We’ve all been there. You’ve spent weeks tweaking a design, the client has finally signed it off, and you’re under pressure to hit a tight campaign launch date. With a sigh of relief, you drag the PDF into the printer’s upload box, hit submit, and close your laptop.

But then, a cold sweat hits you. Did you export it with bleed? Was that image in RGB or CMYK? Are the fonts actually embedded, or is your beautifully chosen bespoke serif typeface about to revert to a generic default on a thousand printed brochures?

Sending artwork to print shouldn’t feel like pulling the pin on a hand grenade and hoping for the best. For marketing agencies, artwork mistakes are more than just an annoyance, they are expensive, reputation-damaging disasters. When a campaign goes live with blurry logos or cropped copy, it’s your agency’s name on the line.

At Print Lord, we believe that buying print should be easy, straightforward, and entirely drama-free. We see hundreds of files every week, and while our team acts as proactive brand guardians to catch errors before they hit the press, we want to empower your studio team to get it right first time.

Before you click upload, run your design files through these ten essential questions. Consider this your agency’s ultimate pre-flight checklist.

1. Have you included bleed, and is it set to 3mm?

If there is one thing that keeps printers awake at night, it’s bleed. Bleed is the extra area of your design that extends beyond the final cut line of the document. When paper is printed and cut to size, even the most sophisticated guillotine can shift by a fraction of a millimetre. If your artwork stops exactly at the edge of the page, any slight shift will leave a glaring white border along the edge.
Standard practice is to add a 3mm bleed to all edges. If you’re unsure how to set this up in your design software, take a look at our cornerstone resource, ‘The Complete Artwork Preparation Guide’, which breaks it down step-by-step.

2. Is the colour mode CMYK or RGB?

This is a classic trap for digital designers moving into offline work. Screens show colours using light, which is RGB (Red, Green, Blue). Printing presses apply ink to paper, which requires CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Key Black).
If you send an RGB file to print, our systems will automatically convert it, but the results might surprise you. Neon greens and vibrant blues that popped on your monitor can look flat, muddy, and dull when converted to ink. Always design in CMYK from the start, or convert and manually adjust your colours before exporting.

3. Is the resolution at least 300dpi?

An image that looks perfectly crisp on your client’s presentation deck might look like a blocky, pixelated mess on a roller banner. Why? Because screens only need 72dpi (dots per inch) to look sharp, whereas high-quality print requires at least 300dpi at the actual size it will be printed.
Never pull images straight from google or a client’s website. If an image is 300dpi but only two inches wide, stretching it to fit a poster will drop the resolution dramatically. Keep your source assets high-res.

4. Are your fonts embedded or outlined?

You might have the rights to a gorgeous, premium typeface that perfectly matches your client’s brand guidelines. But if the printer’s computer doesn’t have that exact font file installed, their software will substitute it with a generic default.
To prevent this, ensure your PDF export settings are set to embed all fonts. Better yet, outline your text, converting it to vector shapes, in Illustrator or InDesign before exporting. Just make sure you save a copy with editable text first, in case of last-minute client edits!

5. Are your safe zones and fold lines respected?

While bleed protects the outside edges of your design, the safe zone protects the inside. Keep any crucial elements, such as logos, body copy, and contact information, at least 3mm to 5mm away from the final cut line.
If your document is folded, such as a tri-fold leaflet, make sure your text doesn’t sit directly on the fold lines. Text that gets folded over looks unprofessional and is incredibly hard to read.

6. Is the document size correct?

It sounds incredibly basic, but you would be surprised how often we receive artwork set to US Letter size instead of UK standard A4, or a square booklet exported as portrait pages.
Before you start designing, verify the final dimensions with your account manager or check the print specifications. Scaling up a small file to fit a large poster will reduce your image quality, while scaling down a large file can make your text impossibly small.

7. Have you double-checked black text?

When you want large blocks of black ink to look deep, dark, and luxurious, printers use a “rich black” (a mix of Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black). However, you should never use rich black for small, fine body text.
Because printing presses print each colour layer separately, tiny alignments can cause fine text in rich black to look blurry or have colour shadows. For body text, stick to 100% K (Key Black) only.

8. Are all links and images properly embedded?

Modern design software works by linking to files on your local drive or server rather than saving them inside the document. If you export a package and miss a linked image, the printer’s software will show a blank box or a low-resolution preview.
Always check your links panel before exporting, and ensure there are no missing or broken link icons.

9. Have you checked the contact details and spelling?

Spellcheck is fantastic, but it won’t save you if you’ve typed the client’s phone number incorrectly, misspelled their email address, or used the wrong year on a calendar.
Get a colleague who hasn’t been working on the project to look over the final proof. Fresh eyes catch the obvious mistakes that your brain automatically glides over because you’ve looked at the design a hundred times.

10. Do you have client sign-off on the final PDF?

Never send a file to print based on an earlier draft that the client “said was fine.” Clients are famous for requesting minor adjustments, then wondering why the printed version doesn’t match their latest feedback.
Ensure you have written sign-off on the exact, final PDF that you are about to upload. It protects your agency’s margins and prevents finger-pointing if something isn’t right.

Conclusion

At Print Lord, we do not believe in faceless portals, rigid processes, or leaving you to guess if your files are correct. We treat every campaign as mission-critical. Our team is at your service, checking files, offering expert advice, and ensuring your client’s brand is guarded perfectly.

If you are reviewing your current print suppliers, consolidating your print purchasing into one reliable online platform can save significant time on future campaigns. Whether you need flyers, exhibition graphics, or custom merchandise, we are here to make your life easier.

Print Lord. At your service. On brand. On time.
printlord.co.uk