The artwork you supplied was not prepared correctly because of the issues mentioned in the proof email you received from us. Your proof email may contain an “Issue ID” and it’s description. Below is detailed information about many of the problems/issues that our proof email may have made mention of. Click on the “issue” and it will expand, giving you more information to help you determine if you need to revise your artwork or not. If you have any questions, please ask your customer representative. |
1. Missing or insufficient bleed
Bleed Definition:Bleed allows for deviations (movement during cutting) in printing. Bleed is created by extending your artwork past the solid pink cut-lines on our templates, so in case there is any movement during cutting, there is additional artwork visible, and not the unprinted paper. We require a minimum of 3mm bleed on most products. Bleed allowance |
2. Low resolution
Resolution of bitmap images |
3. Artwork contains OPI
Open Prepress Interface (OPI) |
4. Images are in RGB or Lab color space
Color space C is Cyan (blue), M is Magenta (red), Y is Yellow, and K is Black. A mistake often made when submitting artwork for 4-color printing is not converting the images to the CMYK color space. This is needed so that the file can be separated into the four colors, so that a separate printing plate can be made for each of the colors. RGB is the most common color mode used when creating graphics, even though graphics to be commercially printed are eventually converted to CMYK mode, the colors used in printing inks. There are different brands of spot color inks. The dominant spot color printing system is PANTONE. The Pantone Matching System or PMS consists of over 1,000 colors of ink. The Pantone system allows users to mix percentages of base inks (such as CMYK) to create new colors, either physically (these are called spot colors) or on the printed page using screens to allow certain amounts of ink through and then overlaying the base colors. The Pantone system also allows for many ‘special’ colors to be specified such as metallics and fluorescents. |
5. Missing crop marks or placed template
Crop and registration marks |
6. Incorrect dimension
No content |
7. Missing or damaged fonts
Include the right fonts with your files Please make sure you include all used fonts while sending artwork in open files (QXD, InDO, AI, FH, etc.). We often receive files with missing fonts, corrupt fonts, or the wrong fonts. We usually do not substitute missing/corrupted with our own versions. This often results in subtle or obvious differences in the document including text reflow. Avoid these common errors when sending your fonts: • Missing fonts • Missing fonts in EPS graphics • Missing screen or printer fonts • Wrong version |
8. Incorrectly set up overprints
Black in overprint: In most cases, black text, lines and fills that overlap colorized backgrounds should be set to overprint. If this is forgotten, it may cause white spaces when the job is printed out of register. White set to knock-out: QuarkXPress has the annoying habit of forgetting to switch off ‘overprint’ settings when black text is changed to another color. This can cause the text to disappear. Make sure white text is set to ‘knock-out’. ![]() |
9. Artwork contains ICC profiles
ICC Profile ICC (International color Consortium) Profiles describe the color attributes of a particular device or viewing requirement by defining a mapping between the source or target color space and a profile connection space (PCS). This PCS is either L*a*b* or CIE XYZ color space. Mappings may be done using tables, to which interpolation is applied, or through a series of parameters for transformations.To see how this works in practice, suppose we have a particular RGB and CMYK color space, and want to convert from this RGB to the CMYK. The first step is to obtain the two ICC profiles concerned. To perform the conversion, each RGB triplet R, G, B is first converted to the PCS using the RGB profile. If necessary the PCS is converted between L*a*b* and CIE XYZ, a well defined transformation. Then the PCS is converted to the four values of C, M, Y, K required. A profile might define several mappings, according to rendering intent. These mappings allow a choice between closest possible color matching, and remapping the entire color range to allow for different gamuts. The International color Consortium defines the format precisely but do not define algorithms or processing details. This means there is room for variation between different applications and systems that work with ICC profiles. Every device that captures or displays color will have its own profile. Some manufacturers provide profiles for their products, and there are several products that allow end users to generate their own color profile, typically through the use of a colorimeter. We do not use any ICC profiles in our plant. Please remove them from your artwork. |
10. Artwork contains DeviceN
DeviceN DeviceN is needed to preserve spot color information required for a composite printing workflow and for proper PDF generation.DeviceN color spaces PostScript 3 and PDF 1.3 introduced the DeviceN color space, which allows arbitrary combinations of color channels for composite printing. Such color channel combinations include the widely known Pantone® Hexachrome™ six channel color system, or CMYK plus two spot colors, or Black plus one spot color. Without the DeviceN color space, images with such channel combinations cannot be represented in composite PostScript and PDF; they can be approximated with CMYK colors only. DeviceN color spaces can be used both for composite printing and for in-RIP separations. The advantage of DeviceN color spaces is that many more color combinations with spot colors can be expressed for composite printing, they come into full play when printed on a device with separate physical color channels. There are two disadvantages of DeviceN. The first problem is that many devices in use do not yet support PostScript 3 with DeviceN. Printing jobs with DeviceN color spaces on these devices will result in PostScript errors. The second problem is DeviceN color spaces are used frequently to express spot colors, and no CMYK based printer, not even a proof printer, can reproduce spot colors adequately. Documents with spot colors can only be reproduced and viewed adequately when printed on a device with separate physical output channels for all used spot colors. This means that all CMYK or RGB based devices cannot reproduce documents with spot colors adequately. It even applies to the screen view of PDF documents with spot colors generated by Adobe Acrobat. Please supply separated proofs altogether with your composite PDF if you use DeviceN color space in you artwork. |
11. Total ink coverage is more than 320%
TOTAL INK COVERAGE Depending on the paper stock, the type of printing process and the press itself, your printer can specify a certain ‘total ink coverage’ (TIC). This is the maximum amount of ink that any object on a page should contain. For example: if the TIC is 320 (as in our case), you can have objects on the page that contain 80 percent of cyan, magenta, yellow or black but a mixture of 100 percent cyan, 100 percent magenta, 70 percent yellow and 70 percent black has a TIC of 340 which is too much and will lead to smudging on the press. ATTAINABLE DENSITY In comparison with offset printing, the silk-screen prints have a more visible relief. This is due to the greater quantity of ink applied on the screen in comparison with an offset press, where a thin application of ink and the flat printing technique allow for color densities below 5% and over 90%. The results of screen printing are influenced by the screen used, by the capillary film and by the quantity of ink applied. When a plate is prepared, the print-on screening dots are detailed onto the screen of the stencil. To print a light hue, the ink must be pressured through very small holes in the stencil. Some of those points are covered by the fibres of the stencil, and no ink is applied. This is why at very light values a screening dot deficit can occur; there is a lower limit of about 15% to the achievable saturation values. Conversely, when printing at a high density, the points in the stencil are so close one to another that they tend to combine into large surfaces or stains. This limits the maximum density to around 85%. ![]() |
12. Retouch is needed
No content |
13. Artwork contains transparency
Transparency Transparency is an effect applied to an object causing it to appear transparent and letting objects underneath show through. A common example of transparency is drop shadow. Transparency may be applied to an object in a number of different ways. Transparency is possible in a number of graphics file formats. The term transparency is used in various ways by different people, but at its simplest there is “full transparency” i.e. something that is completely invisible. Of course, only part of a graphic would by fully transparent, or there would be nothing to see. More complex is “partial transparency” or “translucency” where the effect is achieved that a graphic is partially transparent in the same way as colored glass. Since ultimately a printed page or computer or television screen can only be one color at a point, partial transparency is always simulated at some level by mixing colors. There are many different ways to mix colors, so in some cases transparency is ambiguous.
The challenge with transparency is reproducing transparent effects in printed output or in exported file formats that do not support live transparency. To reproduce these effects, transparent objects and that interact with them must be flattened. At its simplest, the process of flattening converts all the overlapping and interacting elements in a group of transparent objects into a collection of opaque elements that result in the same appearance as the original. |
14. Artwork is offcentered
No content |
15. Incorrect barcode
Barcode: A machine-readable representation of information in a visual format on a surface. Originally barcodes stored data in the widths and spacing of printed parallel lines, but today they also come in patterns of dots, concentric circles, and hidden within images. Barcodes can be read by optical scanners called barcode readers or scanned from an image by special software. Barcodes are widely used to implement Auto ID Data Capture (AIDC) systems that improve the speed and accuracy of computer data entry. Barcodes inserted into the supplied artwork should be in 100% Black on a contrasting background color, and should be vectors or high resolution line-art. This will ensure the readability of barcode. Barcode should never be supplied as CMYK image. ![]() |
16. Missing or wrong page numbering
Imposition Imposition is a term used in the printing industry. Print operators will print books using large sheets of paper, which will be folded later. This allows for faster printing, simplified binding and lower production costs. Imposition is the process of arranging pages correctly prior to printing so that they fold in the correct order. To someone unfamiliar with the imposition process, the pages may seem to be arranged randomly; but after printing, the paper is folded, bound and trimmed. If correctly imposed, the pages should all appear in the correct orientation and readable sequence.
In the example above, a 16-page book is prepared for printing. There are eight pages on the front of the sheet, and the corresponding eight pages on the back. After printing, the paper will be folded in half vertically (page two falls on page three). Then it will be folded again horizontally (page four meets page five). A third fold completes this process. The example below shows the final result prior to binding and trimming. ![]() The artwork for multiple-page booklets should be supplied as spreads and in printers order (see some examples below). The artwork can be also supplied as a singe pages, and we can impose it in our DTP studio. In both cases, the pages in artwork should be marked with correct page numbers. ![]() |
17. Text correction is needed
No content |
18. Text is rastered
CONVERT FONT TO OUTLINE / CURVES In general, unless there is a specific element of your artwork that would not work well being converted to a vector, or if you are only working in Photoshop, it is strongly advised to convert all your fonts to vector images (curves/outlines). We require that all vector fonts are converted to outlines or curves. No embedded or linked fonts. Vectors Vector art is key for printing. Since the art is made from a series of mathematical points it will print very crisp no matter how you resize the art. For instance you can take the same vector logo and print it on a business card or blow it up to billboard size and keep the same crisp quality. In contrast a raster graphic would blur incredibly if it were blown up from a business card size to billboard size.![]() FONT RASTERIZATION In some cases, you may want to or need to use rasterized fonts. Font rasterization is the process of converting text from a vector description (as found in scalable fonts such as TrueType fonts) to a raster or bitmap description. This often involves some anti-aliasing on screen text to make it smoother and easier to read. It may also involve “hinting”, that is, the use of information precomputed for a particular font size. Simple rasterization without antialiasing The simplest form of rasterization is simple line-drawing with no antialiasing of any sort. This is the fastest method (that is, it requires the least computation to place on screen). This approach has the disadvantage that glyphs may lose their definition when rendered at small sizes. Therefore, many fonts contain “hints” which aid the system’s rasterizer in deciding where to render pixels for particularly troublesome areas in the glyphs, or sets of hand-tweaked bitmaps to be used at specific pixel sizes.![]() Rasterization with antialiasing A more complicated approach is to use standard anti-aliasing techniques from computer graphics. This can be thought of as determining, for each pixel, how much of that pixel is occupied by the letter, and drawing that pixel with that degree of opacity. For example, when drawing a black letter on a white background, if a pixel ideally should be half filled (perhaps by a diagonal line from corner to corner) it would be drawn in 50% gray. Simple application of this procedure can lead to somewhat blurry glyphs: for example, if the letter includes a vertical line which should be one pixel wide but falls exactly between two pixels, it will appear on screen a two-pixel-wide gray line. This blurriness is a tradeoff of clarity for accuracy. Some systems demonstrate the opposite sacrifice by using hinting to force lines to fall within integral pixel coordinates. ![]() |
19. Artwork contains guide lines in CMYK that cannot be taken off
Crop and registration marks |
20. Missing images (for open formats Indesign, Quark, Corel etc.)
Supplying native file: We use Adobe Creative Suite and only accept files in PDF or EPS. If you are using Photoshop, you can send us PSD files with template on one layer and all text and art flattened to another layer. If you must send us native InDesign or Illustrator files, and are unable to outline fonts or embed images, please make sure to send us images and fonts. We cannot accept source/native files for Quark XPess or any other layout programs. |
21. Missing pantone number
Spot color There are different brands of spot color inks. The dominant spot color printing system is PANTONE. The Pantone Matching System or PMS consists of over 1,000 colors of ink. The Pantone system allows users to mix percentages of base inks (such as CMYK) to create new colors, either physically (these are called spot colors) or on the printed page using screens to allow certain amounts of ink through and then overlaying the base colors. The Pantone system also allows for many ‘special’ colors to be specified such as metallics and fluorescents. |
22. Customer print proof is different from artwork
No content |
23. Unclear shape of product
Crop and registration marks |
24. Document can not be opened (Damaged file)
No content |
25. Nonconforming with CDSA conditions
No content |
26. Artwork is not PDF or PS file
Correct PDFs - Must be created from composite postscript using the Adobe Distiller application (i.e. by the process: Source application> Postscript> Adobe Acrobat Distiller> PDF file) Adobe Acrobat Distiller 6: ![]() |
27. Texts is too close to crop marks / to outer edge
Text near the trim lines - No text, logos, or similar graphics should be placed closer than 3 mm to the trim lines. This is due to deviations in cutting (a standard tolerance common with all printing). |
28. Artwork is supplied in higher programme upgrade than we can use
No Content |
29. Unsuitable raster for screen print
No Content |
30. Document color scheme is different from purchase order
No Content |
31. Number of pages is different from purchase order
No Content |
32. Artwork is for different product than was ordered
No Content |
33. Document contains negative or color registered text smaller than 5 pixels
Hairlines: Some applications have a line thickness that is called “hairline”. Never use this, always stick to a specific width, e.g. 0.25 points. The problem with hairlines is that they are imaged as the finest possible line on any given device. This may be fine on a 300 dpi laser printer but a 1 pixel wide line on a 2400 dpi image setter is hardly visible. Some RIPs allow the operator to set a minimum line width to avoid this trap. Just don’t count on this workaround and avoid hairlines entirely. The smallest line width you can use depends on the press, paper, speed,... Consult your rep if necessary. As a general rule, never make a line smaller than 0.2 points. Colorized text: Don’t colorize small text (e.g. < 8 points) in 2 or more process colors. The slightest registration problem on the press makes such text illegible. Colorized thin lines: Don’t colorize thin lines (e.g. < 1/2 point) in 2 or more process colors. |
34. Crop marks are wrongly placed
Crop and registration marks |
35. Cover artwork is not set up
Page orientation - Supplied artwork should always match the artwork template. E.g. the artwork for LP sleeve should be always created accordingly to the template below (not to scale) and never in separated files for front and back (or even spine). ![]() |
36. Cover artwork setting is not clear
Page orientation - Supplied artwork should always match the artwork template. E.g. the artwork for LP sleeve should be always created accordingly to the template below (not to scale) and never in separated files for front and back (or even spine). ![]() |
37. Missing artwork
No Content |
38. Exported PDF
Correct PDFs - Must be created from composite postscript using the Adobe Distiller application (i.e. by the process: Source application> Postscript> Adobe Acrobat Distiller> PDF file) Adobe Acrobat Distiller 6: ![]() |
39. Incorrect/insufficient artwork for embossing, hot foil stamping, spot varnish, etc.
Hairlines: Some applications have a line thickness that is called “hairline”. Never use this, always stick to a specific width, e.g. 0.25 points. The problem with hairlines is that they are imaged as the finest possible line on any given device. This may be fine on a 300 dpi laser printer but a 1 pixel wide line on a 2400 dpi image setter is hardly visible. Some RIPs allow the operator to set a minimum line width to avoid this trap. Just don’t count on this workaround and avoid hairlines entirely. The smallest line width you can use depends on the press, paper, speed,... Consult your rep if necessary. As a general rule, never make a line smaller than 0.2 points. |