Material instructions

Our aim is always to ensure that your printed product gets the implementation it deserves and that it meets your quality requirements! If you produce your printed material yourself, we kindly ask you to follow the guidelines below for the material to be printed.

We will be happy to help you if you have any questions or are unsure about any of the instructions below. Our professional and, above all, service-minded staff will be happy to help. Please contact our production staff or your contact person if you have any questions about the production of printed material.

We also offer design and layout services for printed products. Come and talk to us or request a quote!

Instructions

Page size and bleed

  • The size of the publication must be the same at the folding stage as the desired final cut size of the product.
  • The PDF file should contain cutting margins of 3 mm over the bleed.
  • Make a PDF file page by page, not by spread. Include cut marks on each page.
  • Leave out all extra/blank pages from PDF files.

Colour definitions

  • Colours must be in CMYK.
  • 100% black always becomes overprint and CMYK white is automatically opened in the process (white knockout), regardless of the document settings. This is always the case, unless otherwise agreed with our staff.
  • In Adobe Acrobat, check the functionality of the PDF overprint settings using the Overprint Preview function and selecting Simulate Overprinting
  • Additional colour elements, such as gold, must always be separated from other colours.
  • If you are confused about colour specifications, please contact our staff

Images

  • Always import images in CMYK format, not RGB format. Text and vector/line colours must always be CMYK colours, for example in InDesign.
  • The minimum resolution for images in both digital and offset print is 300 dpi.

Color separation profiles

Select a colour separation profile based on the paper type as follows:

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

* Note! Do not attach a color separation profile to the PDF. *

Please kindly inform your contact person or our prepress if you are submitting a print job in RGB colour space. Please also indicate whether only the images or all the colours of the printable material are in RGB. Waasa Graphics will automatically perform the colour matching in the production system.

If you wish Waasa Graphics’ prepress to manually perform the colour separations for you and at the same time fine-tune the tone values of the colour separated images, please arrange this with your contact person beforehand. Manual colour grading and image fine-tuning is a chargeable service.

PDF-files

* When creating a printable PDF file from a color-separated (CMYK format) layout file, turn off color management in the layout program.

If you work in the RGB colour space, when creating a PDF file, it is also possible to convert the RGB mapping file to CMYK using Adobe Acrobat. In this case, use the source profile for the RGB images and the target profile suitable for the printing paper (see Colour Separation Profiles above).

You can also leave the PDF file in RGB format. However, we do not recommend this under any circumstances. RGB images must then be converted to AdobeRGB space before the file is delivered. Our system will automatically convert the file to CMYK.

If you have any questions regarding colour management, we will be happy to help you. Please contact us at repro@waasagraphics.fi or call +358 20 7310 424.

The Nordic Swan print originals

To use the Nordic eco-label – the Nordic Swan label – on a printed product, the printed product must meet the Nordic Swan label criteria. Always check with your contact person to ensure that the Nordic Swan label can be added to your printed product.

Each Nordic Swan -labelled printing house has its own Swan label. You can obtain Waasa Graphics Swan Mark originals from your sales contact or from our prepress.