There’s nothing quite like that feeling of satisfaction when you sit back from your screen and realise you’ve designed the perfect poster. Now, it just needs to be printed. Simple, right?
At Northside Graphics, we want your poster to look as good in print as it looked on screen. If we see any obvious problems with your artwork, we’ll let you know and help you put them right. But before you send your beautifully designed poster to print there are a few checks you should carry out. Follow our tips for perfect poster printing and your poster will look as great in print as it did on your screen.
Check your colour mode
Your computer screen displays colours in RGB. However, we use CMYK mode when printing, so your artwork and any images should be in CMYK. In Photoshop and most other image and design software packages, it’s easy to convert from one to the other. Greens and blues will become duller when you convert from RGB to CMYK so once you’ve converted your colours you may need to adjust them slightly.
Use only high resolution images
Any pictures you use in your poster should be 300dpi resolution at the size they appear on your artwork. Images that look great on screen will look blurred and pixelated in print if the resolution is too low or if they’ve been enlarged on the artwork. Any pictures you’ve taken from websites will usually be unsuitable for print.
Add bleed to your artwork
Bleed is the area added around the outside edge of your artwork. You should always add at least 3mm bleed if any images or graphics go right to the edge of your poster. If your poster artwork has no bleed and the cut is very marginally off your trim line, you’ll see a thin white line along the edge of your printed poster. Bleed allows for the tiny movements that sometimes occur when your job is cut to size.
Embed all fonts
Supply your poster artwork as a high resolution pdf with fonts embedded. This means that we don’t need the fonts to print your poster, so it will look exactly as it does on your screen.
ALWAYS check your artwork and text thoroughly
It’s amazing how often we can look at an artwork and not see a spelling or visual error until we receive the completed print. Check, check and check again. Print out a hard copy of your poster and check that. A few extra minutes before you send your job to print can save you a lot of time – and money afterwards.
Northside Graphics is Northern Ireland’s oldest and largest digital printer. We’ve been printing posters for customers throughout Belfast and Northern Ireland for nearly 40 years.
You can visit www.northsidegraphics.com to see the extensive range of products we supply, or call us on 028 9022 2111. Our excellent customer service team will be happy to give you a price for your poster or information on any of our products, so contact us today!
