UK Print-Ready Artwork Checklist

Almost every rejected print job in the UK comes down to the same handful of causes, and none of them is the printer being difficult. Artwork arrives in RGB instead of CMYK, with no bleed, with fonts that were never outlined, or at a resolution that looked fine on screen and turns to mush at A3.

This checklist is what we run over every file before it leaves our studio. It applies whether the artwork came from us, from a previous designer, or from something you built yourself in Canva, and it takes about ten minutes to work through.

Why print is unforgiving in a way screens are not

A website can be fixed after publication. A print run cannot. Once five thousand flyers are cut, a 2mm misalignment or a colour shift is a reprint at your cost, and reprints are rarely quoted at the original price. The ten minutes this checklist takes is the cheapest insurance in the whole process.

The four that cause most rejections

Colour mode. Screens are RGB, presses are CMYK. A vivid RGB blue that converts to a muddy CMYK one is the single most common unpleasant surprise, and it happens at the printer, not on your monitor.

Bleed. Anything meant to run to the edge needs 3mm of extra artwork beyond the trim line, because guillotines have tolerance. Without it you get a white sliver down one side.

Fonts. If type is not outlined or properly embedded, the printer’s machine substitutes something else and your layout reflows without anyone noticing until it is printed.

Resolution. 300dpi at final size. An image that is 300dpi at postcard size is 75dpi blown up to a pull-up banner, and it will look it.

The checklist

Run this against any artwork before sending to a UK printer.

1. Colour mode

  • ☐ File set in CMYK throughout (not RGB)
  • ☐ Spot colours specified by Pantone reference if used
  • ☐ No mixed CMYK/RGB elements (check via Acrobat Output Preview)

2. Bleed and trim

  • ☐ 3mm bleed extending beyond trim edge on all sides
  • ☐ Crop/trim marks included at all four corners
  • ☐ 3mm safe zone: important content not closer than 3mm to trim edge

3. Resolution

  • ☐ All raster images at 300dpi at final print size
  • ☐ Logos in vector format (not stretched PNG)
  • ☐ No images upscaled from low-resolution sources

4. Fonts

  • ☐ All fonts outlined OR embedded in the PDF
  • ☐ No font substitution risk when printer opens the file

5. File format

  • ☐ Saved as PDF/X-1a (most universal) or PDF/X-4 (modern)
  • ☐ File compressed for upload but not lossy
  • ☐ File name follows printer’s naming convention if specified

6. Specifications confirmation

  • ☐ Paper weight (gsm) specified
  • ☐ Finish specified (matte, gloss, soft-touch, spot UV, foil, etc.)
  • ☐ Quantity confirmed
  • ☐ Delivery deadline confirmed

Common UK printer rejection reasons

RGB submission (auto-converted with colour shifts), low-res raster logos, missing bleed, fonts not outlined, wrong file format, oversized file. Each typically incurs a £20-£100 pre-press fee.

If you are handing this to a printer for the first time

Send a PDF/X-1a or PDF/X-4 unless the printer asks for something else, include crop marks and bleed, and ask them to send a proof before the run. A digital proof catches layout problems; a physical proof catches colour. For anything above a few hundred units, the physical proof is worth the delay.

Ask the printer for their spec sheet up front. Most have one, most people never request it, and it removes the guesswork entirely on bleed, safe margins and preferred file format.

Common questions

Can I just send a JPEG? For simple digital jobs, sometimes. For anything with text, no. Type printed from a rasterised JPEG has soft edges compared with vector, and it is immediately visible on business cards.

My designer only sent me a PNG. Is that a problem? For print, usually yes. PNG is a screen format with no CMYK support and no bleed. This is exactly why source files matter: if you do not have vector artwork, it has to be rebuilt. We do that as a fixed-fee file reproduction service.

What about spot colours and Pantones? Only relevant if you are printing litho or need exact brand-colour matching across materials. For most small runs, CMYK is fine and cheaper. If your brand guidelines specify a Pantone, tell the printer before they quote.

Who is responsible if it prints wrong? Whoever supplied the artwork, in almost every case. That is the entire reason this checklist exists. If you would rather not carry that risk, our print design services supply press-ready files as standard.