1. What is CMYK – This represents the four colours used by litho and digital printing presses – Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. All publications are printed using this method, do not use RGB colours or images in your advert. Any colour you use within your advert will be converted to CMYK process colours.

2. Pantone Colours – These special colours can be used within your work, but only on specific projects where you control the print and have the opportunity to introduce a fifth colour (special). If you have an advert appearing within a publication it will be printed using CMYK, no special colours such as Pantones will be allowed – be aware that your Pantone colour will be converted to CMYK and may look different when printed.

3. It is also useful to remember that the colour black, including black text, is normally set to overprint. This is very useful for black text appearing over another colour – as there is no knock out in the background colour for the black text to fit into – it just simply prints over the top of the background.

4. Gloss Paper – Publications which use a gloss paper finish will give your colour a good and bright feel, so you can be adventurous with the use of colour and images – they will look great.

5. Satin Paper – This type of paper is becoming more common with quality publications and again will enhance the colours you use within your advert. But if your advert contains a form or reply slip to be filled in, this may be a problem. Satin papers are not good for ballpoint/gel pens as the pen tip tends to slip over the paper surface rather than grip the surface, making it difficult for readers to fill in.

6. Uncoated Paper – Colours and images will be darkened or knocked back by this paper as the ink will be absorbed into the paper slightly, making the colours look dull compared to the gloss stock. You can improve the quality of colour onto uncoated paper by lightening your images and colours by 10–15%. Uncoated papers are also the best for reply forms, which require the reader to complete with a pen.

7. Recycled Paper – The best 100% recycled papers are uncoated. 100% recycled papers are becoming more and more popular and generally uncoated is the most popular. Follow the same rules as per uncoated paper.

8. Images – Ensure your images are the best possible quality and have a resolution of at least 300dpi (dots per inch) at the size they appear in the advert. You can go a little lower, but 300dpi should be your optimum resolution, the lower the resolution the poorer the image will look printed. If too low, your advert may be rejected by the publication.

9. Image Colour – All images should be set as CMYK and not RGB, Lab or Indexed. Do not include any special colours within images, ie: duotones using Pantones, these will be converted to CMYK and may look different to what was intended.

10. Mono Advertising – If your colour advert is appearing in a single colour publication (black/grey), be careful if converting colour to mono. If the colour mid tones are similar, like with red and blue, they will convert to the same/similar grey, making your advert appear incorrect. Produce a separate black/grey version of your advert.

11. If your advert has a white background and is set within a page – a smaller size advert like a Classified, QPV or HPH – put a border around the advert to contain your advert on the page. If not, your advert may appear visually unclear and less prominent.

12. Don’t use too many different style fonts, try and keep it down to two. This will help keep your advert clean, less fussy and easier to get your message across.

13. Try not to put text directly over an image with a complex background. Your text will almost certainly be impossible to read.

14. With advertising your text should not be below 6pt, it would be too small and irrelevant to the reader.

15. With full page advertising, keep your text well within the page, at least 10–15mm. There can sometimes be up to a 5mm difference in trimming some publications, which could cut off text that has been placed close to the edge.

16. What is Bleed? Bleed is an additional area added to a full page advert which is required for print finishing/trimming. This is normally an additional 3mm to the page size. If you have any colour or images in your advert, which go to the outer edges, these elements must continue passed the trimmed area and through the bleed area. Supply your full page advert with cropmarks and the additional 3mm bleed. This extra area will be removed when the publication is trimmed.

17. When supplying your advert to a publication, it must be high resolution. If possible, supply a high resolution PDF, alternative file formats could be EPS (with fonts embedded), TIF or JPG.

18. Do not supply a publication with adverts created in their application programme, such as QuarkExpress, Adobe InDesign, Microsoft Word, Publisher or PowerPoint. These will be rejected.

19. Double check you’ve followed the correct rules and publication specification and your advert should appear correctly.

20. Remember, if you need a fast, hasle free, cost effective, good quality advert – call The Creative Workshop on 01580 212676 and we’ll deliver you a great looking advert in the format you require.