Illustrator CS3 — How to set up a letterhead file for a commercial printing company

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This page describes, and uses many images to show, how to set up a letterhead file for a commercial printing company when you are using Adobe's Illustrator CS3 program. You are then shown how to create a press-ready PDF to send to your commercial printer.

 

Setting up an Adobe Illustrator CS3 file for letterhead

This page is based upon an Apple-Mac. However, if you are using a PC, then the story wil be much the same.

 

To start, you must open a new file, and you must choose: "File" > "New" (see below).

 

You will then get a dialogue box similar to the below screen shot, and you will have to fill in some information:

  1. Give you file a name, and please make it a meaningful name that describes who the job is for, and what type of job it is. The job we are creating on this example will be a new letterhead for TheOnlinePrinter, so the name of the job is "TheOnlinePrinter Letterhead". Almost all commercial printing compnaies use the name of the file to track it along the production process, so please name the Adobe Illustrator letterhead file correctly (e.g.: the name of the company and the word "letterhead").
  2. You need to have the size of the file.
    • The drop-down menu should have A4. Given A4 is almost the universal size for letterhead (the USA excepted), just select A4. If A4 does not appear, then fill in the Width and Height boxes. A4 measures 210 wide x 297 high.
    • If you want A5 letterhead, then the measurements are 148mm wide x 210mm high.
  3. The Color Mode that TheOnlinePrinter uses is CMYK, so make sure that CMYK is selected from the Color Mode drop-down menu. If your printer uses RGB or Greyscale, then select those boxes.
  4. Raster Effects is the resolution of the file. TheOnlinePrinter requires Illustrator files that are set at 300 dots per inch (or 300dpi or 300 ppi).

 Once the above four matters are fixed, you can click the OK button.

You will be presented with a screen similar to the below screen shot. The black box is you document, and this will be the finished size. To zoom in on your document, or part of your file, hold down "Windows" and press "+" on a PC, or "Apple" and "+"  on an Applle-Mac.

To correctly configure your Illustrator file you must create some Safety Margin and Bleed lines. To get these in the right place, you need some rulers, and the next image shows how to do this.

 

To place some rulers on your Adobe Illustrator file, you simple choose "View" > "Show Rulers" (see below screen shot).

 

The rulers will be created on the left side and at the top of the Illustrator page.

 

You now place the Bleed and Safety Margin lines onto your Illustrator file (Bleed and Safety Margin lines will be explained in detail a bit later). To place these lines onto you page, we suggest you "blow up" the Illustrator file so that you can read the ruler in single numbers (i.e.: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, .. ), and place the Bleed and Safety Margin lines in one corner at a time — we have started with the top left corner of the document (use "Windows" and "+" or "Apple" and "+" to zoom in). This is shown in the below screeon shot.

The verical bleed line is placed 3mm outside the document, and to place this you simple place your mouse in the left-hand ruler, hold down the mouse, drag the mouse out until the vertical line is on the 3mm mark outside on the top ruler, and let go. To place the horizontal bleed line its place, simple drag the mouse from the top ruler, and stop when the line measures 3mm outside on the left hand ruler. This is shown in the below screeon shot.

The verical Safety Margin line is placed 5mm inside the document, and to place this you simple place your mouse in the left-hand ruler, hold down the mouse, drag the mouse out until the vertical line is on the 5mm inside on the top ruler, and let go. To place the horizontal bleed line its place, simple drag the mouse from the top ruler, and stop when the line measures 5mm inside on the left hand ruler. This is shown in the below screeon shot.

You then scroll down to the bottom right of the document, and do the same again. 

 

 

If you zoom out (use "Windows" and "-" or "Apple" and "-" to zoom out), your screen should look a bit like the below image.

 

 

 You can now place all your text and artwork in the Illustrator file. But when you do, please make sure that:

  • All images, text and bachground colours that are supposed to go to the very edge of the letterhead must, in fact, continue all the way out to the bleed lines; and
  • All images and text that are vital (e.g.: name and address) must always stay inside the Safety Margin line.

The below image is TheOnlinePrinter's new letterhead. As you will see, all the background colours continue past the edge of the page, all the way to the bleed line; and the important text is inside the Safety Margin line.

Save your file.

 

Creating a press-ready letterhead PDF using Illustrator CS3 for a commercial printing company

Fonts are almost always some type of probelm with printing. You might have aparticular font,a nd you might be licenced to use that font; and, your commerial printer might be able to use that font on a PDF, but often we do not have the font. this can be a problem if we have to correct the file in some way.

The best way to completely resolve any problems that might come with fonts is to outline all your text, and this is a very simple process.

First, choose "Select" > "All". This will highlight each and every part of your Illustrator letterhead file.

 

 

 

The below image has every bit of the Illustrator letterhead file selected — the parts are bordered by thin blue lines, and that measn they parts have been highlighted.

 

 

 Next, choose "Type" > "Create Outlines".

 

You can see in the below image that there is blue everywhere. This is the outlining process — it has been a success and the commercial printer is not going to have any problems with the fonts.

 

 

Now, the best to create the press-ready letterhead PDF for your commercial printer is to "Save" your file as a PDF — choose "File" > "Save As".

 

You will be presented with the save dialogue box. First, name the file. Second, select Adobe PDF from the Format drop-down menu at the bottom of the save dialogue box (see below).

 

 

 Choose "Press Quality" from the Adobe PDF Preset drop-down menu (see below). it is handy, but essential, to tick the "Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities" box.

 

Next, click the Compression tag that is just under the General tag on the left of the dialogue box. Make sure that the Color Bitmap Images and Greyscale Bitmap Images boxes are set at 300 ppi and 450ppi (see below), and the Monochrome Bitmap Images box is set at 1200 and 1800 (see below).

 

Lastly, click the Marks and Bleeds tag that is just under the Compression tag on the left of the dialogue box. The only marks that TheOnlinePrinter wants are the trim marks. So, tick the Trim Marks box, and set ALL the bleeds at 3mm.

You can now save your file, and send it to your commercial printer.