Print guides
The questions that come up most often at the counter, answered in plain English.
Before You Buy an A-Board: What Local Shops Should Check
A plain guide to A-boards on the pavement: why permission matters, where they cause trouble, and what you can do instead.
Paper or Vinyl? Choosing the Right Sticker for the Job
The simple question that decides between paper and vinyl, plus how to choose for food labels, parcels, laptops and outdoor use.
Same-Day Printing: What Can Realistically Be Done Today?
Which jobs can realistically be printed today, which ones cannot, and what you can do to give your deadline the best chance.
Order of Service: What to Include and How to Get It Printed in Time
A plain guide to what goes in an order of service for a funeral or a wedding, including layouts, page counts and timing.
The Takeaway Menu That Gets Kept: Layout Tips from the Print Counter
What makes customers keep a takeaway menu in a kitchen drawer, and what makes it go straight in the recycling.
Dissertation Week: A Printing and Binding Checklist for Students
The points that catch students out when printing and binding a dissertation or thesis, and how to avoid a last-minute panic.
Why Your Print Looks Different from Your Screen: RGB vs CMYK
Why colours on your screen look different on paper, and what you can do about it.
Preparing a File for Print: A One-Page Checklist
Seven things to check before you send your artwork, in the order that catches the most problems.
Bleed, Trim and Safe Area: Why Printers Keep Asking for 3mm
Why printers ask for 3 mm of bleed, what it does, and how to set it up without any design experience.
A0 to A6: A Quick Guide to Paper Sizes and When to Use Each
Exact dimensions for every common A size, with a note on what each one is actually useful for.
What Does GSM Mean? Paper Weights Explained with Things You Have Held
Numbers like 170gsm tell you little until you can picture them. Here is what each weight feels like and what it is good for.