Advertising Artwork Guidelines and technical information
Typefaces
San serif typefaces are the best choice for reproduction They reproduce easily with desired readability. Typefaces with thin or delicate serifs and strokes should be avoided. Extremely fine strokes can drop out, while thick strokes can plug in on the press. Because of the ink and paper relationship, small type tends to lose definition.
Coloured type and solid backgrounds can print using a single colour at 100%. Should a second or third colour be required, these extra colours should be limited to 85%, keeping within the total ink limit of 285%.
This will allow the ink to trap on the press and result in consistent and balanced printing.
For legibility, when attempting to reproduce type as a light screen tint, avoid screening type style with a fine to medium weight and those with serifs
For optimum results it is suggested that type not over print a background screen or ghosted image greater than 30% visual density. This allows for the dot gain and provides necessary contrast between text matter and the background image.
Typeface Guidelines
• Minimum size is 8pt; reverse and non-single colour type minimum size is 10pt.
• All fonts supplied in vector art files must be converted to outlines.
• All type to be within Safe Image Area.
• Type with no serifs or screens, reversed out of four-colour or image. should be 10pt or greater in size, otherwise the material will not be accepted, this allows for slight variance in register with optimum legibility.
• Any reverse type should be limited to two colours max. For contrast and readability, reverse type should not be positioned within screened areas less than 50% or in yellow or other light-coloured backgrounds.
Typefaces in Reverse
• Typefaces in four colour should be sans serif and bold, no smaller than 10pt
Line Art
• Minimum width 0.125mm with a maximum of two colours overprinting.
• Avoid line art less than 1 pt.
Image Formats
• TIFF or EPS format.
• Magazine resolution minimum 266dpi @ 133 line screen.
• Colour profiles available from production or www.3dap.com.au
• Illustrations can be supplied as Illustrator, Illustrator EPS or PICT files.
• All bitmap (one bit image) files must be supplied at 600dpi minimum
Colour guidelines
Dot gain/TVI (Tonal value increase) is not a fault of web offset printing, rather a characteristic.
Dot gain/TVI can, to some extent, be allowed for in production.
These are suggestions that will assist:
All material should compensate for dot gain of up to 15%-20% in the 50% dot range. Ensure mid tones are lighter and have more contrast to compensate for the above dot gain.
Highlights can also dirty if there is black dot visible, which will also gain on press. The first printing dot should be:
C M Y K
First printing highlight 3% 2% 2% 0%
Midtones Allow for between 15% -20%
Shadow Range from 265% – 300% on coverstock
Grey balance:
Maintaining grey balance throughout the separation is extremely important for quality four-colour reproduction.
Separations without a neutral grey will reproduce with perceivable colour cast on press. As a general rule for magazine reproduction, grey balance requires slightly more cyan relative to less amounts of magenta to yellow.
Four-Colour Mono Images:
Four-colour mono images have a tendency to reproduce with tonal shifts and often the result differs from the original proof. We suggest using an achromatic or GCR (grey component replacement) set-up. Increasing the use of the black and reducing the use of the other three colours will result in a more neutral image that will reduce the risk of tonal colour shits on press, we have a profile available on our website: magazine_55gsm_4col_bw.icc
Tonal saturation:
The tonal saturation for process colour material on light weight coated stock should range from 260% -285% This helps compensate for dot gain and allows for maximum shadow detail with minimal set off.
Rich black:
C M Y K
Suggested colour breakdown 20% 20% 20% 100%.
Colour
• Magazines are produced in CMYK. Please ensure all spot colours are modified to be CMYK i,e PMS colour must be converted to CMYK process colour).
• Total ink weight set to 280 % must not exceed 300%.
• Printing sequence: black, cyan, magenta, yellow.
Profiles:
Maintaining accurate colour throughout your workflow relies on effective colour management with the correct use of profiles. For all Metro Media Publishing colour separations please use paper type 3.
Metro Media Publishing recommends downloading and using the profile 3DAPv3_PAPERTYPE-3_280.icc
When dealing with the paper types 3, it is imperative that the relevant paper type simulation is used for the proofing.
The profiles have been built using real press data that is to the AS ISO 12647-2 standard. All separation profiles have been made after consultation with all Australian Web Offset printers on the 3DAP committee and have been used extensively in the field.
Please liaise with Metro Media Publishing on which profile is most suitable for the supplied file before sending or check
http://www.3dap.com.au/separation.html
Profile separation style
The 3DAP v3 profiles are generic 16-bit Version 2 ICC profiles made with X-Rite Monaco Profiler v4.8.3. These profiles can be used for purposes of creating separation files for targeting AS ISO 12647-2 standard print conditions.
All the profiles have a strong GCR in the neutral axis and a medium GCR in the more saturated colours for a stable grey balance in standardised printing.
The 3DAP point of difference with other available profiles for download is the preference for the optimised gamut mapping used in Monaco Profiler and its suitability for Australian print conditions.
***Important note:
It should be noted that these profiles will only reproduce the colour integrity of the original image into the correct colour space for printing. Manual editing may still be required if the original is poor quality.
Responsibility
The client assumes all responsibility for obtaining copyright clearance for all content of their supplied advertisement.
No responsibility can be taken for the omission of an advertisement due to a missed deadline or the supply of incorrect material.