Help!

NOTE: Crop marks and colour bars are NOT needed; 1mm of bleed will be assumed on jobs that are "cut to colour" i.e. for an A4 job with colour to edge then the file would be 299 mm x 212 mm, if size is critical please state in “special instructions”.

Q. At what sort of quantities are you most cost effective?
A. Because we use digital presses we are able to offer much better value on relatively short-run jobs (typically up to 1000 SRA3 sheets) than traditional offset printers. However, even for larger jobs than this, if time is a factor, the use of digital presses, aligned with our advanced workflow system, mean we are able to turn work around more quickly than an offset printer could.

Q. Is the quality of your digital print as good as offset?
A. There are two answers to this question! The short answer is "usually, yes". However, the longer answer would say that no digital print is as good as the best offset. Our digital is about as good as it gets and will be as good as the best offset on most jobs. Where all digital machines fall short of offset is in the reproduction of certain specific Pantones and tints. Plain text, photographs, simple solids, etc., are usually excellent. We always suggest that before you start to use our service you order a free sample.

Q. What is the estimated delivery time for all orders?
A. In most cases orders placed before 5pm will be dispatched next working day by 24hr courier service. However, lamination, large jobs and/or complicated finishing may require up to 2 extra days. If your job is URGENT then we may be able to dispatch same day however that will depend on the job specifications / time of order & our workload - please contact us before placing your order & we will advise whether same day dispatch is possible.

Q. How are delivery charges calculated?
A. In all cases the delivery charges we apply are intended only to cover the costs of packaging and sending out your orders by next day courier service (based on UK delivery).- £7 per order basket up to 10Kg + 50p per Kg thereafter (approx.)

Q. Do you do any other paper types than the ones listed?
A. Yes. The Standard & Special papers listed are the ones we hold in stock. If there is a specific paper type you would like to use please contact us.

Q. Can you print specific Pantone colours?
A. Unlike offset printers, who can use specific inks to match specific colours, we use digital presses which means that all our printing is done using a combination of CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and blacK) dry inks ("toner"). So while we can get close to specified colours, and can consistently reproduce that colour, we can not guarantee an exact match.

Q. What format do my files have to be in?
A. We currently only accept PDF files (version 1.3). Standard account settings require (& the system checks) that files be v1.3. This restriction can which are not v1.3. Also ALL fonts must be FULLY embedded, embedding multiple subsets of fonts can lead to font substitutions

Q: Why must pdfs be saved at version 1.3?
A: PDF versions higher than 1.3 contain information to allow, for example, some editing of the pdf, along with many other features. Some of this information can interfere with the printing process. We recommend that if you are in any doubt you use the “preflight” option in Adobe Acrobat to confirm your settings. (Tools > Print Production > Preflight > Digital Press (Colour)).

Q. What page size do you print on?
A. All Non-laminated jobs are printed on SRA3 (450x320mm).

Q. What is the maximum printable area on the SRA3 sheet?
A. There is an un-printable margin of 7mm on all edges + 4mm on each short edge for job details slugline. Therefore the maximum printed area is 428x306mm.

Q. What size is the maximum area that can be laminated?<
A. Laminated jobs are printed on oversize paper (460 x 320mm). The lamination process requires a 15mm lead and tail edge, so the maximum area that can be laminated is 428x306mm.

Q. I’m having trouble with my order, can you help?.
A. Absolutely! The website is designed to allow regular customers to quickly process orders. If your job is complex, or if you are unsure about how to use the site please contact us & we can place your order for you. If this FAQ section hasn’t helped, please check the other help sections or contact us.

We strongly recommend that all pdfs are version 1.3 (with all fonts embedded & layers / transparencies flattened). By default, all customer accounts are set to require v1.3 pdfs. i.e. our system checks the pdf version when files are uploaded. Individual accounts can have this requirement removed by request. The reason for this requirement is to ensure that what we print is the same as what you see on your screen. We can print from any PDF version. However, versions higher than 1.3 can contain live transparencies & layers (to allow for editing). These items can cause inconsistencies. Version 1.3 pdfs do not allow these items & so if they are not present, they cannot therefore interfere with printing! Before printing your job we print a proof. This proof is reviewed for obvious print issues & to ensure that there will be no issues when we come to finish a job. It is not always possible to spot an issue related to layers/ transparencies & therefore if a pdf is not v1.3 then we cannot accept any responsibility whatsoever for print inconsistencies.

Please pay careful attention to all on-screen instructions when ordering. You are also strongly encouraged to read our FAQs (essential for PDF settings), the terms of our Guarantee, and our Terms and Conditions before placing an order. You proceed at your own risk if you fail to do so, as you should assume that your job will go directly from your desktop to our presses. If you require us to set a job up for you, please be aware that this may take additional time, and may incur a small additional charge. Files must be saved as version 1.3 PDFs to go through the system without intervention. See “PDF Versions” for more info. Finishing options include matt and gloss lamination, trimming, creasing, folding, and stapling. We also offer Wirebinding and Unibinding options.

We've worked hard to make this site as simple to use as possible (but we're always happy to get improvement suggestions). Briefly here's how it works.

Quotes and Registration

Anyone can generate quotes, without signing in or registering. If you want to take things further - save a job, upload a file, etc. - you'll need to register, and then log in every time you use the site. Your information will not be sold or passed on to anyone else, although we may use it to let you know about other services we offer.

The Three Parts To A Job

1. A description of what you want done (quantity, paper, finishing, etc.)
2. A file to print.
3. Payment..

1. Describing Jobs & Lay Up Options

The Jobs Screen is where you tell us exactly what you want. Please pay attention to all the options, as we can't take responsibility for any mistakes you make here. Page sizes can be approximate, as they will be corrected when you assign a file to the job. (Significant discrepancies may effect your quote). Our systems can handle laying up jobs, but you need to tell us exactly what you are sending and how you want it laid up (as simple as telling us that it is a 4-page PDF, portrait, that you want to fold at the left). The system will also arrange jobs on a page so that the most economical use of paper is made (so if you upload a 2-page business card or postcard, it will place as many as it can on a sheet of paper). If you add bleed or crop marks on your jobs, you need to be aware that we print the files as we receive them, unless you tell us otherwise. This can mean that bleed on an edge that is going to be butted up against another page won't work. In those cases, we can lay the jobs up for you manually. Also, excessive bleed may impact the number of sheets of paper we need to print your job. Again, we can help with this.

2. Uploading Files

You can upload as many files as you want for any job, but only one file (which must be a PDF) can be submitted with the job. This means if you have several files that need to be combined, or changed to PDF from a different format, you can upload your files and our operators can do the work of creating your PDF. Once you have uploaded one or more files, you must identify the one you wish to use. Our system will check the file and let you know if there are any issues See our FAQs for more details about the files we accept.

3. Placing An Order

When you are happy that your job is set up correctly, simply add the job to your basket. Go to your Job Basket when you are ready to place an order, and follow the instructions from there.. Unless individual jobs are large enough to warrant their own delivery charge (based on weight) a standard basket charge will cover packaging and delivery of all the jobs in your basket. Payment is handled through Paypal, and can be completed with your Paypal account or almost any credit or debit card.

When An Order Is Placed

Once you place an order, the files, with their associated job descriptions, are quickly brought into our in-house system. Jobs will be automatically checked for any discrepancies. They will then go straight into the print queues for our state-of-the-art digital printing presses. As soon as they have been printed and any finishing done, our excellent dispatch staff will send them to you by 24 hour courier.

We have been supplying digital print for almost 20 years using a variety of equipment and our staff have a combined experience in the print industry of over 50 years! Given this experience we can honestly say that the results that can be achieved using digital printing can be excellent. The key to getting the best results from digital print is design however, designing for digital requires some understanding of the benefits and limitations of all digital presses! We believe that digital print should not be seen as a direct replacement for offset printing. The following advice is just that; advice. It is not intended to be all-encompassing and it is massively simplified!

PDFs:

Like all digital presses our machines print from PDFs. In simple terms, when you use a desktop printer (inkjet or laser) to print a PDF it reproduces what you see on your monitor. A production digital press uses all of the information recorded within the pdf to provide a highly accurate representation of your requirements. For this reason, correct production of your print-ready PDF is critical. Your PDF should be version 1.3, however before creating your PDF you need to "flatten" all original artwork. Depending on how you generate your original artwork you may have "layers" & "transparencies" in your artwork. Flattening your artwork creates 1 layer that can then be used to create a PDF that will print accurately.

Colour:

From experience there are 2 main issues around colour. Firstly, the colour you see on your monitor is not necessarily the colour that will be printed and secondly, we cannot adjust the colour of the job you send us. Both of these issues are easily fixed at the design stage. You should always work in CMYK & if you have a Pantone colour chart be guided by that when selecting colours rather than by what you see on your screen. If you do not have a colour chart we are happy to provide one!

Flat Fields and Gradients:

Flat Fields are simply large printed areas of 1 solid colour (made up of various percentages of CMYK). Because of the way digital presses lay down colour onto the page, flat fields can have slight lines or "streaks". The eye is very sensitive to these however there are 2 simple solutions to this problem. The first is to avoid large areas of solid colours. The second is to put a pattern into your solid area. The pattern does not prevent the lines but as they are so slight the pattern means that the eye does not recognise them! Gradients (i.e. tints or colours that fade from one contrast or colour to another) are not always as smooth as they appear on a screen - depending on the software & settings used to produce them. We recommend printing a proof copy before going to production!