when transparent effects are involved)
• We recommend using the PDF/X-3 standard
• We recommend checking a PDF using the Output Preview prior to sending us your file. This can show overprinting and will list all the separations included

Artwork supplied for multi page products such as folded brochures, booklets, folders and any other item with more than 1 page should be provided as a pdf containing single pages.

All pages should all include the appropriate bleed. Do not supply “spreads” ie pages made up of the file as it appears when opening the document.

Ask us! Please reach out if you have any problems, concerns or queries regarding submitting your own artwork.

The best way to contact us is via email: info@kstmarketing.com