5 Artwork errors in Large format printing

Here at Vi we have a brilliant design team that are dedicated to precision, creativity, originality and high quality of service. On a daily basis they creatively solve problems and create stunning works of art for the walls of our customers but they also correct the errors in our customer's artwork.

One of the things that increases price and slows down our production time is dealing with artwork errors, this is frustrating for both our customers and us; no one likes waiting around.

So here are the 5 most common errors that we encounter in logo artwork that we are sent by customers that costs everyone time and money.

1. Misspelling CutContour

When a cut line is added into a file it has to be given a specific name for our cutting equipment to be able to register it. The swatch on this layer must be named exactly as written in in the title of this section and yes it is case sensitive. It may seem like a minor issue but without this being correct the artwork does not get cut down to shape which for most of our projects means a total disaster.

2. Not making the CutContour swatch a spot colour

For the same reason as above the colour type for this layer must be a spot colour. Our equipment does not pick up any other colour type and without this information our cutting machine simply will not cut.

3. Not sizing artwork correctly before preparing to print

When setting up artwork for large format printing the first line of business is to size it up to the exact scale that you need it produced in. If you want your logo produced 232.5 cm wide then scale your artwork to 232.5cm wide. It sounds simple but this is an easy mistake to make.

4. Not setting up your artwork on 3 layers

That’s right folks, not 1, not 2 but 3 layers. You are going to need a print, a bleed and a Cut layer in your artwork and they still need be in 3 separate layers by the time we get our hands on it. If they are on a single layer then the artwork is unusable.

5. Messy bleed layers

This is the most technical of all the common mistakes and it is definitely the most time consuming to fix. Particularly when gradients and complex intersecting shapes come into play there is a high risk of the bleed being set up incorrectly and it is not as simple as having a larger version of your print layer set up in the background. Correcting this can take considerable time and incur significant cost so it is well worth getting right the first time.

If you need any further assistance in setting up artwork for large format printing then you can check out the video we made...

If that isn’t enough guidance for you then fear not; our design team is always at hand to sort out your artwork for production so if you would sooner pay the professionals to do it for you then we are here to help.

So now you have all the information you need to set up your artwork to print why not put it into practice and get a custom printed logo for your office space.