Our website features a tailor-made artwork upload tool. The tool will work with all web browsers that support JavaScript. To access the artwork upload tool, simply click on the ‘Artwork Uploader’ tab at the top of the website. If you have placed your order through our website, you already have an account, so if you are not signed in, the system will ask you for your email and password.

To upload an artwork via your account on printdesigns.com:

• Go to your account’s dashboard and click on an “Upload” button located next to your order number.
• Click on “Add files” button on a panel which will appear below the list of your recent orders.
• When you’ve added all your files, click the bright orange “Upload Your Files” button below the list of the files. This will start the upload process which you can track using progress bars.
• Once the transfer(s) has been completed, you will be notified with a message on the screen. We will promptly check your artwork and verify, if it’s suitable for printing.

We will contact you to let you know when your artwork has been received and reviewed.

If for any reason you are not able to upload your files using our dedicated uploader, you can use one of the following methods:

Uploading via YouSendIt.com

You can upload then via www.yousendit.com free of charge. Just send the file to artwork@printdesigns.com and in your message reference your order number or company name. Don’t worry about using any of the extra services you have to pay for, these are not neccessary.

Uploading via our FTP server

For files of any size, you can upload your artwork using our FTP server. Our dedicated server will allow connections from any FTP software or web browser.

Enter: http://printdesigns.synology.me into your web browser

Username:    ftpc

Password:    monday679

You will have guest access to create new folders and upload files. Please create a folder with your company name, order number of job reference and drop the files into that folder.

Be sure to email us at sales@printdesigns.com to let us know when your files are sent.

If you don’t have the facilities to upload via FTP, you can always post a disk to us at the address below. We strongly recommend you use recorded or special delivery as first class post can sometimes be unreliable. Please label all disks clearly and enclose an SAE if you require the disk to be returned. We do not keep disks so please make a back up before you send it especially if it is the only copy in existence.

Pantone or spot colours are normally used by lithographic or screen printers when printing items with a limited number of colours (for example a letterhead, or stationary). Pantone ink is purchased by the printer who then creates a screen or plate specifically for that colour ink.

We use a CMYK (full colour) process of printing rather than a spot colour method. With a CMYK print process, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black are mixed by layering ink on top of each other to create a full-colour image. Sometimes other colours like light cyan and light magenta are also used to improve print quality.

We cannot guarantee to match all Pantone colours because some Pantone’s contain pigments that push the colour outside of the spectrum of colours available with CMYK inks.

An example would be Pantone 021 orange which is a very bright, almost neon colour. It is impossible to get a close match to this colour with CMYK printing because the colour is too bright.

There are many other colours in the Pantone spectrum that are relatively easy to match but also some that are impossible to closely match. Pantone sell a solid to process guide book which is useful because the Pantone colour is shows next to the nearest CMYK colour as two separate colour chips. If you can access a Pantone solid to process guide book then you can see at a glance how closely your pantone colour can be matched with a CMYK printing process.

All artwork supplied should be set as CMYK colour mode, not Pantone spot colour. If you do not have a Pantone solid to process guide book and need some advice as to the best CMYK colour value to use in the artwork, please call and we can help.

If you have very precise colour matching requirements for your artwork then we recommend purchasing a reduced-scale hard copy proof prior to printing the finished article. The cost is £20 and includes delivery of the proof to a mainland UK address.

If you are designing your artwork at a reduced scale (say half or quarter size) then the resolution of the artwork needs to be increased proportionally so that when the file is blown-up for printing, the quality is high enough to allow for it.

So, if setting your artwork at half size then double the resolution to 300dpi or if setting the artwork at quarter size then quadruple the resolution to 600dpi!

What if my image is not big enough for 150dpi output at full size?

When printing images at very large sizes, it is not uncommon that the original file be unavailable at a large enough size to provide 150dpi output and this does not mean that you cannot use the image! In fact much smaller images can sometimes be OK for print.

Bear in mind factors that determine if the image is acceptable:-

1. The viewing distance of the image (how closely it will be examined)
2. The content of the image itself (does it contain lots of intricate detail or is it a more abstract image).

Most displays have a viewing distance of at least a couple of Metres and so a large background image need not contain pin-sharp detail. If the image is abstract or does not contain precise detail then you can ‘get away’ with using a smaller image.

If your image is small then you can up-sample it in an application like Photoshop which increases the image size by splitting the pixels (interpolating) into more pixels. A byproduct of this process is the image can become ‘softer’ and it is therefore a good idea to zoom-in on the picture at approximately finished size on screen and then stand back from the display to gain an impression of what the printed result would be like.

If you have concerns about image quality then let us know about it when you submit your artwork and one of our team can take a look for you.

• Adobe Photoshop
• Adobe Indesign
• Adobe Illustrator
• Quark XPress

We also accept generic artwork formats including:-

• JPG
• TIFF
• EPS
• PDF
• BMP
• PNG

When supplying artwork from the original design package (for example an Adobe Indesign file), it is important to send over all linked images and fonts as well as the Adobe Indesign document itself.

If you are exporting artwork from a design package into a generic format such as PDF then there is generally no need to supply artwork components such as images and fonts separately unless you need us to re-open and edit the file for you.

Most people would typically supply us with the exported generic file rather than the original artwork file and links.