A good rule to follow is don’t use images taken from web sites unless you can obtain a high-resolution copy of the image.

Please make sure all the images you use are 300dpi or as close thereto as you can get. By the way, there is absolutely no point in using images that have a higher dpi than 300dpi. You will never see the difference in the printed job. And when we use the expression ‘300dpi’, we mean 300dpi at the final output size. If you have a 300dpi image that is, say 100x150mm, and blow it up to A4, you have reduced the effective resolution back to 75dpi, and achieved nothing.

• Make your page size the actual size of the job

We regularly receive files where the page size is larger than the size of the job. For example, a customer might make up a business card on an A4 page, or an A4 poster on an A3 page or worst of all, a whole A5 book on A4 pages. Such scenarios inevitably mean more work for us, a slower turnaround time for you, and may mean we need to return the file to you for adjustment.

Make sure the page size you choose in you page layout software is same size your job is to be printed at. If your document is to be printed right to the edge of the page you need to understand about bleeds. To provide a document with bleeds, you do still make your page size the actual page size of the job.

Drag the elements that will bleed a few mm outside the page border and make sure that if you are sending us a PDF file, the job is set up correctly in your page layout software before you save the job to disk or before you save a PostScript file.

• Check your spelling and punctuation

Don’t forget to check your spelling, punctuation, and grammar. Run your spell checker! It is also a good idea to have someone else look at your work. Another set of eyes often sees something you’ve been looking at and missing. Often the longer you have been working on a project, the less likely you are to spot the obvious. Pay attention to headlines when checking (this advice from one who has made some fearful bloopers!).

• Make use of the output preview facility in InDesign and Acrobat

A little known but extremely useful facility built into InDesign and Acrobat is a facility designed to enable you to see exactly how your job will print out. In InDesign, go to the Window menu, then Output, and choose Separations Preview. In Acrobat, go to Tools, Print Production, Output Preview.

In both cases you can turn see what colours your job consists of (and maybe discover you have not converted a Pantone colour to CMYK), you can see if your black text really is really black or consists of all colours (in which case it won’t be very sharp). Just occasionally you will find that something on your page won’t print at all.

• Print out your job and check it for errors. Then check again!

It’s easy to miss mistakes in your document when you have only ever seen it displayed on the screen. It is an important part of proofing your job to print the document out and look at it. Check for spelling errors, spacing problems, inconsistencies, and design problems.

• Supply your files either stuffed or zipped

If you are sending us your job electronically, copy all files into the one folder / directory and use Stuffit (Mac) or WinZip (PC) to compress the files. The files will be smaller, and the chances of corruption occurring in file transmission are almost eliminated.