Tips to Prepare Your Logo Design for Print

Many of us have gone through the experience of submitting a particular design for print and gaping at the final product that looks completely different from the original one. In some occasions, the color tone changes drastically. Sometimes, the title gets half deleted.

To avoid such common mishaps, it is important to pay attention to certain factors, before you submit your logo design for print. We provide you with some simple guidelines:

• Pay Attention to Resolution – A commercial printer needs submitted designs to be 300 dpi. If you create a design at 72dpi, the printing department will not be able to utilize the file for printing. As a result, the prepress department will have to resize and stretch the image. There are high chances that resizing and stretching would blur the design and ultimately, damage it.

• Consider the Issue of Bleed – The printing department usually trims off 3mm on every side. Anything that exists outside the original canvas size will be considered as a “bleed”. For this reason, avoid placing any important text or content in this particular area. If necessary, you can readjust the canvas size, but avoid placing anything important in the ‘risk’ zone. Additionally, ensure that the content maintains a minimum 6mm distance from the edge of the canvas. This technique is important for placing the text in the ‘safe’ zone.

• Size – Printers will design size of the files according to your instruction. Unless you specifically request, the printing department will not enlarge or stretch the file.

• Color – For print of your business logo design, two major types of color spaces are usually used. These include RGB (red, green, blue) and CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black). Computer monitors use the first type of color space for displaying various items. For printing purposes, the second type of color space is used. Color shifts usually remain invisible in color photos. However, color conversion can have a strong impact on rich colors. Still, in most cases, color shifts are hardly noticeable and have a minor effect.

• Use Black Intelligently – If your design includes solid black zones and content that is over 36 points, opting for Rich Black will be a good idea. This technique will ensure that the color does not end up looking gray. However, for rest of the text, avoid using Rich Black. For thin and small content on the design, avoid using 4-color black. 4-color black is perfect for larger areas. However, using the same on limited areas can mess up the content and can even make it unreadable.

• Fonts – Converting fonts to paths is a great idea. For converting purpose, you can opt for programs, such as FreeHand or Illustrator. The main benefit of using these programs for conversion purposes lies in the fact that you do not have to forward the fonts with the files. After conversion to paths, the content assumes a vector shape and looks similar to its original state. If you avoid converting the fonts to paths, it may interfere with the way you want your design to be seen.

Consider these tips to ensure that the final product looks perfect. All the best!