Frequently Asked Questions

Bleed is the section of the artwork that surrounds the page and extends beyond the trim lines. We cut the bleed area off in the print finishing process.

Invariably when a project is professionally printed, multiple pages are printed up together on a large sheet of paper. Once printed each large paper sheet may be folded into spreads or trimmed into individual pages depending on the required format: poster or printed brochure for example. If your artwork has a picture or graphic design covering the full extent of the page it must have bleed running off all the edges. This extra margin of colour gives us a bit of wiggle room at the final stage of completion when we cut the pages to size so they have a flush finish. If there is no or insufficient bleed there is a risk of having an unsightly irregular white edge appearing on the outside of the pages line of the final printed item.

We advise that you allow a 3mm bleed on all four sides of your page artwork. If you have any concerns Scanplus always offer a free artwork check so if you send your files through we can run our checks in the studio.

These can be found in your artwork file on the preview section and are always needed to highlight where the document will be trimmed.

We prefer receiving artwork as a high-resolution PDF file, supplied as single pages (rather than spreads) with 3mm bleed and trim marks. We also recommend that colours are set as CMYK and that your images are 300dpi (dots per inch) for best results.

The benefit of providing PDF file or files is that artwork is encapsulated within the saved file so that nothing can change or re-flow when used on different platforms. But if you do have any problems creating a PDF file from Publisher, InDesign, Quark, Word, PowerPoint or you only have JPG or PNG files for instance then please let us know. We are always happy to help and can talk you through the process. Our free artwork check will also flag up any issues before we print.

When producing any printed brochure, book, magazine or journal that has a perfect bound or case bound (square back) finish you may wish to incorporate some copy or design for the spine area. The spine width will vary depending on the number of pages, the type of paper and the finish that you require. Once your page specification is confirmed we can calculate the spine width so you can include that in your artwork design.

Not at all. We can work to bespoke sizes and offer flexibility to our clients in custom dimensions. It must be pointed out that Din A and B paper sizes are primarily used because they optimise sheet sizes that are available to printers and in doing so help to minimise waste and in turn cost. If you are designing a presentation folder or record sleeve using one of our templates then make sure you download the file here or ask one of the team if you have any questions.

In normal circumstances we will always provide a PDF proof for you to check over before we proceed to printing. Printed proofs are also available on request which we particularly recommend for large quantity orders and on colour sensitive work such as a product catalogues or art gallery brochures.

The main reason of the proof is to give you a final opportunity to check the document before we go to print. We advise keeping an eye out for any missing text, low resolution or pixelated images and logos and a double check to ensure that everything is in the right place. In addition it is important to check that the sequence of the pages are all correct.

Please note that although we check your artwork for technical errors we do not check your artwork for design, content or spelling errors.

Up to around 6mm of each page can be taken into the spine so we recommend positioning any important design (copy or image) at least 12mm away from the spine edge of the page artwork. This will ensure that any pictures or graphics are not obscured by the fold. Please do not run standard small text copy across the spread as this will never line up accurately.