Material instructions

Our goal is to ensure that your printed product is produced with high quality and according to your expectations.
If you prepare the print-ready artwork yourself, please follow the instructions below.

Need assistance? Contact our prepress team or your personal contact – we’re happy to help!

Avoid using Microsoft Office programs (Word, PowerPoint, Excel) for layout design.

Instructions

Page Size and Bleed

  • The layout size must match the final trimmed size of the product.
  • Add 3 mm bleed on all sides.
  • Export the PDF as single pages, not as spreads.
  • Include crop marks on every page.
  • Remove all blank or unnecessary pages from the PDF file.

Colour Settings

  • Make sure colour settings are correct and that there are no unnecessary colours in your artwork.
  • Use CMYK process colours.
  • Spot colours (e.g. gold) must be clearly separated from other colours into their own colour channel.

If you’re unsure about colour settings, contact ​prepress@waasagraphics.fi​.

Images

  • Import images in CMYK format, not RGB.
  • Text and graphic colours must be in CMYK (e.g. in InDesign).
  • Minimum image resolution is 300 dpi for both digital and offset printing.

Color Separation Profiles

Choose the colour separation profile based on the paper type:

  • Coated papers: Coated FOGRA39 or Coated FOGRA51
  • Uncoated papers: Uncoated FOGRA29 or Uncoated FOGRA52

Note! Do not embed the colour separation profile in the PDF file.

If you deliver artwork in RGB colour space, please inform your contact person or our prepress team in advance. Also specify whether only the images are in RGB format or the entire document. We will perform the necessary colour separation automatically in our production system.

Manus Colour Separation and Image Adjustment

If you would like Waasa Graphics to manually perform colour separation and adjust image tones, please agree on this in advance with your contact person. This is a billable service.

PDF-files

  • When exporting a PDF from a CMYK layout, disable colour management in your layout software.
  • If your artwork is in RGB format, convert it to CMYK. Use the appropriate RGB source profile and a target profile suitable for the printing paper (see Colour Separation Profiles above).
  • You may also submit the PDF in RGB format, but we do not recommend this. In that case, RGB images must be converted to AdobeRGB before delivery. Our system will automatically convert the file to CMYK.

Need Help?

Our prepress team is happy to assist with colour management and artwork preparation: