Below is a list of the most common and frequently asked questions regarding our products and services.
1. What currency are your prices in?
2. What are your company details?
3. What are your hours of Operation?
4. How long will it take to get my order?
5. What types of storage media do you accept?
6. What are your design fees?
7. Can you print urgent jobs?
Product Questions
8. How well will my job match what I see on my monitor?
9. Can you print jobs that are different than the standard formats that you offer?
10. Can I control the paper choices when a job is going to be printed at Copy Direct?
11. What Is the best way to proof a job?
12. What is offset printing?
13. What is Digital Printing?
File Setup Questions
14. Can I send you documents created in MS Word or PowerPoint?
15. What other file formats can you take?
16. What is the difference between the RGB and CMYK color space?
17. How do you get rich blacks from a digital press?
18. How do I make white text on a black background look more crisp?
19. How small can the text be and still be readable?
20. How do I get the best gray shades from a digital press?
21. Should I trap the colours in the file?
22. What about knockouts and overprint? Should I anticipate problems?
23. What about bleeds?
24. Can I use any font I want?
25. What about scanning and scan resolution?
26. What is the difference between the RGB and CMYK color space?
27. What is bleed?
28. Do I have to put bleed on?
29. How do I add bleed to my Microsoft Word file?
30. How should my business card be set up?
31. How Should my Letterhead be set up?
32. How should my A4 flyer be set up?
33. How do I add bleed to my Adobe Illustrator file?
34. How do I add bleed to my Adobe Photoshop file?
35. How Do I add bleed to my Indesign File?
36. What are the design specifications for a pull up banner 2000x850mm? Click here to download a pdf template.
1. What Currency are your prices in?
For any of your printing, Copy Direct uses New Zealand Dollars.
2. What are your company details?
8 Walls Road
Penrose
Auckland
Phone: +64 9 579 5575
Email: print@copydirect.co.nz
Postal Address:
Copy Direct
PO Box 74142
Greenlane
Auckland 1546
3. What are your hours of operation?
Mon to Fri 8:30 - 5:00pm. Hours outside the normal hours may be possible by special arrangement.
4. How long will it take to get my order?
Urgent jobs can be turned around in a matter of hours. However, the normal turnaround time is 24 to 72 hours. Some large projects may require more time but all deadline requirements will be discussed.
5. What types of storage media do you accept?
We can take your files on a CD, DVD, USB Drive or via email.
6. What are your design fees?
Our graphic design fee is $120 per hour. Please email or phone our team to discuss your job for an artwork/design quotation.
7. Can you print urgent jobs?
YES! If you have an urgent digital print job that your life depends on, give us a call.
In most cases, we will find a way to squeeze it in for you!
Always let us know upfront if it is urgent otherwise our standard turnaround times will be given.
8. How well will my job match what I see on my monitor?
Due to wide differences in monitor calibration and the different technologies used, some printed colours may not exactly match the colours on your specific monitor. Calibrating your monitor at home will help but for exact colour matching the Pantone colour system should be used.
9. Can you print jobs that are different than the standard formats that you offer?
Yes. Email us with your job specs and we will give you a custom quote.
10. Can I control the paper choices when a job is going to be printed at Copy Direct?
You can choose a great variety of paper stocks that are readily available from all our major paper suppliers. Whilst we can't guarantee that some will work, be assured though with Copy Direct, the selection of possible substrates is larger than ever before available and the chances are excellent that you will find a paper that you like.
We encourage you before a design project commences you talk and allow us to evaluate and recommend suitable paper selections. We may even offer to experiment and trial new stock ranges!
11. What Is the best way to proof a job?
Unlike traditional offset presses, our digital press is designed to print one-of-a-kind jobs, so they can print a few copies as proofs. There usually is a minimum cost incurred for this.
12. What is offset printing?
Offset printing is the use of a printing press and inks. Four different coloured inks cyan, magenta, yellow, black (CMYK) are applied one at a time on the press as the paper passes through. By layering the colours you create full colour printing. One colour or PMS inks are applied separately or in addition to the CMYK inks. Inks need to dry before cutting and drying times vary according to the colour and weather.
13. What is Digital Printing?
Digital printing commonly dry inks which are heated and fused onto the paper. Being instantly dry this is a very fast way to print. The main difference between digital printing and traditional methods such as lithography, flexography, gravure, or letterpress is that no printing plates are used, resulting in a quicker turnaround time. It also allows for on demand printing, short turn around, and even a modification of the image or text called Variable Data Print merge with each impression.
The savings in labor and ever increasing capability of digital technology means digital printing has reached a point where it will match or supersede offset printing technologies ability to produce larger print runs at a low price.
14. Can I send you documents created in MS Word, PowerPoint or Publisher?
Yes. Although the files we prefer to take are PDF files.
15. What other file formats can you take?
At Copy Direct we can take InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, and Publisher, our most preferred method is PDF files. If providing Ind, AI, or PSD files please outline text, flatten artwork and supply any linked files. We will create a PDF file for you which we will email to you to proof.
16. What is the difference between the RGB and CMYK color space?
RGB refers to the primary colors of light, Red, Green and Blue, that are used in monitors, television screens, digital cameras and scanners. CMYK refers to the primary colors of pigment used by commercial printers: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black. These are the inks used on the press in “4-color process printing”, commonly referred to as “full color printing”.
17. How do you get rich blacks?
To increase the richness of solid areas of black, you can use a mixture of CMYK, such as 40C, 40M, 40Y, 100K. By adding in the other colours with the black, you are forcing the press to overload that area with dry ink. Your blacks will look much richer.
18. How do I make the white text on a black background look more crisp?
Use the same approach as with getting rich blacks, but modify the formula to include less of cyan (C), magenta (M) & yellow (Y). Depending upon how thin the letter forms and how small the point size is, you may have to experiment with the formula for rich black before you are satisfied. Remember, too, that duller white or colored stock will affect the appearance of white text on a dark background, making the text look less crisp. Use a bright white stock for best results.
19. How small can the text be and still be readable?
Font choices and sizes are limitless as they are in conventional printing we can print 4 point black type clearly and legibly. However, if you are knocking out white text in a rich black (or any other dark colour) avoid going smaller than 6 point.
20. How do I get the best gray shades from a digital press?
Use tints of black, but stay away from 10% black tints unless you want a very light shade of grey. Start with 20% and work your way up to about 80% grey. Avoid large areas of a single tint of grey. Another tip is to use 4 colour grays on darker tints.
21. Should I trap the colours in the file?
Our digital press prints in excellent registration, both front to back and colour to colour. The RIP can perform auto-trapping of all files and can be set up to overprint all black elements. To ensure the best quality of your document, turn off any trapping commands in the page layout program.
22. What about knockouts and overprint? Should I anticipate problems?
Problems with knockouts are usually caused by a registration problem in the press. Since our digital press has tightly controlled registration, you should not anticipate problems such as gaps appearing between two colours.
When it comes to overprint, the main thing to be aware of is not having overprint on white text or images. This will cause this information to not print. If you are unsure of how something will look, you can use the “Overprint Preview” option inside Adobe Acrobat.
23. What about bleeds?
Prepare jobs that bleed with exactly the same way as you would for conventional printing with an extra 3mm to allow for trimming on the bleed edges. For die-cut jobs, increase your bleed to 6mm to anticipate possible movement on finishing equipment.
24. Can I use any font I want?
There are so many types of fonts readily available, that it's easy to find a font that won't work with the digital press. To avoid type problems and the occasional type nightmare, stick with Adobe Type 1 or TrueType fonts. Do not use Multiple Master fonts. If you wish to use a particular font and are not sure if it is one of these kinds, simply outline your fonts to vector information.
25. What about scanning and scan resolution?
Scan continuous tone images at a resolution of 300dpi at the final layout size. Perform all scaling, rotation and manipulation of images in your image editing application before linking them to the layout.
26. What is the difference between full colour and 4 colour products?
Full colour and 4 colours mean the same thing.
27. What is bleed?
Bleed is a term used to describe an overflow of artwork 3mm beyond the artwork size (or trim size). This bleed will be later trimmed for a flush finish. Copy Direct and all commercial printers will ask for artwork and designs to be supplied with bleed for the best-printed results.
28. Do I have to put bleed on?
Yes and No. It does depend on the job. If there is white space around the edges of your document, bleed is not required. If you have copy or graphics running to the edge you will need to apply bleed to avoid white edges. A 3mm bleed is recommended.
29. How do I add bleed to my Microsoft Word file?
1. Set up a new document 3mm bigger all round than the size of the product you are ordering. Eg: A4 Letterheads, your document would be 216x303mm,
2. Put margins around your document at 3mm from the top, bottom, left and right. This outside space is your bleed, and inside the margins is your printed document.
3. Any colour or images that you want to go right to the edge of the product need to be placed into your design, but also get them to spill over onto your outer margins or bleed area.
4. Keep all type at least 5mm from the inside guide in your document. (So from the outside edge of the page, the type will be sitting no closer than 8mm)
5. Save your document as you normally do.
6. Now save as a high print quality PDF (usually an option in your print menu) See your word help if you do not know how to save as a PDF.
30. How should my business card be set up?
Business Cards should include a 2mm bleed. Files should be supplied as either 90x55mm or 86x54mm depending on your card choice (see options in business card categories). The type should be no closer than 5mm to the edge of these cards.
31. How Should my Letterhead be set up?
Letterheads should be A4 (210x297mm) supplied with 3mm bleed (if any colour spills over the edge).
32. How should my A4 flyer be set up?
A4 Flyers should be 210x297mm supplied with 3mm bleed. If your flyer folds down to DL (fits into a business sized envelope) then you should allow for where the 2 folds are. Set up each column 99mm wide.
33. How do I add bleed to my Adobe Illustrator file?
1. Set up a new document to the exact file size of the product you are ordering. Eg: A4 Letterheads, your document would be 210x297mm.
2. Any colour or images that you want to go right to the edge of the product need to be placed into your design, but also get them to spill over onto your artboard (white space surrounding your document) by at least 3mm.
3. Keep all type at least 5mm from the edge of your document.
4. Save your document as you normally do.
5. Now do a 'Save As' and choose Adobe PDF from the list of save options. Name your file and choose 'Save', Save Adobe PDF box will now appear, choose the following:
Adobe PDF preset, should be on 'Press Quality'
Select 'Marks & Bleeds' from the left hand column, tick 'trim marks', in the 'Bleeds' section below, add 3mm into top, bottom, left and right space.
Leave everything else unchanged!
You now have a correctly saved illustrator file!
34. How do I add bleed to my Adobe Photoshop file?
1. Set up a new document 3mm bigger all round than the size of the product you are ordering. Eg: A4 Letterheads, your document would be 216x303mm.
2. Put guides around your document at 3mm from the top, bottom, left and right. This outside space is your bleed, and inside the margins is your printed document.
3. Any colour or images that you want to go right to the edge of the product need to be placed into your design, but also get them to spill over onto your outer margins or bleed area.
4. Keep all type at least 5mm from the inside guide in your document. (So from the outside edge of the page, type will be sitting no closer that 8mm).
5. Save your document as you normally do.
6. Flatten the layers and do a 'Save As' (name accordingly).
7. Send us this file, You now have a photoshop file including bleed!
35. How do I add bleed to my Indesign file?
1. Set up a new document to the exact file size of the product you are ordering. Eg: A4 Letterheads, your document would be 210x297mm.
2. Any colour or images that you want to go right to the edge of the product need to be placed into your design, but also get them to spill over onto your artboard (white space surrounding your document) by at least 3mm.
3. Keep all type at least 5mm from the edge of your document.
4. Save your document as you normally do.
5. File > Export, and choose Adobe PDF from the list of save options. Name your file and choose 'Save', Save Adobe PDF box will now appear, choose the following:
Adobe PDF preset, should be on 'Press'
Select 'Marks & Bleeds' from the left hand column,
tick 'trim marks', in the 'Bleeds' section below, add 3mm into top, bottom, left and right space. Leave everything else unchanged! You now have a correctly saved Indesign file with bleed!