Photoshop - How to create a business card file for a commercial printer

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What appears below is just a brief description on how to prepare an Adobe Photoshop business card file for a commercial printer.

If you want to ensure that your business card will be exactly what you want, then have a read of our How to Prepare Your Files page — that page has a lot more information on what to do (e.g.: grammar, folding, etc).

This page is set up for customers whom use an Apple-Mac, but those of you using PCs will find the process almost the same.

 

Create a New Document

Click on "File", then choose on "New" (File > New)

You will be presented with an image similar to the one below.

DO NOT create the document with the correct size. You must allow for the possibility of bleeds, so make the document 6mm larger than you need.

Business cards are 90mm x 55mm, so please set up your Photoshop business card file at 96mm x 61mm.

TheOnlinePrinter is a CMYK printer, so choose the "CMYK Color" mode - DO NOT choose RGB — the colour mode is a very important matter, so have a look and check that the colour mode is correct.

 

Bleed Lines and Safety Margin Lines

The below image is how a business card file should be set up for bleeds and safety margin lines when using Photoshop. You will note that:

  • The file is 6mm larger than the normal size of a business card;
  • There is room for a 3mm bleed on each edge; and
  • All important text and logos are kept inside a safety margin (5mm from where the card will be trimmed, and 8mm in from the edge of the file).

 

Resolution

Pictures and images that are found on the worldwide web are normally useless for printing — DO NOT USE THEM. Almost all of those images have a resolution of 72 dots per inch (72dpi or 72 pixels per inch), and they result in blurred or 'pixelated' images being printed.

If you want a 100% professional-looking business card, then all of your images must be at least 300dpi at the final output size.

Never change a low resolution image to a higher one by changing the dpi in your imaging software — you cannot change a 72dpi image into a crisp and clear 300dpi image, all you will create is a blurred image that is set at 300dpi.

 

Be careful with Rich Black

Do NOT use Photoshop's default Rich Black at all. Photoshop's default black is great for webpages and other electronic presentations, but it is not very good on printed jobs.

If you use Photoshop's default black, then your job has a very good chance of suffering misregistration — the job might print in a blotchy way and might look dreadful.

If you are going to have your job printed digitally, then do not use "Rich Black", as it can produce a somewhat mottled appearance. We suggest that 100% "K" (i.e.: 100% back) should be sufficient if you order a Fast Digital product.

If you are ordering a Discount Priced product, then we suggest you do use "Rich Black", and your setting for Rick Black should be:

  • Cyan 70%
  • Magenta 40%
  • Yellow 15%
  • "K" (Black) 100%.

 

Flatten Artwork

Design your artwork as you normally would, but please keep the 'bleeds' issue in mind when you do.
With your artwork at its final stage, flatten your image (if you used layers), by choosing the 'Layers' drop down menu, and select 'Flatten Image'.

 

Save Your Photoshop File

When you save your file, make sure you give your file a new name. If you do not, then you will NOT be able to edit it at a later time.

So, your file is saved and you can send it to us to be printed.

 

PDF Files

TheOnlinePrinter prefers receiving PDFs. If you want to know how to make a PDF from a Photoshop file, then go to our "Converting Photoshop files to PDFs" help page.