The seven reasons artwork gets sent back

The list

Roughly in order of frequency.

• Wrong size — artwork set up for a different card format, or at A4 by accident.
• No bleed on a design that runs to the edge.
• Text inside the trim margin, at risk of being cut.
• Low effective resolution, usually a logo taken from a website.
• RGB colour where a specific brand shade matters.
• Fonts not embedded, so text would reflow.
• One page supplied for a double-sided product.

What we do rather than simply refusing

A file that would print badly is blocked, because printing it wastes your money and ours. A file that would print acceptably but not perfectly gets a warning instead, and you decide — a 280 DPI logo at 25 mm is genuinely fine, and refusing that order would help nobody.

Formats we cannot inspect automatically, such as CorelDRAW, go to a person rather than being rejected.

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.
• Flyers — 148 × 210 mm finished, 3 mm bleed, 300 DPI minimum, from ₹2.5 per unit with a minimum of 250.
• Posters — 297 × 420 mm finished, 3 mm bleed, 200 DPI minimum, from ₹45 per unit with a minimum of 10.

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.

If something still looks wrong

Preflight catches size, resolution, colour mode and page count automatically, and it errs toward warning rather than refusing — a file that would print acceptably is never blocked just because it is not perfect.

What it cannot judge is whether the design says the right thing. Proofread names, phone numbers and dates with a second pair of eyes before approving, because approval is the point at which the file goes to a press and the cost of a change stops being zero.