Is Your Artwork Really Print-Ready?

The growing prevalence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing the way businesses create and supply artwork but generating an image and producing a print-ready file are not the same thing.  

Firstly, what is a print-ready file? 

A print (or press) ready file is a digital document that has all the technical settings required to produce your project immediately. In other words, it requires no changes, adjustments, or fixes after you have submitted it for production. 

Requirements for being print-ready: 

• Files: We require PDF created to print ready specifications. The PDF colour space should be 4 colour CMYK unless Spot colours are required. 
• Fonts: Fonts should be converted to outlines to prevent any issues with fonts. 
• Images: Any images within the document must be saved as no less than 300DPI, preferably in PSD, TIF or EPS to ensure quality. 
• Colours: Please specify if the job is to be printed in CMYK with/or spot colours, etc. All spot colours need to be clearly specified. Pantone (PMS) colours preferred. 
• Bleed: If your document has colour or images placed off the edge of the page, a 3mm bleed is required. 
• Print area: Leave 2mm clearance from edge of artwork to cut line. 
• Barcode: Minimum scale should be 80% to conform with GS1 guidelines. 

Please avoid labelling files as print-ready if they do not meet the above requirements. 

What if my file isn't print-ready? 

We have an in-house design team who can assist in creating and modifying your artwork. If you need support with your artwork, please reach out to our team. 

Why can't I use AI-generated content as print-ready artwork? 

AI-generated content is a fantastic tool when used as a point of reference for the designer to understand what you're looking for, reducing the back and forth of mind-reading in the design process. However, AI-generated content does not meet print-ready requirements. AI-generated imagery is built for screens, not printers. Let's get technical on why AI-generated files are not print-ready: 

• Resolution limitations: Many AI-generated images are created for screens rather than print and may lack the resolution required for professional production, resulting in blurry or pixelated output when scaled. 
• Limited editability: Unlike professionally designed artwork, AI-generated images often cannot be easily edited, making revisions to text, colours, logos, or layout difficult or impossible. 
• Colour inconsistency: AI artwork is typically created in RGB colour mode for digital use, while commercial printing uses CMYK, which can lead to unexpected colour shifts during production. 
• Font and branding challenges: AI tools frequently generate or substitute fonts that are not commercially available or aligned with brand guidelines, making it difficult to maintain consistency. 
• Not designed for production requirements: AI-generated artwork may not include essential print elements such as bleed, safe zones, cut paths, or material considerations required for manufacturing. 
• Additional artwork preparation may be required: Logos, text, linework, and other critical design elements often need to be recreated or rebuilt before artwork can be taken to print. 

Asking AI to provide a high-resolution, print-ready file won't necessarily mitigate the need to recreate these images either. AI-generated content is typically formatted as flat files (a single, unified image file with uneditable layers of pixels like a JPEG), making it difficult to be reproduced with identical components. We require layered or vector-based files for complete, independent control over the elements in the artwork. 

Key Takeaway:  

→ AI can be a great starting point for ideas and concepts, but professional artwork preparation is still essential to achieve reliable print results. 

→ Vector images are the preferred file format. Please note, a raster image saved as a PDF is not editable and is unusable. 

→ What takes less than a minute to create with a short prompt into your chatbot, takes substantially more time to reformat and recreate for print. 

Our team is here to help, if you're not sure or need support please reach out to us and we'd be happy to guide you through the process. 

Cohesion Labels is an Australian label manufacturer with a passion for Making Labels Easy. We believe it should be easier for Aussie businesses to do business, and to do our part we've set up our entire operation to make labels easy. By de-risking the process and guaranteeing you get the product you want when you need it, we're the strongest link in your supply chain.

Get in touch with us for a quote. We'd love to see how we could make labelling easy for you!