Copysound Artwork Templates

hints and tips for those new to design

The hints below are designed to help those new to design prepare artwork to a standard good enough for professional print.

bleed

All artwork you provide for paper parts must have 3mm of bleed. This means that all your background colours and pictures must bleed (i.e extend) 3mm over the edge of any cut line. This applies to all books and inlay cards for CD and DVD cases, as well as designs for paper labels for CD and DVD disks.

Bleed is not required for the design of CD and DVD disks where the disk is to be on body printed.

text and logos

These should be kept 3 mm away from the edge of any cut line or fold line. We do get a lot of artwork where text and logos are placed so close to the cut line that when the guillotine makes the cut, it is possible that some characters and edges of some logos can be lost. The exception to this rule is the text placed on the spines of inlay card for CD cases. In this case keep the point size small (about 12 point) and ensure a good 1mm of space is allowed above and below the text so that once folded and fitted into the case, the text on the spine is clearly legible

image resolution

Image resolution is very important. .Images used in your artwork should ideally be at a resolution of 300 dots per inch. This is the standard professional resolution for litho print of book parts for CD and DVD packaging. Any less and the picture will appear slightly fuzzy or pixelated. Any more and the sheer size of the pictures becomes unnecessarily cumbersome, particularly resolutions over 600 dpi.

One confusing issue here is that pictures taken on digital cameras come into a computer normally at a very low resolution but a very large size (i.e a resolution of 72 dots per inch, but a picture size of maybe 300-400 mm wide. In this situation you need to change the resolution of these images first, before using them in your artwork. Ideally use a programme like photoshop to open the file, then change the resolution (under Image Size) to 300 dots per inch, and then change the physical size of the image (again under Image Size) to the correct physical size (much smaller) required for the packaging. This process may take some time but is vital if your art is not to be rejected. So, rule of thumb is all images at a resolution of 300 dots per inch. Never change the size of our templates to fit the image size. Always change the image size to fit the template.

jpegs and tiffs

Those using amateur or semi-professional design programmes that we don't support are welcome to send their art as JPEGS or TIFF files. In this case your design programme should allow you to convert your finished art as a high resolution 'picture' that embeds all the text, background colours and images as a single image that we can then import our end.

It is important when sending files in these formats that the images are 'ready to go' - you will need to have created your bleed around the edges of all your artwork, ensured that your images are all at a good resolution of 300 dots per inch and laid out your text so that it is 3mm away from the edges and folds. In addition it can be very useful for us to have cut marks placed in the corners of your images showing where the final cut marks will be.

In addition, when exporting your artwork to JPEG or TIFF, you must check carefully any options that offer higher or lower quality for the finished file. Always go with the highest quality option available. If you have laid out your art accurately to our dimensions, we should then be able to easily import your files and print from these. If not, there is normally no way we can move text and pctires around because they are now part of the picture and cannot be edited. In this situation we have to ask you to resupply your art after having made the necessary changes and of course this can lose time in the production process.

using professional programmes like photoshop, quark, illustrator or in design

When using these programmes it can be good for us to have the original files from you on a disk.. If we have the original file and a slight correction needs to be made we can do that our end easily enough from our end and then go to print. It wont cost you anything and will just save time.

pdf files

TIFFs and JPEGs convert all your artwork, including text of any size, into a single picture image, which, whilst of an acceptable quality, can sometimes lack the very crisp appearance that professional 'vector based' font printing of text can achieve. This is particularly the case at low point sizes of less than 6-7 point.

In recent years the new Adobe PDF format has got over this by allowing all the detailed information about every last subtle curve of any font that you are using ('vector' information), to be embedded in the 'picture' along with all your images and colours. This format is so good that it is used by professional printers all the time. The file sizes created are also relatively small and can be easily sent over email. The resulting print of text is incredibly high quality.

It also gets around the age old font compatibility problem between macs and pcs. Any PDF file created on a PC will happily be ready by a MAC computer,(used for professional printing), and will include all the detailed font information to ensure a really high quality print.

You may not have the option to save (or rather 'print') your artwork in PDF format because it is not supported by that many programmes. However, you can purchase and download a good basic 'PDF maker' programme from the internet for £40-£50 and they are worth every penny if you intend yo produce professiona art in the future.

We are very happy to receive your art in this format, but once again the format does not (generally) allow for manipulation of text and graphics afterwards, so all the rules that applied to JPEGs and TIFFs above, apply here also.

One final interesting point about PDFs - you don't export your artwork as a PDF file, but rather print the file, almost like sending it to your printer. A strange notion to get hold of to start with, but works very well and involves you installing you PDF making software as a 'printer' much as if you were installing the drivers for a new inkjet or laser printer.

point size

Generally nothing less than 6 point

our templates

Templates are zipped or stuffed and supplied in Photoshop and Quark . If using another package please download the PDF file which will give you the dimensions required to allow you to lay out your own templates in your own package. The PDF files also give extra information about bleed etc etc.

Photoshop files feature coloured graphics to help identify the cut edge of the artwork, bleed edge, etc etc. Once you're ok with this, delete these layers because they will only get in your way (but do leave the guides).

If you have any further query contact us without delay, before starting your design

More advice available on our Art Templates page





home > artwork hints

		*hints and tips for those new to design* The hints below are designed to help those new to design prepare artwork to a standard good enough for professional print. bleed All artwork you provide for paper parts must have 3mm of bleed. This means that all your background colours and pictures must bleed (i.e extend) 3mm over the edge of any cut line. This applies to all books and inlay cards for CD and DVD cases, as well as designs for paper labels for CD and DVD disks. Bleed is not required for the design of CD and DVD disks where the disk is to be on body printed. text and logos These should be kept 3 mm away from the edge of any cut line or fold line. We do get a lot of artwork where text and logos are placed so close to the cut line that when the guillotine makes the cut, it is possible that some characters and edges of some logos can be lost. The exception to this rule is the text placed on the spines of inlay card for CD cases. In this case keep the point size small (about 12 point) and ensure a good 1mm of space is allowed above and below the text so that once folded and fitted into the case, the text on the spine is clearly legible image resolution Image resolution is very important. .Images used in your artwork should ideally be at a resolution of 300 dots per inch. This is the standard professional resolution for litho print of book parts for CD and DVD packaging. Any less and the picture will appear slightly fuzzy or pixelated. Any more and the sheer size of the pictures becomes unnecessarily cumbersome, particularly resolutions over 600 dpi. One confusing issue here is that pictures taken on digital cameras come into a computer normally at a very low resolution but a very large size (i.e a resolution of 72 dots per inch, but a picture size of maybe 300-400 mm wide. In this situation you need to change the resolution of these images first, before using them in your artwork. Ideally use a programme like photoshop to open the file, then change the resolution (under Image Size) to 300 dots per inch, and then change the physical size of the image (again under Image Size) to the correct physical size (much smaller) required for the packaging. This process may take some time but is vital if your art is not to be rejected. So, rule of thumb is all images at a resolution of 300 dots per inch. Never change the size of our templates to fit the image size. Always change the image size to fit the template. jpegs and tiffs Those using amateur or semi-professional design programmes that we don't support are welcome to send their art as JPEGS or TIFF files. In this case your design programme should allow you to convert your finished art as a high resolution 'picture' that embeds all the text, background colours and images as a single image that we can then import our end. It is important when sending files in these formats that the images are 'ready to go' - you will need to have created your bleed around the edges of all your artwork, ensured that your images are all at a good resolution of 300 dots per inch and laid out your text so that it is 3mm away from the edges and folds. In addition it can be very useful for us to have cut marks placed in the corners of your images showing where the final cut marks will be. In addition, when exporting your artwork to JPEG or TIFF, you must check carefully any options that offer higher or lower quality for the finished file. Always go with the highest quality option available. If you have laid out your art accurately to our dimensions, we should then be able to easily import your files and print from these. If not, there is normally no way we can move text and pctires around because they are now part of the picture and cannot be edited. In this situation we have to ask you to resupply your art after having made the necessary changes and of course this can lose time in the production process. using professional programmes like photoshop, quark, illustrator or in design When using these programmes it can be good for us to have the original files from you on a disk.. If we have the original file and a slight correction needs to be made we can do that our end easily enough from our end and then go to print. It wont cost you anything and will just save time. pdf files TIFFs and JPEGs convert all your artwork, including text of any size, into a single picture image, which, whilst of an acceptable quality, can sometimes lack the very crisp appearance that professional 'vector based' font printing of text can achieve. This is particularly the case at low point sizes of less than 6-7 point. In recent years the new Adobe PDF format has got over this by allowing all the detailed information about every last subtle curve of any font that you are using ('vector' information), to be embedded in the 'picture' along with all your images and colours. This format is so good that it is used by professional printers all the time. The file sizes created are also relatively small and can be easily sent over email. The resulting print of text is incredibly high quality. It also gets around the age old font compatibility problem between macs and pcs. Any PDF file created on a PC will happily be ready by a MAC computer,(used for professional printing), and will include all the detailed font information to ensure a really high quality print. You may not have the option to save (or rather 'print') your artwork in PDF format because it is not supported by that many programmes. However, you can purchase and download a good basic 'PDF maker' programme from the internet for £40-£50 and they are worth every penny if you intend yo produce professiona art in the future. We are very happy to receive your art in this format, but once again the format does not (generally) allow for manipulation of text and graphics afterwards, so all the rules that applied to JPEGs and TIFFs above, apply here also. One final interesting point about PDFs - you don't export your artwork as a PDF file, but rather print the file, almost like sending it to your printer. A strange notion to get hold of to start with, but works very well and involves you installing you PDF making software as a 'printer' much as if you were installing the drivers for a new inkjet or laser printer. point size Generally nothing less than 6 point our templates Templates are zipped or stuffed and supplied in Photoshop and Quark . If using another package please download the PDF file which will give you the dimensions required to allow you to lay out your own templates in your own package. The PDF files also give extra information about bleed etc etc. Photoshop files feature coloured graphics to help identify the cut edge of the artwork, bleed edge, etc etc. Once you're ok with this, delete these layers because they will only get in your way (but do leave the guides). If you have any further query contact us without delay, before starting your design More advice available on our Art Templates page











Copysound Ltd Upton Somerset TA4 2JE Telephone 01398 371644 Email sales@copysound.co.uk