Business Cards • 2’’ x 3.5’’ US Standard

Full Bleed Format

Please ensure your artwork has the following measurements in total:
3.7'' x 2.2''
After printing, we will crop a 0.1'' bleed on each side. Any background elements should extend till the very edge of your artwork, text and other important graphic elements should keep distance from the inner (trim) margin.

Final Product Format

Your product will be delivered in the following size:
3.5'' x 2''

Factsheet

 

Bleed 0.1'' (1/10'')

This margin is absolutely essential in order to compensate trimming tolerances. The bleed will usually be trimmed off completely. Please ensure that background images any any objects, which are supposed to reach to the edge of the page of your print product, extend into this margin to avoid thin white edges after trimming.

Edge distance 0.08'' (1/12'')

Additionally, please ensure that text and other important graphic elements are positioned at least 0.08'' away from the bleed. Otherwise parts of them might get trimmed off. Also, in most cases it doesn't look aesthetic if text is 'stuck' near to the edge.

Resolution

We print with a 177lpi screen which gives a resolution of 354 dpi. In order to obtain optimum printing results, your printing file should have a resolution of at least 300 dpi (dots per inch). Files with lower resolutions may leck of quality for a high class result.

Color settings

CMYK is the standard color mode we use for full color printing. You should thus create your files with CMYK color mode. If, however, we receive files with different color settings, our system will automatically convert them to CMYK. This may result in slight color deviations which will not be accepted as complaints as we do not know the original color you had in mind. To avoid color issues, please use our color profile (available under Templates) from the very first step of your design.

Inking

The color channels cyan, magenta, yellow and black are displayed in percent in your layout software. Assuming that the file is created and saved with a CMYK color space, the summation of the colors cyan, magenta, yellow and back must not exceed 300%.
If it does, it causes an above-average ink application and may thus cause a faulty result. Such high ink application doesn't dry properly and your prints might stick together and tear on separation.

For a black or gray color please use K (K=key=black) only. If your fonts use three or more colors, shadows may appear on the printed product.

To obtain a deep saturated black, 40% cyan and 100% black are adequate (40/0/0/100). Alternatively you may use the values 30/30/30/100.

Fonts

For offset printing please always use Postscript fonts. TrueType fonts can cause issues during the exposition of the printing plates. If TrueType fonts are required for any reason, they should be converted to vectors, outlines or curves (denomination might be different according to the used software).

File formats

In general we prefer multipage PDF files while the first page of your PDF should be the front and the second page the back. Alternatively you may send us EPS, JPEG or TIFF files. Adobe Photoshop users should always save their files as JPEG or TIFF. If a Photoshop PDF is required please use Acrobat Distiller to create the file. Please never save a PDF directly from Photoshop.