Design and architecture studios usually have brand guidelines already in place — a logo, a colour palette, maybe a type system. The part that trips people up isn't having a brand identity, it's translating it correctly across formats as different as a business card, a letterhead, an engraved plaque and a large-format sign. This checklist covers what to prepare before sending artwork for any item in your studio's printing package.
File Formats: Vector vs Raster
Vector files (AI, EPS, or a PDF saved with vector artwork) scale to any size without losing quality, because they're built from mathematical paths rather than pixels. Raster files (JPG, PNG, TIFF) are made of a fixed grid of pixels and lose sharpness when enlarged beyond their native resolution. For logos, always send a vector version if one exists — it's the single biggest factor in how sharp your branding looks across different formats and sizes. If your logo only exists as a raster file, send the largest, highest-resolution version you have and flag it, since it may limit how large it can be reproduced cleanly.
Resolution for Print
For anything printed (business cards, letterheads, folders), raster elements like photographs or textured backgrounds should be at least 300 dpi at the final printed size. An image that looks fine at a small size on a screen can look noticeably soft once printed at a larger physical dimension — resolution needs are based on the output size, not the file's appearance on a monitor.
Bleed and Safe Margins
Bleed is the extra artwork extending past the final trim edge, used so that colour or imagery running to the edge of a card, folder, or letterhead doesn't leave a thin white line after cutting. Keep any text or logo elements inside a safe margin away from the trim edge, since slight variation in cutting is normal in production. If you're designing in-house rather than sending finished files, ask what bleed and safe margin to build in before starting the layout.
Colour Mode: CMYK vs RGB
Design work is usually created and viewed in RGB (the colour model screens use), but print production works in CMYK. Colours can shift, sometimes noticeably, when converted from RGB to CMYK, particularly bright blues, greens and some brand-specific colours. Where your studio has an exact brand colour, provide the CMYK values (or a Pantone reference) rather than relying on an RGB or hex code translating automatically. This matters most for anything where consistency across multiple printed items — cards, letterhead, folders — needs to match precisely.
What to Send for Engraving vs. Printing
Engraved acrylic plaques and signage work differently to printed materials: engraving typically reproduces line art, text and simple logo marks rather than full-colour imagery or photographic detail, since the process cuts or etches rather than applying ink. Send a clean, vector version of any logo or text intended for engraving, ideally simplified to clear outlines rather than a complex multi-layer design. If your logo has fine detail, gradients, or very thin line weights, it's worth checking whether it will translate well to an engraved format before finalising the layout — some simplification is often needed compared to the printed version of the same mark.
Preparing Multi-Item Sets
When ordering several items together — say, business cards, letterhead and a presentation folder — keep a single master file for your logo, colour values and any secondary graphic elements, and reference it consistently across every item's artwork rather than recreating it from scratch each time. This is the simplest way to avoid small inconsistencies (a slightly different blue, a stretched logo) creeping in between pieces that are meant to match.
Before You Send Anything
- Logo saved as a vector file where possible, or the highest-resolution raster version available
- Brand colours specified as CMYK or Pantone values, not just RGB or hex codes
- Any photos or textured artwork at 300 dpi minimum at final print size
- Bleed and safe margins built into layouts, or confirmed with us before you design them
- A simplified, vector version of your logo ready for anything being engraved
This checklist covers file preparation specifically. For guidance on which items to prioritise for your studio and how they fit together, see the interior design and architecture studio printing package.
