Artwork Guidelines
General Color, Image, Text, Line Guide
General Using Our Product Size Template Guide
General Preparing Spot Colour Artwork Guide
General Preparing Final Artwork Guide
General Sending File To Us Guide
General Preparing Hot-stamping Artwork Guide
General Spot UV Finishing Checklist Guide
General Preparing Round Corner Artwork & Order Guide
General Common Pending Job Problems Guide
General Embossing Artwork Specification Guide
Most Commercial Printers industry standard, including OPF, preferred file format .PDF file with minimum 300 dpi resolution for printing purposes. OPF does however accept all other major formats including .DOC .DOCX .JPEG .JPG .PNG .GIF .PUB .EPS .XLS .PPT .AI .CDR and .PSD files with a setup charge for stated file types.
OPF understands that supplying artwork for commercial printers can be a bit of a minefield (too much jargon and technical terminology) so here at OPF, we try to keep things as simple as possible.
When you’ve placed an order simply send your artwork though to 2B Printing via email sales@onlineprintfactory.com (or via a service such as www.wetransfer.com if your file is too large!). Once 2B Printing has received your artwork OPF will conduct a comprehensive check, fix any potential problems and email through a print ready .PDF for you to sign off before printing starts.
If you’re a design whiz and would like to supply OPF with a print ready .PDF file please read on to see OPF technical specifications (please note that these aren’t requirements, although it’ll certainly speed up the process as you won’t need to sign off your design)
- PDF X/1a Format
- 3mm bleeds complete with crop marks
- 3mm safe area (keep text at least 3mm away from the edge)
- Text converted to curves/outlines (you can alternatively embed the fonts if you prefer!)
- At least 300dpi for all non-vector graphics
- CMYK colour format
- Transparencies, drop shadows and complex gradients flattened where possible
OPF has listed some tips below to help you get it right, if you need any assistance please don’t hesitate to contact us.
BELOW IS SOME TIPS ON PROVIDING GREAT ARTWORK:
Tip #1: Ensure all artwork is provided in CMYK format.
Files provided in RGB format will be converted into CMYK before print and may result in significant colour differences from what you see on your monitor. 
Tip #2: Ensure your artwork has a ‘safe area’.
Keep text at least 3mm away from the edge of the document, any text outside the safe area may be cut off.
Tip #3: Ensure all fonts are embedded.
If your fonts aren’t embedded our system may substitute the font for a different one.
Tip #4: Ensure all images and graphics are above 300dpi.
If your images look ‘pixelated’ on screen then the chances are it’s not quite good enough quality for professional printing. For best results use vector based graphics.
Tip #5: Avoid use of borders where possible.
Sadly the use of borders near edges can result in lopsided cards, and we wouldn’t want that.
Tip #6: Ensure your artwork has a 3mm bleed on all edges.
If your artwork doesn’t have a bleed, the artwork may have white edges.
Tip #7: Ensure graphics and images go right to the edge of the artwork
if your images/graphics don’t, it may result in a strip of the background colour showing through on the edge.