Providing Artwork for Photopolymer Plates
1. Make sure your document is in CMYK mode
2. All artwork should be in CMYK Black, CMY=0 and K=100%
3. Minimum line widths, which also apply to the finer areas of type, ( watch those serif fonts);
KF95 – 0.25pt
KF152 – 0.35pt
4. For Dots, we recommend the following
KF95 – 1pt diameter
KF152 – 1.25pt diameter
Each of those dots has to stand on it’s own on the plate and that thickness will provide the support at the base of the plate to hold the dot.
5. Images – Vector images (from Illustrator/Inkscape or other vector software) are the best
For raster images (from Photoshop), avoid the grayscale color mode for your images.
Use a 1200 dpi bitmap instead. Convert the image to a Bitmap(.BMP) within photoshop
do not just save as a bitmap
6. Outline all of your fonts – we quite often don’t have your fonts on our system, so you
will have to convert them to paths, so they retain their style.
You can do this by going to Type > Create Outlines – in Illustrator
7. Before sending your Illustrator or PDF files, please make sure that all images are
embedded in the document and not linked, or they won’t show when we create your neg file.
8. Trim marks -In Illustrator, if you want crop marks/trim marks on your plate you will have to
place them on the artboard, you cannot add them when creating a PDF or they won’t
show on the plate. Use Object> Create Trim marks. Please make sure these are also 100%K.
and at least 0.5pt thick, as they are ‘out there’ on their own they could get washed away.
9. You don’t have to reverse your files before sending them over unless you are
absolutely happy with them and don’t need us to adjust anything. If you send them
through the way you would expect to see them when printed, we’ll do the rest.
10. If you send all of your artwork over in one email please make sure that each item is grouped,
we sometimes have to move them about on the neg to fit on a plate.
11. We only charge for the actual size of the artwork you send over, you don’t have to fit
everyting on to an A4 or A5 sheet. Just leave 5mm between each piece of artwork so
that they can be cut out afterwards.
This list is by no means exhaustive, but it covers the main parts,
we will add to it when we come across other points.