Reference
Printing guides
Short, plain-language guides to the concepts that decide whether a print comes out right. Read them before sending anything to a commercial printer or printing a long run at home.
Guides
Pick a topic
What is bleed?
The extra 3 mm of artwork beyond the trim that prevents white edges after cutting.
What is the safe area?
Where your text and logos must stay so they survive imperfect trimming.
What DPI should you use?
A practical guide to 72, 150, 300 and 600 DPI and when each is appropriate.
How to print at actual size
Disabling "Fit to page" so rulers and templates print accurately.
PDF vs SVG for printing
When each format works best and how they compare for vector print files.
Common printing mistakes
Wrong DPI, no bleed, low-contrast text — and how to avoid them.
RGB vs CMYK
Why a print never matches the monitor, why converters disagree, and what to send instead.
Fit to page vs actual size
What each scaling option really does, and where the 3–6% shrink comes from.
Turn off Fit to page permanently
Three layers can apply scaling. Fix the wrong one and it comes back.
Why prints get cut off
Four causes, told apart by which part of the page went missing.