Print Design
Files that reach the printer right the first time.
What this is
We design everything that ends up on paper: brochures, flyers, business cards, packaging, and signage. Every file leaves us in the correct format with proper bleed, margins, and CMYK color, so the printer has nothing to ask about. We know how design behaves under ink, so what you see on screen is what comes back from the press.
What's included
- Brochures & catalogs
- Flyers & posters
- Business cards
- Packaging design
- Signage & banners
- Print-ready files
Print Design — the questions we actually get asked.
Why does the printed colour differ from what we saw on screen?
Because a screen emits light and paper reflects it. Screens work in RGB and presses in CMYK, and some vivid colours — saturated blues and greens especially — simply don't exist in ink, so they print quieter. Files are therefore prepared in CMYK from the start, and a proof is requested before any large run. A proof is cheaper than reprinting a thousand copies.
What do you need from the printer before designing?
The final size, the bleed they require, the safe margins, the paper stock and the binding method. These are not technical details to settle later — matte paper absorbs more colour than gloss, and binding determines how much of the design disappears into the gutter. Designing before knowing them means preparing the files twice.
Do you deal with the printer directly?
We can, and it's preferable when the piece is colour-sensitive or complex to bind. If you already have a printer you work with, we hand you the files to their specification, ready to send with no intermediary. The goal is the same either way: the file should reach the press without questions attached.
What mistake most often causes a reprint?
Text near the edge. Trimming shifts by a few millimetres on every run, and a design that puts a phone number two millimetres from the edge comes out cropped on some copies and fine on others in the same batch. So anything meant to be read is kept away from the edge by a safe margin, and anything that is background is extended past the trim line.
Tell us what you're trying to reach.
The first conversation costs nothing and ends with a written view of where you stand — what the work would involve, what it would cost and when it would land — whether or not you work with us.
hello@obtagency.com