PRINT DESIGN
POWERED BY LILO DIGITAL LECTURE 09
WHAT IS PRINT DESIGN ?
Print and Publication design in the layout and graphic design for printed materials
such as banners, business cards, postcard, newsletters, magazines, books, brochures,
etc.
Here are our tips for ensuring that all of your print projects display top quality
design for a great first impression.
1. USE GOOD TYPOGRAPHY AND SELECT FONTS
THAT ARE EASY TO READ .
Keep an eye on your font and font
weights. The rule of thumb is to use no more
than 2-3 fonts per project. To add variety,
you can use different treatments within each
family (bold, italic, etc.).
Kerning and leading are important as
well. Kerning is the character-spacing, or the
spacing between the individual letters of
your typography. Leading is the spacing
between each line. Setting these too wide or
too narrow will make your text less
readable.
2. USE HIGH RESOLUTION, CYMK PHOTOS.
Knowing the difference between RGB
(red, green, blue) and CMYK (cyan,
magenta, yellow and black) is critical
when submitting your packaged files to
any printer. For print, any graphics you
use need to be converted to CMYK.
Setting the correct image resolution
and dpi for any raster or vector artwork
is very important as well. The minimum
recommended resolution for printing is
300dpi.
3. SET UP YOUR DOCUMENT PROPERLY.
If your artwork is meant to print to the
edge of the page, you need to setup your
bleeds properly. Forgetting to build in
bleeds could result in printing delays. It is
easier to set guides for trim, live area, and
bleeds before you start working on your
project. In doing so, you will avoid tiny white
borders around the edge of the printed
piece
If your document doesn’t bleed, you’ll
need to give it enough margin to ensure that
no important information gets cut off in the
finishing process.
4. USE COLOR TO COMMUNICATE YOUR MESSAGE.
Color has the ability to communicate just
as much as your words do. First, make sure
you’re document is using the correct color
mode.
CMYK is the standard for print design,
and RGB is for web design.
Remember, it’s not only about the
information in your project, your project has
to be nice to look at to keep your audiences’
attention.
Make sure you choose a contrasting color
that you can use for important areas
5. FOLLOW THE INFORMATION HIERARCHY.
Remember to design with information
hierarchy in mind. The more important
information that you want the reader to
remember should be larger, and clearly
displayed (i.e. business name, contact
information, dates, title), while the remaining
information can be smaller.
A variation of font sizes breaks the
information up in “chunks,” making it easier
to read and more attractive.
6. DON’T FORGET TO PROOFREAD.
Forgetting to proofread and spell check could lead to major problems for your
printed project.
There’s nothing worse than designing a beautiful piece only to realize that there
are grammatical errors undermining your work.
Take a moment to proof your own work carefully. Then, get a second (or third) pair
of eyes to look over and approve the piece before you send it to the printer.
7. ALWAYS REQUEST A PROOF.
Always make sure to request an electronic or physical proof and have multiple
people review it before giving the green light. It’s an important step to ensure that all
of your materials are high-quality and error-free.
THANK YOU !!!