The brand kit your printer actually needs

The four things to write down

With these, any printer reproduces your brand consistently. Without them, every job is a fresh interpretation.

• Your colours as CMYK values, not only hex. Hex is a screen specification and has to be converted, and the conversion is not unique.
• Your logo as a vector file — AI, EPS, SVG or PDF. Never only a PNG.
• Your typefaces, with the actual font files or a licence that permits embedding.
• A minimum size and clear-space rule for the logo, so it is never reproduced too small to read.

Why hex is not enough

A hex value describes light on a screen. Converting it to ink involves choices about paper and process, and different software makes different choices. Specifying CMYK removes the ambiguity, which is why every proper brand guideline includes both.

The specifications this applies to

For reference, here is how it works out on the products this comes up on most often.

• Standard Visiting Cards — 89 × 51 mm finished, 3 mm bleed, 300 DPI minimum, from ₹2 per unit with a minimum of 100.
• Letterheads — 210 × 297 mm finished, 3 mm bleed, 300 DPI minimum, from ₹4 per unit with a minimum of 100.

Ordering

Every file is checked automatically before printing, so a mistake in any of this is caught while it can still be corrected rather than after a run is on paper.

Standard delivery is free to every PIN code in India — two working days to a metro, up to twelve to the islands — and prices include GST, so the figure on the product page is the figure charged. Add a GSTIN at checkout and the invoice carries it for input credit.

Measuring whether it worked

Print is often written off as unmeasurable, which is only true if you make no effort. A distinct phone number, a QR pointing at a URL you control, or a code the customer has to mention all turn a print run into something you can count.

Do that once and the next order becomes a decision rather than a guess — you will know which piece produced enquiries and which produced nothing but a bill.