You’ve spent time getting your design just right. The colours look great, the images are in place and the message is exactly what you want to communicate.
Now you’re ready to send it to the printer.
But there’s one important question worth asking before you do: is your artwork actually ready for professional printing?
A design that looks perfect on your computer screen won’t necessarily produce the same result on paper. Small details such as image resolution, colour settings, margins and file formats can affect the finished product.
The good news is that preparing artwork for commercial printing doesn’t need to be complicated.
Whether you’re printing business cards, brochures, flyers, posters or promotional materials, a few straightforward checks can help you achieve a more professional result.
At Urban Impression Collective, we work with businesses and organisations across Warragul, Gippsland and eastern Melbourne on their commercial printing requirements.
Here’s what you should know before sending your next design to print.
1. Start With the Correct Document Size
One of the first things to check is whether your artwork has been created at the intended printing size.
It sounds obvious, but designing at the wrong dimensions can create problems when it’s time to print.
For example, if you’re producing an A5 flyer, your artwork should be set up for an A5 finished size, which is 148 mm × 210 mm.
Some common Australian printing sizes include:
| Format | Finished size |
| A6 | 105 × 148 mm |
| A5 | 148 × 210 mm |
| A4 | 210 × 297 mm |
| A3 | 297 × 420 mm |
| DL | 99 × 210 mm |
These dimensions refer to the finished product, before allowing for any additional printing bleed.
If you’re planning a custom-sized brochure, promotional card or other printed item, discuss the dimensions with your printer before preparing the artwork.
Getting the size right from the beginning helps avoid unnecessary adjustments later.
2. Understand What Printing Bleed Is and Why It Matters
Bleed is one of the most important concepts in professional printing.
It refers to the extra artwork that extends beyond the final cutting line.
When printed materials are trimmed to size, small variations in the cutting process can occur. Without bleed, this can leave unwanted white edges around a design.
How Much Bleed Should You Allow?
For many standard commercial printing projects, 3 mm of bleed on each side is a common requirement.
For example, if you’re designing an A5 flyer:
- Finished size: 148 × 210 mm
- Bleed: 3 mm on each side
- Total artwork area including bleed: 154 × 216 mm
The bleed should contain a continuation of your background colour, photograph or design elements.
It shouldn’t be an empty white border added around the artwork.
Some products and printing processes require different bleed settings, so it’s always worth confirming the specifications for your particular job.
Don’t Forget the Safe Area
Bleed protects the outside edges of your design, but you should also leave enough space inside the finished trim line.
Keep important text, logos and contact details comfortably away from the edge.
This internal space is often called the safe area.
A margin of around 3–5 mm inside the trim line may be suitable for some standard products, although folded, bound or specialty items can need more room.
The aim is to prevent important information from appearing cramped or being accidentally trimmed.
3. Use High-Resolution Images
Images are often the first thing people notice in printed marketing materials.
Unfortunately, an image that looks sharp on a phone or computer screen can appear blurry or pixelated when printed.
This usually happens because the image doesn’t contain enough detail for the size at which it’s being reproduced.
What Resolution Do You Need for Printing?
For many standard brochures, flyers and other commercial printing projects, 300 PPI at the intended print size is a useful target.
PPI stands for pixels per inch and describes the amount of image detail available.
Here’s a practical example.
A photograph that measures 1200 × 800 pixels might look perfectly fine when viewed online.
However, if you enlarge it substantially for an A4 brochure, it may not contain enough detail to reproduce sharply.
For professional printing:
- Use original, high-resolution photographs wherever possible.
- Avoid downloading small images from websites.
- Don’t assume an image is suitable simply because it looks clear on screen.
- Be cautious when enlarging photographs beyond their original dimensions.
- Use vector artwork for logos and illustrations where possible.
For large-format printing, such as banners and signage, the resolution requirements may differ because the materials are generally viewed from a greater distance.
Your printer can advise on suitable artwork specifications for the finished size and intended viewing distance.
4. Understand RGB and CMYK Colours
Colour is another area where customers sometimes encounter unexpected results.
The colours you see on a digital screen are created differently from colours printed on paper.
Most screens use RGB, which stands for red, green and blue.
Commercial full-colour printing commonly uses CMYK, which stands for cyan, magenta, yellow and black.
These colour systems don’t reproduce every colour in exactly the same way.
Why Does This Matter?
Some bright colours displayed on a computer screen can’t be reproduced with the same intensity using standard CMYK printing.
For example, a highly saturated blue, green or orange might appear slightly different in the finished printed material.
This doesn’t necessarily mean anything has gone wrong.
It’s a natural difference between how screens display colour and how printing processes reproduce it.
Should You Convert Everything to CMYK?
Not automatically.
Some commercial printing workflows accept RGB artwork and manage colour conversion during production.
Others require files to be prepared using a specific CMYK colour profile.
The best approach is to check the printer’s preferred artwork specifications before exporting your final file.
If accurate brand colour reproduction is particularly important, discuss this early. Printed samples or proofs may help establish realistic expectations.
5. Choose the Right File Format
The file format you submit can influence how reliably your artwork is reproduced.
For most professionally designed brochures, flyers and marketing materials, a properly prepared PDF is a common choice.
Why Are PDFs Used for Printing?
A print-ready PDF can preserve the layout, images, typography and dimensions of your design.
It also reduces the risk of elements shifting when the file is opened on another computer.
However, not every PDF is automatically print-ready.
A PDF exported for viewing online may use different settings from one intended for commercial printing.
What Makes a Good Print-Ready PDF?
Depending on the job, your printer may need:
- The correct finished document dimensions.
- Appropriate bleed settings.
- High-resolution images.
- Fonts embedded or otherwise correctly prepared.
- Suitable colour settings.
- Trim marks, where requested.
- Appropriate export settings for the intended printing process.
PDF/X formats are commonly used in professional print workflows, although the specific version and requirements depend on the printer.
If you’re exporting from Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, Canva or another design platform, look for the relevant print-quality export options.
It’s worth remembering that a file labelled “PDF Print” isn’t necessarily suitable for every commercial printing process.
6. Make Sure Your Fonts Are Ready for Printing
Typography is a major part of your design, whether you’re producing a business card or a detailed company brochure.
Problems can arise when a file uses fonts that aren’t available or haven’t been correctly included.
In some cases, missing fonts can cause text to change appearance, reflow or display incorrectly.
How Can You Avoid Font Problems?
When creating a print-ready PDF, ensure your fonts are embedded wherever possible.
If you’re working with vector design software, converting text to outlines may be appropriate in certain situations.
However, outlining text isn’t always necessary and can make the artwork harder to edit.
The best solution depends on your design software and the printer’s requirements.
Before submitting your artwork, check that all headings, contact details, numbers and smaller text appear correctly in the exported file.
7. Be Careful With Borders and Fine Details
Thin borders and fine lines can look attractive on screen, but they may create challenges in print.
For example, a decorative border positioned very close to the edge of a flyer can make small trimming variations more noticeable.
Similarly, extremely fine lines or tiny text may not reproduce clearly on some paper stocks or printing processes.
When reviewing your design, consider:
Line thickness: Avoid relying on extremely fine lines unless you’ve confirmed they’ll reproduce clearly.
Text size: Make sure important information remains comfortable to read at its actual printed size.
Contrast: Light-coloured text over photographs or coloured backgrounds can sometimes be difficult to read.
Borders: Keep decorative borders sufficiently far from the trim line to accommodate normal cutting tolerances.
These details can make the difference between a design that looks good on screen and one that works well in print.
8. Plan Folded Brochures Carefully
If you’re preparing artwork for a folded brochure, there’s another important consideration: panel layout.
A tri-fold brochure might appear to contain three equal panels, but certain folding styles require small adjustments to the panel widths.
This helps the brochure fold neatly without the internal panels catching or buckling.
The correct panel dimensions depend on the folding method, paper stock and production requirements.
For this reason, it’s best to confirm the fold specifications before designing a brochure.
Also consider how the content will appear when the brochure is folded and unfolded.
The position of your front cover, inside panels and back cover affects how readers move through the information.
A brochure should work as a physical document, not simply as a flat design on a screen.
9. Check Your Artwork at Actual Size
Before sending artwork to print, review it at the size customers will see.
This is particularly important for business cards, small promotional flyers and detailed brochures.
A heading that appears large on your monitor might feel quite small when printed.
Likewise, contact details or fine print could become difficult to read.
Where practical, print a test copy at 100% scale.
Even a basic office printer can help reveal problems with text size, spacing and layout.
It won’t necessarily reproduce the colours or finish of professional printing, but it can still be a useful design check.
10. Proofread Everything Before Printing
This might be the simplest advice in the entire article, but it’s also one of the most important steps.
Once materials have been printed, correcting a mistake can mean producing the job again.
Before approving your artwork, check:
- Business names and contact information.
- Website addresses and email addresses.
- Dates, times and event details.
- Product descriptions and prices.
- Spelling, punctuation and grammar.
- QR codes and links.
- Logos and branding.
- Page order and folding layout.
If you’re printing a substantial quantity, consider asking another person to review the artwork.
It’s often easier for someone unfamiliar with the design to spot a mistake you’ve overlooked.
And remember, checking whether artwork is technically suitable for printing isn’t necessarily the same as proofreading its content.
Can You Send Artwork Created in Canva?
Yes, Canva can be a useful tool for creating business printing artwork, provided the finished file meets the requirements of the print job.
Many small businesses use Canva to design flyers, brochures, promotional cards and other marketing materials.
For standard commercial printing, you’ll generally want to export a high-quality PDF using the appropriate print settings.
Depending on the product and your printer’s requirements, this may involve enabling bleed and crop marks and choosing suitable colour settings.
Before exporting, make sure the design itself has been created at the correct dimensions.
If you’re preparing folded brochures or products requiring precise finishing, confirm the specifications first.
And if you’re unsure whether your Canva file is suitable, ask your printer before ordering.
What if Your Artwork Isn’t Print-Ready?
Not everyone has access to professional design software or experience preparing commercial printing files.
That’s completely understandable.
Some customers have professionally designed artwork ready to go. Others have a logo, some photographs and an idea of what they’d like to produce.
The important thing is identifying what you have and what still needs to be prepared.
Before committing to printing, discuss the artwork with your printer so any technical requirements or additional preparation can be identified.
For some projects, minor adjustments may be all that’s needed. Others may require more substantial design or artwork preparation.
It’s better to understand those requirements early than discover a problem after production has begun.
Professional Commercial Printing in Warragul and Gippsland
At Urban Impression Collective, we work with businesses, organisations and community groups throughout Warragul, Gippsland and eastern Melbourne on their commercial printing needs.
Whether you’re preparing a new set of business cards, producing promotional flyers or organising a larger brochure printing project, getting the artwork right is an important part of achieving the finished result you’re looking for.
You don’t need to be a graphic designer to start a conversation about printing.
If you have artwork ready, let us know what you’re planning. If you’re unsure about the file specifications, we can discuss what will be needed for your particular project.
Ready to Get Your Artwork Printed?
Have a design ready for printing, or need to clarify the artwork requirements for an upcoming project?
Get in touch with Urban Impression Collective to discuss your printing needs.
Our Warragul team can help you understand the next steps and the specifications required for your job.
Contact Urban Impression Collective
Phone: (03) 5604 6921
Email: info@urbanic.com.au
Address: 4/11 Pearse Street, Warragul VIC 3820
Good preparation makes for better printing.
