Spring is one of my favourite times of the year, not only does it start to get a little bit warmer but we are also exposed to so many wonderful vibrant and natural colours which have been missing over the dull winter months.

With spring already upon us I thought in this blog post I would focus on some hints and tips for how you can make your sales promotion and print pieces look vivid and appealing!

When you have your work professionally printed for a sales promotional piece, such as a brochure or catalogue, you will often be asked to provide a print-ready file. While you may be able to easily click and print a Word document or photo at home or work, it’s different when using a commercial press. Putting together a print-ready file is a little bit more involved, but luckily there are a lot of creative geniuses and clever graphic designers who can help you develop your work, and remember we are always here for you, so don’t worry!

There are 3 main factors that should be considered to ensure your pieces look vivid and vibrant when printed.

The document should be sized and set up with the correct LAYOUT. When designing a document you will need to think about the form, function and size of the final print.

You might be creating a document, such as a leaflet or a flyer, which is going to be folded after it has been printed. When you set up your document on your computer you will want to know exactly where the fold(s) are going to be and create guides on the digital document layout to mark them out.

If you’re designing a larger multi-page document, such as a report, brochure or book, you will need to think about how the pages will be bound together. There’s a vast range of different binding options available, we can help you choose the best binding option for your piece and talk through the different options.

One of the most important things to do when setting up a document is adding bleed. When you create a document where the image or graphics go right to the edge of the page you need to add an area of bleed. This is because we print on an over-sized sheet and trim it down to size. We have written a blog post on how and why to add bleed, check it out here.

COLOURS can have a major influence on perceptions and choosing colours that work well together is a skill in itself. When printing a document colours need to be set to the correct specifications, for example, CMYK instead of RGB. In a previous blog post, we discussed some of the basic misunderstandings about the use of colour in print that can lead to confusion.

If you’re including graphics or images in your print layout, you need to ensure that they are of the correct RESOLUTION for the size and quality of the print you want to achieve. Low-resolution images produce blurry, pixelated print results whereas, by contrast, high-resolution graphics will look sharp and clear.

In graphic design, there are two main types of graphics; raster images and vector graphics. It helps to understand a little bit about each of these types of graphics to understand how and why they can impact resolution.

Raster images are produced using pixels, or tiny dots, containing unique colour and tonal information that come together to create the image. They are produced when you create a digital photograph or scan a photo. Raster files are saved in various formats, some common formats you will have probably used include jpg, bmp and tiff.

Because raster images are created out of lots and lots of tiny dots if you enlarge the image or zoom in on an area of the image then the tiny dots become more apparent and the image may become blurry, reducing the overall quality of the image.

The quality of a raster image is determined by DPI (Dots Per Inch). DPI describes the resolution number of dots per inch that make up the colours and tones of an image. When printing a raster image 300dpi is the standard recommended quality.

Vectors use a different approach to produce an image. They are made of paths and curves dictated by algorithmic formulas. They are produced by using specialist graphic design software packages such as Adobe Illustrator or Affinity Designer.

Unlike raster images, vector graphics are infinitely scalable and remain smooth and crisp even when sized up to larger dimensions. The scalability of vector graphics makes them ideal to use when designing logos or icons which require lots of detail, and flexibility of use. They can be easily scaled up for large exhibition graphics or simply scaled down for use on a business card, in both instances the quality and resolution will remain the same.

There are, of course, other factors to consider in any print project such as thickness and quality of the paper you want to print on. Different paper types can really impact the overall look and feel of a project.

At Full Square we don’t just print paper pieces, we offer a whole range of sales promotional materials. Thought also has to be given when striving to achieve the best results when printing a logo or a design onto a promotional item. There are a variety of ways we can decorate products with your corporate logo, brand and messages – click here to review a list of the most popular methods used. And don’t worry if it all sounds a bit much – we will always advise you on the best possible way to achieve the look that is just right for your brand.

Contact us to see how we can help your sales promotion blossom this year!