Adobe Photoshop CS2 — How to set up a postcard file for a commercial printing company

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Below is some help on how to set up your press-ready postcard file when you are using Adobe Photoshop CS2. Whilst the images are from an Apple-Mac, the process is all but identical when you use a PC.

 

 

How to set up a postcard file in Adobe Photoshop

Photoshop is a program that is primarily used for image manipulation. Photoshop is not a program that can create postcard files easily. Nonetheless, if Photoshop is the program that you want to use, or must use, then you can obtain great postcard files, but the program needs to ne 'nudged' or 'forced' a little bit.

This page will help you nudge or force the Photoshop program so you get the high quality postcard file that you want.

 

First, open a new file by choosing File > New (see below).

 

You will be presented withe a dialogue box similar to the below image.

  1. Give your file a name. Commercial printers use the name to trace your job through the production process, so make the name describe what the job actually is. in our example, we will name the job Roslyn House DL Postcard — the postcard is for the Roslyn House Bed & Breakfast establishement, and the job is a DL-sized postcard.
  2. Now enter the size of the postcard. This is where Photoshop needs to be 'nudged' or 'forced' a little bit, so please pay attention. All files MUST have the Width and Height set 6mm lager than the finished product. So, please set your postcards with the following Widths and Heights:
    • A7 postcards — 1111mm wide x 80mm high.
    • A6 postcards — 154mm wide x 111mm high.
    • A5 postcards — 216mm wide x 154mm high.
    • DL postcards — 216mm wide x 105mm high
  3. The Resolution must be AT LEAST 300 ppi.
  4. The Color Mode drop-down menu MUST be set at CMYK.

If all the above numbers and drop-down menu-stuff is correct, then you can click the "OK" button.

 

You will now be presented with a screen similar to the screen shot below. Do not start designing your postcard just yet. There are two more things that you need to do before you start working on your postcard file.

 

The Trim, Bleed and Safety Margin lines must now be placed onto the file. Below is a zoomed-in shot of the top lefthand side of the file.

  • Place your mouse on the TOP ruler and hold down the mouse button. Now drag the mouse down until the mouse is 3mm inside the file (the measurement can be seen on the left hand ruler). This is the top trim line, and this is where your postcard will be trimmed to size after it has been printed.
  • Place your mouse on the TOP ruler again, and hold down the mouse button. Now drag the mouse down until the mouse is 8mm inside the file (the measurement can be seen on the left hand ruler). This is the top Safety Margin line (more about this later).
  • Place your mouse on the LEFTHAND ruler and hold down the mouse button. Now drag the mouse across until the mouse is 3mm inside the file (the measurement can be seen on the top ruler). This is the lefthand trim line, and this is where your postcard will be trimmed to size after it has been printed.
  • Place your mouse on the LEFTHAND ruler again, and hold down the mouse button. Now drag the mouse across until the mouse is 8mm inside the file (the measurement can be seen on the top ruler). This is the lefthand Safety Margin line.
  • Now go down to the bottom right-hand corner, and do the same for that corner.

 

After all the trim and Safety Margin lines are put in place, you should end up with something like the screenshot below, and you can start designing your postcard job on your Photopshop software. However:

  • If you are going to have any background colours or images or text that will go right to the edge of your postcard, then make sure that those background colours or images or text go all the way to the very edge of the file.
  • Make sure that all vital text and images stay within the 8mm Safety Margin line.
  • If you are going to have a white or coloured border on your postcard, then mage sure that everything is inside the 8mm Safety Margin line.

 

Below are two shots of two different postcards that were created on Photoshop.

  • The lefthand postcard is DL-sized, and it has a white border, so all the images and text have been kept inside the 8mm Safety Margin line.
  • The righthand postcard is A6-sized, and it has some background colour that is meant to go to the very edge of the finished postcard. Therefore, the background has been continued right to the very edge of the file. However, the text has remained inside the 8mm Safety Margin line.

    

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

 

Whilst a Photoshop file is accepted by TheOnlinePrinter (and is accepted by most commercial printing companies), Adobe photoshop files can create some problems. Specifically:

  • Photoshop files can be unstable when they are sentt via the Internet;
  • Photoshop files are almost always large file; and
  • The fonts that you use on your Photoshop file might look great, but your commercial printing company might not be licenced to use the fonts that you used.

Given the abovementioned issues, TheOnlinePrinter suggests that you should outline all the text (it is called Convert to Shapes), as this solves any font issue, and you should convert your Adobe Photoshop file to a PDF.

 

How to convert text to outlines on an Adobe Photoshop postcard file

Choose Select > All Layers (see below).

Choose Layer > Type > Convert to Shape (see below).

All the text is now outlined, and there will not be any problem with your printing company not having a licence to use the fonts that you have used.

You should now Save your file.

 

How to convert an Adobe Photoshop postcard file to a PDF

This is just so easy.

  • Choose File > Save As, and you will then be presented with a dialogue box like the one below.
  • Make sure that the Format drop-down menu is set at Photoshop PDF (see below).
  • Then click the Save button.

 

You should now come to the Save Adobe PDF dialogue box that is shown below, and the General tab in the lefthand list should be highlighted in blue. Make sure that the Adobe PDF Preset dropdown menu at the top of the dialogue box is set at Press Quality. Once it is, then click the Compression tab in the lefthand list.

 

The Compression tag should now be blue, and the Save Adobe PDF dialogue box should like the below image. Make sure that the Options box has Bicubic Downsampling to in the drop-down menu, and make sure that the numbers are 300 pixels/inch and 450 pixels/inch. Once this is done, click the Save PDF button.

You now have a press-ready PDF that you can send to your printer, and the fonts will not be a problem for anyone.