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Download Print Design Templates

You only need to read this page if you want to design your own artwork for print. If you use our design service then this page is not relevant to you. Ideally you will need a professional design program such as Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign or Corel Draw, however, some other design programs may still be able to produce print ready files. You will need to download one of our templates at the bottom of this page. You can find an explanation of how to use these on this page.

All print templates below are compressed in ZIP files to lower download times, if you do not have WinZIP then visit here.

What format are your print templates?

We offer PDF, PSD and JPG templates which are editable in most design programs, all of our print templates are CMYK mode, 300dpi and contain a blank canvas with the correct trim and bleed for commercial printing. To ensure that you save your artwork in the best possible format, please take the time to read our design specifications and bleed sections below as they are very important.

What are your required design specifications?

Below are the basic requirements that we need from your artwork along with some additional ones which are dependant on the software you are using.

Basic Requirements

Artwork must be created in CMYK mode (not RGB) if not we will do a standard conversion for you, however, our results may vary from what you expect and this is at your risk. We can print Pantones but this must be agreed by prior arrangement.
Artwork must be created at a minimum of 300dpi. 300dpi (300 dots per inch) is the resolution that a design/image has been created or scanned at. When using photographs and scanned images in your artwork, please ensure that photographs have been taken at the highest setting possible on a quality digital camera and that scanned images have been scanned at a minimum of 300dpi. Logos, photographs and images taken from your website should not be used at all as these will only be 72dpi, only accepting artwork created at a minimum of 300dpi ensures that the final print looks fantastic.
Artwork must be supplied with a 3mm bleed on each edge. Images, background images and fills which are intended to extend to the edge of the page must be extended 3mm beyond the cut line to give a bleed. Text and other images that you need on your finished job must sit 5mm in from the cut line.

Adobe Photoshop (or similar)

If you are supplying artwork as a press ready PDF (preferred), PSD, TIFF or JPEG please ensure that all layers are flattened prior to exporting your print ready file, ensure you keep a copy of the original file as once flattened you will not be able to easily edit your artwork. For best results do not use any optimisation when saving your file.

Adobe Illustrator/InDesign (or similar)

If you are supplying artwork as a press ready PDF (preferred), AI or EPS file then please ensure that all fonts are converted to paths/outlines, all images are embedded correctly and any transparencies have been flattened. To preview how your artwork will look when printed, we would recommend viewing an Overprint Preview. This should identify any vector objects that have overprint applied to the them, the object will appear transparent and as a result will not be printed. In Acrobat Reader you can select Overprint Preview which can be located in the advanced drop down menu, in both Adobe Illustrator and Adobe InDesign you can view an Overprint Preview by going to the view drop down menu and selecting Overprint Preview.

All artwork supplied is treated as print ready, although we will of course always do our best to point out any obvious errors such as problems with bleed, however the onus is on the customer to ensure the above specifications are met where applicable.

What is bleed?

It is not possible to print all the way to the edge of a sheet of paper/card, to achieve this it is necessary to print a larger area than is needed and then trim the paper/card down to the required size. Images, background images and fills which are intended to extend to the edge of the page must be extended 3mm beyond the cut line to give a bleed. Text and other images that you need on your finished job must sit 5mm in from the cut line.

A diagram (click to enlarge) explaining bleed is shown to the left, although the diagram is helpful in understanding bleed it is better understood in conjunction with one of our free print templates found at the bottom of the page.