Print can still be an effective form of advertising when done right
Whether you are printing small items like leaflets and flyers or huge catalogs and books, the end result isn’t always what you are hoping for. If you don’t have extensive experience in printing there are some simple mistakes that it can be easy to make.
According to printing specialists YouLovePrint: “many of the most printing common mistakes are easily fixed, so there is no excuse for a poor printed product”. Here we take a look at some of the typical print mistakes, and examine what you can do to avoid them.
- Spelling and grammar errors
There is simply no excuse for spelling and grammar errors in a printed document. Studies have shown that a single spelling error can cut sales in half, so it is undoubtedly a big deal. It can often come down to the fact that individuals will write up their document in Microsoft Word and then rely on the spellchecker to catch incorrect words. Of course, spellcheckers can’t pick up on words that are spelling correctly bad aren’t the word you wanted to use.
The phrase “proofreading is impotent”, for example, would not be picked up. And spellcheckers are still hit-and-miss with grammar and usage issues, so they should not be relied upon. It is important to properly proofread your document before you send it to the printers.
- Quantity over quality
Quality is too often overlooked in favor of quality when it comes to printing. There can be a tendency when having documents printed to print as many as possible and reducing the quality to keep the price relatively low. This is a mistake.
Quality is extremely important no matter what you are printing for. So, you should always make it a priority for what you are doing. Reducing costs is important, but low-quality printing really shows and can show off your business in a negative light.
- Forgetting about bleed
Printing technology has advanced enormously in the past few years and many issues that were once a problem are a thing of the past. However, there are still some things that cause trouble when printing. For example, while guillotines are precise, it is easy possible for them to be out by a couple of millimeters on your print.
This isn’t a problem if you plan bleed into your artwork – without it however, you could end up with an annoying white border. Simply extend the design by 3 millimeters and you can avoid this problem entirely.
- Not being careful with ink coverage
When working in digital design with the specific red-green-blue levels to ensure that you are getting the perfect color that you want. However, if you are printing it is important to understand the ink coverage you are having to put into the page.
This is because paper is only capable of absorbing a certain amount of ink – too much will cause serious problems with bruising and cracking. If you want to avoid this problem, it’s easy: check the printer you are going to be using for tolerances, and try to keep ink coverage below 240 per cent.
- Text that’s too small
When you are designing for print you have to put a lot of thought into the way that the work looks and become very involved in the design process. However, it can be very easy to forget that the printed text will be very hard to read at a very small font size, especially if you tend to have the screen zoomed in.
In general, it is difficult to keep text legible below a font size of 6. And if you are going to have text that is very small, be aware that it is important to have simple, contrasting colors. Also, be aware that the specific font that you use can make a big difference.
- Not considering resolution
For printed works to look their best you need to ensure that the resolution of the image is perfect. But clearly you can’t improve the quality of an image if it already has a low resolution in the first place. That’s why you need to make thinking about the final resolution at the very beginning of the project so that you can make sure your design software settings are able to match the dpi requirements of your printer.
The normal resolution for small-format printing is 300dpi, but this can be lower for larger products. Some printers may only ask for 150dpi for large-format works.
Written by: Mike James, BOSS Contributor
