Preparing Artwork for Professional Printing

March 16, 2024

Having your artwork professionally printed can help bring your creative vision to life. Professional printing allows you to create large-format posters, digital prints, flyers, and postcards. Understanding how to prepare your artwork for the process can help you achieve a high-quality, color-accurate print that accurately portrays your art. Here are some steps to follow when sending your work to our print shop:

Communicate Your Goals

Before beginning the process, our team at Bestype Printing schedules an in-depth conversation about your project. Many artists use our services to preserve and archive their work or prepare it for display to share with others. We offer various types of services and can deliver bound books, flyers, magazine-style documents, or even large-format prints of your artwork, depending on what you are using it for. This meeting allows us to discuss our options and make recommendations based on your goals and vision.

Send Your Work as a Vector File

Sending artwork as a vector file has several advantages that facilitate our professional services. This is why we ask that you send us your artwork as an .AI or .EPS file. These file types allow our technicians to scale your project to any size without losing quality or resolution. As we enlarge your image and print it to your specifications, the graphics and text remain crisp and sharp. Vector files also give us more precise control over colors, shapes, and lines. This enables our in-house team to accurately reproduce your artwork with clean edges and smooth curves. Sending your artwork in this format allows our technicians to get to work as quickly as possible, producing high-quality prints that authentically showcase your artistry.

Check Color Accuracy

Achieving color accuracy helps maintain the integrity of your artwork in print. Our technicians can correct colors to make sure that every print is an accurate representation of your work, but checking the color accuracy of your file before transferring it allows you to verify that your prints will fully reflect your original piece. Calibrate your monitor to make sure that colors are displayed consistently and correctly. If you haven’t already, you may need to convert your artwork to the appropriate color profile, such as CMYK. Building your artwork in RGB may affect how the colors are printed. This is because CMYK and RGB are two separate builds of colors, and our printers use CMYK while printing. Making these adjustments and using proofing techniques to preview how your artwork will appear in print can help you achieve your desired colors.

Review and Approve

Reviewing your work before sending it to our print shop can help you catch any last-minute mistakes. Proofread the text, review visual elements, and double-check dimensions. Bestype Printing can also produce a sample of your project for you to approve before proceeding with the final print run. This allows you to identify any potential issues and make adjustments so your artwork is portrayed the way you want. Once you approve the sample, we can start production and print according to the timeline that you received during your consultation. 

Contact Bestype Printing for Your Printing Needs

Preparing artwork for professional printing requires attention to detail and technical proficiency. At Bestype Printing, we work with our customers to provide hands-on and on-site guidance. This allows us to create beautiful prints that come out the way you envisioned. We also produce a sample of your project before initiating the process so that you can review and approve it. Our printing company is located in the heart of New York City and is ready to provide you with custom solutions. Request a quote today to get started.