Artwork Material Specifications
General Minimum Requirements
- Images must have a minimum of 300 pixels per inch at the final used size.
- Images must be CMYK and should have the midtones lightened.
- Shadow areas in images must not exceed a total of 230% ink weight.
- Solid colour mixes should not exceed a total of 230% ink weight.
- Design and images should allow for a 30% dot gain.
- Only CMYK colours should be used (Not RGB or LAB).
- Type smaller than 10pt should not be made up using more than one colour.
- Type smaller than 10pt should not be reversed.
Accepted File Formats:
- Press Ready PDF (All fonts to be outlined) Acrobat PDF compatibility max 1.5
- Eps (All fonts to be outlined)
- Jpeg
- Tiff
PDF Creation
Please do not create a PDF –
- Using the “Export to PDF” from within PageMaker, QuarkXPress, or Adobe InDesign.
- Using the “Save as” PDF format from Illustrator, Freehand, or Photoshop.
- Using Pantone colours.
- Using “PDF Writer” from non high end graphic applications like Word, Excel, Publisher, Corel, Visio. (For example using the ‘Convert to Adobe PDF’ in Word).
While these methods may work occasionally, each can cause varying problems from font substitution, poor quality colour, use of RGB images, colour, graphics not rendering correctly and images being too low in pixel quality.
While every effort is taken to resolve any issues, the publisher takes no responsibility for poor quality outcomes or printing errors when PDF files have been created using these methods, or if the PDF does not meet the required material specifications.
Download distiller settings.
Tempo Media distiller settings are available for download to ensure the correct processing of PDFs.
RGB vs CMYK
If an RGB file is provided, the publisher may attempt to convert it to CMYK colours, which are required for the printing process. The conversion will dull RGB colours considerably and is unavoidable. This conversion should to be done by the creator of the document. The publisher takes no responsibility for printed colours if an RGB file has been provided. All colour swatches must be CMYK process.
Resolution – Newsprint
All artwork 300ppi at actual size. If an image has a resolution of 72ppi, it is only good for viewing on a monitor or screen. A 72ppi image in a commercial print publication will look pitted, have no detail, no sharpness, no tonal depth and will lack in quality. Newspapers require a absolute minimum of 230ppi at the final used size. If an image is scanned at 230ppi, and then increased in size on your page layout application, you will reduce the pixels and quality to an unacceptable level. The publisher takes no responsibility for poor quality outcomes due to images that have been supplied below the minimum specification of 230 pixels per inch.
Resolution – Gloss
Gloss requires a absolute minimum of 300ppi at the final used size. If an image is scanned at 300ppi, and then increased in size on your page layout application, you will reduce the pixels and quality to an unacceptable level. The publisher takes no responsibility for poor quality outcomes due to images that have been supplied below the minimum specification of 300pixels per inch.
Dot Gain
One of the most common sources of dissatisfaction with a client’s printed ad is that it appears darker in the printed copy than what they saw on their computer. This is due to dot gain in the printing process, and more specifically, dot gain on newsprint. Within newspaper printing, dot gain will occur, which means that the dots will become larger on the paper. The reason for dot gain is the absorbency of the paper, which is very pronounced for newsprint. The effect is evident from the printed picture which becomes darker than the printing material. Essentially, when printing on newsprint, be aware that dot gain is 30%. This means that a 50% dot ends up being an 80% dot in the final print, giving a shorter tonal range. It is also the responsibility of the client’s designer to check Overprint Preview, Knockout preview to check for drop outs or transparency issues.
Pantone Colours
Please do not use Pantone colour swatches available generally in Adobe software, as these colours do not separate properly for CMYK print production.
