: Identifying printing quality issues I have just received some business cards that I ordered to a local copy shop (not a printing house). The result is acceptable, but it doesn't look very professional.

@Phylliss782

Speaking from the point of view being a copy shop operator for almost 20yrs, you can't expect a registration better than +/- 1mm in everyday's business. Yes, adding bleed helps but in order to get peferctly even borders on both sides, the printer needs to have a perfect registration which is quite unusual for these kind of rush jobs.

My suggestions:


Deliver PDF files in CMYK or RGB (use the output preview of Acrobat to check the expected output in this case)
Add 2mm bleed around your final size
Try to use vectors wherever possible (maybe avoid using Photoshop for the entire layout -> use Illustrator instead)

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@Shakeerah625

design wise, all your text is too big. looks like you're using 10pt. the best business cards i've seen never have larger than 8pt type for the details. the front text, it's slightly too large as well. you want some breathing room around the words. white outlined text on black is not easy to pull off. i say try one without the outlines to see how it looks.

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@Ravi4787994

I cannot guarantee that any of my suggestions would result in a better print, but here are some things that stick out to me:

Design in vector whenever possible

There is nothing in the design that you've posted that cannot be saved as a vector. It looks like the jagged lines in "printing detail 5" are a result of providing raster art instead of vector. Assuming the sample tile you've provided is the roughly correct size, here is how it matches up with the artwork:



Vector graphics are resolution independent. If vector, the "jagged diagonal" in your artwork would be non-existent, allowing for the smoothest print result possible.

Ask your printer how black should be specified

Black is black right? Wrong! You've got two blacks on the reverse of your card: CMYK black (0/0/0/100) and RGB black (#000000). The QR code is CMYK black, the rest appears to be RGB black. RGB black is a red flag straight away. It's entirely possible that you wanted to have two blacks on the reverse, but I wouldn't bet on it.

If I take off the visibility for the black channel, your card should ideally still have a uniform appearance. But that is not the case:



How black should be specified will vary from printer to printer. The best thing to do is ask.

Ask for a sample

Dominic already pointed it out in a comment, but it's worth repeating. Ask for a sample before handing over any money. This does not mean that you should ask for a sample of your business card printed, that's usually an unreasonable expectation unless you are ordering in very large quantities. For a smaller run, just a sample of previous work that the print shop has done will do. Without a sample, you have no baseline to set your expectations by.

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@Moriarity648

Looks like a bad laser print from the 90's and blunt cutting machine.

Generally next time you set up the file, it's a good idea to include what you call "bleed". This is where you extend the image or background color to be a tiny bit larger than the inteded finished size. For cards it is usually 2-3mm extra. Check with the specific printer if they have a 'preferred bleed'.

Using 2mm bleed with your intended 85x55mm, you would set up the artwork canvas to be 89x59mm (of course keeping text well within the edges). When they cut the card down to size (85x55mm), this prevents misaligned cutting showing white/blank edges etc.

Suggestions for next time:


Be sure you tell them the specific final size/dimensions you want.
Use bleed (good idea for any artwork that will be trimmed or printed usually)
Ask for a proof (non-digital) before doing the whole run. This could be free or a few dollars extra depending on where you get it done, but shows you how final result will turn out beforehand. Better to fix it here before printing thousands.
Choose a printer over a copy shop if you want better quality - copy shops are usually not that great in general. Even reputable online ones.

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