Common Print Design Errors and How to Avoid Them

Many people think that the age of print is over, and digital design is now what is most important. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Print marketing and print design are still hugely important skills which can really help your marketing efforts.

Designing artwork for print is a unique skill that means you need to think about a completely different set of things compared to when you are creating artwork for digital usage. When thinking about print design, there are some common errors that people make. Thankfully, these errors are all easy to avoid if you make sure you’re thinking about them throughout the design process.

Forgetting to Add Bleed

Forgetting bleed is the number one most common print design error people make when starting out, and even sometimes when they’ve been designing for print for years. Even though guillotines are now incredibly accurate, its still possible they can get it wrong. It is essential to add bleed to your artwork (we suggest around 5mm) so that if the guillotine does get it wrong, your design won’t have a thin white border around the edge.

Working in the Wrong Colour Mode

It is easy to see why this mistake happens. People will often work on a print design for ages and love the way it looks on a monitor, but when it is first printed they will be shocked that the colours don’t match with the colours they’ve been looking at on the screen.

This is usually because the design document is working in RGB mode, whereas when it comes to printing the design will be transferred to CMYK mode. The easy solution to this is to ensure your design document is always in CMYK mode from the beginning, so that the colours on screen match to what will be printed.

Not Creating a Safe Zone

Safe zones are important for the same reason as bleed. The guillotine can sometimes cut inside the lines, as well as outside. For this reason, your print design needs to incorporate a safe zone, of at least 5mm, where there are only abstract designs or block colours. This means that if the guillotine does miscut, it will not be a problem because it won’t be chopping off important design elements or ruining images.

Using the Wrong Resolution

To create high-quality print material, you need to use high-resolution images, text, and graphics. This is particularly important if the print design is going to be blown up to a large scale, for instance, for a poster. If you aren’t using high enough resolutions, your print will appear grainy or fuzzy and unprofessional. To avoid this, it is generally best practice to work in 300dpi.

Not Making the Text Big Enough to Read

When you are working on a computer screen, it is easy to zoom in and be able to read whatever text you want. Often, when it comes to printing designs, people find that the text they could read easily on their screen is far too small on the physical copy. The best way to avoid this is never to use a font size smaller than 6pt and to make sure that your typeface has some thick strokes. This will help ensure your text is readable once printed.

How to Ensure Your Print Design Looks Professional?

The best way to ensure a professional finish to your print design’s journey is to work alongside printing specialists, such as Sherwood Universal. We will be able to ensure that the common print design errors have been avoided, saving you money and time in having to reprint. Being aware of common print design errors yourself is really helpful, but when you work alongside an expert printer, you will gain the benefit of their expertise and knowledge alongside your own.