Three Common Errors When Preparing The Artwork For Printing
Choosing a good printing service provider is just one part of ensuring that printers will print your design the way you want them. The other part is preparing a printer-ready artwork. We’ve listed down the top three most common errors people make when prepping their designs for print to help you avoid them.
The Three Common Mistakes
Choosing a good printing service provider is just one part of ensuring that printers will print your design the way you want them. The other part is preparing a printer-ready artwork. We’ve listed down the top three most common errors people make when prepping their designs for print to help you avoid them.
Artworks do not have bleeds. Most people don’t put bleeds in the design layout before sending them to printers, which is impractical because bleeds are essential in making sure the prints come out precisely as you envision them. The printers need bleeds because they cut the printed materials by bulk through a machine that moves ever so slightly during cutting, so without the bleeds, you might see white lines on the edge of the prints. Therefore, ensure that the final artwork has images or background extended to the edges by about 0.07 or 0.08-inch. This way, you won’t see the white lines of the paper when printers trim your artwork to size.
Artwork is sent in low resolution or contains low-res images. Almost everybody thinks they can pull something off the internet, include them in their artwork, and expect it will come out beautifully in print, but that is hardly the case. Most internet images are only about 72 dpi instead of the 300 dpi minimum required for good-quality printing. It is imperative to ensure the artwork and the images used in the design are high-quality and not too small. When working with Photoshop or other design software, ensure that the photos and graphics you include are correctly linked to your design before exporting and sending them to the printers. Because if images don’t connect properly, your final artwork will only have low-res placeholders for photos, which will not look good on print.
Issues with fonts used. Always use a precise font version for your designs. For example, use Helvetica Bold or Helvetica Italic instead of Helvetica Regular and then press bold or italic. Adding an outline on a regular font is also not recommended because before or during exporting the artwork out of the design program, modified fonts may not look the same on print as on the design software file.
Get Professional Artwork Consultation
If you’re not confident about your designing skills, consider working with printing services like Foote Printing, which provides quality prints and graphic design services.
Picture this: your inbox is crammed with hundreds of unread messages, but your physical mailbox still gets your attention every single day. Even the “junk” gets a glance. That moment—those few seconds with something in your hand—is where brands are built and leads are made.
At Foote Printing, we live at the intersection of print and direct marketing. We love email for its speed, but we’ve seen time and again that the mailbox delivers attention, trust, and results you just can’t get online alone. Here’s why—and how we help you make the most of it.
The Real Problem: Digital Overload, Diminishing Attention
Email is easy to send and cheaper per message, but that ease creates a flood. Your customers are overwhelmed, filters are aggressive, and messages blur together. Meanwhile, people open their mailbox daily, touch every piece, and form split-second judgments that stick. Our job is to make sure your piece earns those seconds—and turns them into action.
The Attention Advantage in the Mailbox
Daily habit: People check and sort their mail almost every day. Your message gets handled, not just “marked as read.”
Built-in “open rate”: Even if someone tosses a postcard, they saw your brand, offer, and headline first.
Sticky brand recall: That physical touch plants a memory that pays off when they see your name online later.
Tangible Means Trustworthy
A well-printed, well-designed piece signals legiti
In three seconds, your audience decides whether to keep your postcard, scan your code, or toss it. Those seconds are where 2025’s smartest print trends win—and where we help you stand out.
As a solar-powered print shop, we’ve been building toward these trends for years. Clients are printing fewer, smarter pieces that work harder: more personal, more tactile, more connected to digital, and far less wasteful. Here’s how we (and Michael Duhr, our print expert) see the year’s top opportunities—and how we’ll put them to work for you.
1) Sustainable, eco 11friendly printing (we’ve led since 2017)
Sustainability isn’t a buzzword for us—it’s built into our shop.
Solar-powered facility since 2017
LED lighting that mimics daylight for accurate color evaluation
Recycled-content papers across our lineup
Short-run strategies that reduce overprinting and waste
Actionable tip: Ask us to recommend recycled stocks and coatings that align with your brand’s look, feel, and footprint—without compromising color or quality.
2) Personalization at scale with variable data printing
Personalization boosts response when it’s relevant. With digital presses and variable data printing, we tailor:
Names and messaging by segment
Offers by audience and location
Images, maps, and calls-to-action by region or event
Actionable tip: Bring a clean list and a few audience segments. We’ll help you version creati
Your best email probably didn’t even earn two seconds of attention. Meanwhile, a well-designed postcard sits on a kitchen counter and gets read twice. In a world of overflowing inboxes, phishing attempts, and disappearing feeds, print is the channel people still trust.
As a Cleveland print company, we see it every day: print isn’t dying—it’s evolving. And when you use it strategically, it outperforms digital alone.
Why Print Wins Trust (and Attention)
In the digital world, skepticism is the default. People double-check sender names, avoid links, and ignore most messages. That’s exactly why print is surging back:
It’s tangible and memorable—your brand lives on desks, counters, and trade show booths.
It signals legitimacy—real materials from a real company.
It stands out—especially when everyone else is stuck in the inbox.
We’ve heard “print is dying” for 40 years. The truth? It’s simply evolving, and the businesses who adapt are the ones getting noticed.
The Future of Print Is Integrated
Today’s best-performing campaigns blend print and digital. You don’t need to say everything on the piece—just enough to spark interest and guide the next step.
Here’s how we help clients do that:
Use QR codes to bridge offline and online seamlessly. One scan, and your audience lands on the exact page you want them to visit.
Leverage variable data printing for personalization. Tai