Artwork Guidelines

Set your artwork up at the finished size of the sign. Then extend any background colour or image 3 mm past every edge. This is the bleed: signs are cut to size, and the bleed means no white line shows if the cut is a fraction out.

For a 600 x 400 mm sign, that makes the artwork 606 x 406 mm with the bleed included.

Keep text, logos and anything important at least 5 mm inside the trim (the cut edge). That way nothing is lost or looks cramped after cutting. Your proof shows the cut edge and the safe area, so you can check before you approve.

Vector files (PDF, AI, EPS or SVG) are made of shapes rather than pixels, so they stay sharp at any size. Logos, lettering and simple graphics should be vector wherever possible.

Photos and other images (PNG, JPG or TIFF) are fine for most signs at about 150 dpi at full size. Send the largest version you have: a logo copied from a website or social media is rarely big enough. If a file won't print well at your size, we'll tell you before anything is printed.

Contour-cut signs and kiss-cut stickers are cut around your design, so they need a vector. Send a vector cut line as its own path in your file, or a vector logo we can cut around. A photo or flat image on its own isn't enough to cut a shape from.

PDF, AI, EPS, SVG, PNG, JPG or TIFF, up to 50MB each.

• Outline your fonts, or embed them in your PDF, so text prints exactly as you designed it.
• Set colours up in CMYK if you can. RGB files are converted to CMYK for print, so very bright screen colours can print slightly softer.
• Include Pantone or RAL references if your brand uses them, and we'll match them as closely as we can.
• Word, PowerPoint and Canva designs are fine: save or export them as a PDF at the finished size first.

Different artwork on each side? Send two files with “front” and “back” in their names, for example shopsign-front.pdf and shopsign-back.pdf.

Same artwork on both sides? Send one file and tell us it's the same both sides.

Send what you have. We check every file and send you a proof before anything is printed, and nothing is made until you approve it.

Need help? We can design it for you. Tell us what you need on the quote form. For the full walk-through, read our guide to preparing artwork for print.