Artwork Specifics and Template Download

Bleed and Trim

A bleed is the outer area of your artwork (shown in orange) that falls on the outside of the trim line. It is important that you do not have any important information in the bleed area as ¼ “ will be cut off on all sides. Cards with a “framed border” are not recommended due to variances in die cutting. A slight shift in the die cutting can result in the border being off-centered. The safety area is the entire space on the inside of the trim line where your design and content are safe from being cut off. For typesetting purposes, remember to place all your text within the safety area. To prevent your text from being cut off, place your text ¼” away from the trim line.

Resolution

At the Point-of-Sale Systems.com, we require that your artwork is submitted at 300 dpi (dots per inch). If your design is lower than 300 dpi, it will not print clearly and will result in a blurry and unreadable card. Many times our customers will use images from the web, which are normally at 72 dpi, and attempt to enlarge them to meet the specifications but the image will become pixilated (or fuzzy) looking and will undoubtedly produce a poor result. In some cases you can fix a low resolution image by rescanning your image at a higher resolution or by retaking your picture with your camera's settings set to the highest resolution.

Types of Files

We accept the following types of files when submitting your artwork:

• Photoshop Files (.psd)
• Illustrator Files (.ai)
• PDF Files (.pdf)
• Encapsulated PostScript Files (.eps)

For .psd and .ai files, please submit your original layered files. Be sure that your artwork is saved in CMYK color mode at high quality. Make sure that your artwork includes the bleed specifications to avoid any unwanted variances of your card design.

Mailing Your Artwork: You can mail us your artwork by sending us a CD of your high quality, high resolution images. For purposes of maintaining the quality of your images, please send them as large images files. This will insure the highest quality results of your plastic card. We can scan your images or photographs up to 8.5” wide x 11” high.

Color Specs

For printing, we use CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow and black) color mode. We do NOT use RGB (red, green and blue) color mode. For the best printing results, we ask that you save your digital artwork in CMYK color mode. We can however, convert your artwork for you to CMYK if you are unable to.

Important: We ask that you avoid using 100% Cyan, 100% Magenta or 100% Yellow with your designs. They will NOT show up properly on press. We cannot print spot colors, however, we do our very best to match the color as close as possible. There may be a slight difference in your color value.

Digital Logos and Fonts

Logos: If you are submitting your digital logo, we require your logo be sent: a) As a high quality TIFF, JPEG and/or EPS b) That your fonts be converted to outlines c) That it be saved in CMYK color mode d) That your logo is in at least 300 dpi

Fonts: We request that fonts be converted to paths, when possible, which allows the text to become vector shapes. By doing this, you will not need to provide us with the fonts that you used in your design.

Clear and Frosted Cards

For clear or frosted cards, we require that your artwork be provided to us in any of the following formats: EPS, Illustrator (.ai), a vector file or a layered Photoshop file (.psd). The design process for clear and frosted cards is very different from our regular plastic cards and requires specific percentages of transparencies depending on your design. Our graphics team will assist you in this process to make sure your design and layout is set up properly for print. Due to the complexity of this design and printing process, a printed proof is always recommended. Note: This set up fee also applies to all print-ready artwork for clear or frosted cards.

If you have any questions about design requirements do not hesitate to call 310.907.8030 or email us .