Please refer to this page before starting you artwork.

Artwork should be electronically stored to the same size to fit in the print area of the item selected in any of the following formats:-

Corel Draw (v10 or less)
EPS for PC
AI for PC
Normally '.gif' or '.jpg' files are not good enough, but if this is all you have they must be 600 dpi or better

All text MUST be converted to curves.
Artwork not supplied in these formats will be subject to a £25.00 conversion charge

Further information on the differences between printing methods and explanation of some of the terms used on this page can be found in the Frequently Asked Questions.

CD-ROMs
DVDs
1.44Mb floppy disk
email to artwork@maximpression.co.uk (small files only, max 2.5Mb)

All digital artwork is virus checked on receipt. Any artwork found to contain a virus will be returned to you for replacement. We will not use contaminated artwork.

The resolution for Spot, Pad and Four colour printing is 300 dpi.

Please use your company name and a description as the file title, for example, acme_ltd_hardtop_mousemats.psd

Always label disks with return address and job title.

If sending your artwork by post or courier, do not send the original copy of your artwork, only send a copy, but keep the original close to hand.

Please only send the final, complete version of your artwork (if producing the artwork on behalf of a client please receive client sign-off before sending the artwork to us).

Please refer to the individual product pages on this website for the print area of your artwork. Where printing goes right to the edge of the product (for example most mousemats and domed badges) please add a bleed of 3 mm to all sides of the artwork. Please do not place text within 10mm of that area.

Text should be at least 10 points in size or larger if the font has intricate elements.

We do not recommend placing borders around artwork as this magnifies the appearance that the final product looks off printed, when the product is actually well within manufacturing tolerances.

We reserve the right to make a charge for time spent bringing unusable artwork up to specification (for example, redrawing from 72dpi to 300dpi) the charge is £25 +VAT per hour, we will notify and require approval before commencing on any work).

Please include a printout (hardcopy) of your artwork, preferably by laser and in colour, clearly marked with Pantone colour/s. Print-outs should be supplied from the final file on disk, not earlier versions.

Any scanned images must be at 600dpi (CMYK), remember, low-resolution scans give poor results.

On our Order Form please specify all of the Pantone colour(s) in your artwork.

Detailed information:

1 to 3 Spot colour Screen & Pad Printing:

Large areas of very fine detail (particularly if reversed out) do not screen print well; these are common causes of disappointment and should be avoided. On Pad Printing, tints will incur the 4 colour process printing charges.

Difficult but registers of colours of similar intensity should be avoided. Designs with very tight registration, e.g. concentric circles or drop shadows, will require printing by Four colour (offset litho).

You should supply the completed design in a format that we can accept, ready for output. All pictures should be in place as high-resolution CMYK scans. We cannot work from RGB. Low-resolution scans give poor results.

The traditional standard for acceptable mechanical artwork that is "camera-ready black and white" material

Most images created with tools such as Adobe Illustrator and CorelDraw are in the form of vector image files. Vector image files are easier to modify than raster image files. (which can, however, sometimes be reconverted to vector files for further refinement) Another way to look at it is that every pixel in the image has an X and a Y axis, this allows easy resizing without loss of quality.

Images are exactly what their name says they are: a collection of bits that form an image. The image consists of a matrix of individual dots (or pixels) that all have their own colour (described using bits, the smallest possible units of information for a computer). Unless these are in very large sized resolution (600 DPI or better), they are unusable in the printing process.

The font files and document preferences that need to be supplied for use on the supplier’s end in case they do not have a rare or special font that you would like to use.

A collection of structures that store a picture in a device- independent format. Device independence is the one feature that sets metafiles apart from bitmaps. Unlike a bitmap, a metafile guarantees device independence. There is a drawback to metafiles, because they are generally drawn more slowly than bitmaps. Therefore, if an application requires fast drawing and device independence is not an issue, it should use bitmaps instead of metafiles.

Adobe® Portable Document Format preserve the visually rich content of original files, and are easier to read than HTML content that appears in a Web browser. Adobe PDF files print cleanly and quickly, and anyone can share Adobe PDF files, regardless of their platform or software application. This is good to show the end result you would like, but usually not good for sending artwork that needs to be printed.

Tagged Image File Format file: A file format for exchanging bitmapped images between different applications.

Encapsulated Postscript file: An alternative picture file format that allows PostScript data to be stored and edited and is easy to transfer between Macintosh, Windows machines, and other systems.

Adobe Illustrator File, the very best in quality to recreate your artwork in the printing process.

Commonly used on the web due to it's excellent ability to compress the graphic to save webpage load time. This format will not work for use in the printing process.

Commonly used on the web due to it's ability to reduce the number of colours an image uses to be viewed to save webpage load time. This format will not work for use in the printing process.

A low resolution Image format. This format will not work for use in the printing process.

Word document files can only be used if you would like to display typset text. Any images in a word doc will not be able to be printed correctly.

As a general rule, if it can be viewed on the web it will most likely be too low of quality for printing. Web graphics are made to load quickly, thereby cutting the quality of the image. The eye may not notice on the web, but it will show up in printing.

FAILURE TO FOLLOW THESE GUIDELINES MAY RESULT IN DELAYS AND INCUR EXTRA COSTS. ORDERS ARE ONLY ACCEPTED ON THE UNDERSTANDING THAT ALL OF THESE GUIDELINES ARE FOLLOWED