File Prep For Letterpress
If you are a designer looking to have your work letterpress printed file preparation for letterpress are likely going to be different from file prep you’ve done before. This advice is specific to working with Inky and may be different for every print shop you work with. Let’s go over some basics for file prep in Adobe Illustrator!
Type > Create Outlines
To ensure your font selection is preserved, all type needs to be outlined. To do this, select the type, click Type > Create Outlines. This transforms your type into a vector. Be aware that once you complete this step you will be unable to alter your type unless you create a new text box and start fresh.
Illustrations
If your design includes an illustration it will need to her vectorized. There are many methods of achieving this, depending on the origin of the Illustration. For example, a simple way to vectorize calligraphy from Procreate is to simply use the image trace feature in Illustrator and clean up any lines that don’t illustrate well. No matter the illustration style, vectoring it will be required before sending your files!
Size
As with anything, there are limits. And for letterpress it’s important all of your design elements are above a certain size! Here’s the rule: lines need to be .35pt or thicker, dots need to be 1pt diameter or thicker. Anything under this can’t be guaranteed to show up on the letterpress plate.
Good things to check: dot above “i”, periods, tails of calligraphy.
A simple way to check this is to create a line at 1pt or .35pt and compare it to the lines/dots of your design.
Pro tip: always make the “check line” a nice bright color so you don’t forget it on the page!
You can see the type is slightly thinner than the .35pt check line. I would add a small stroke to beef up this text
You can see the dot is smaller than the 1pt check line. I would add a small stroke to beef up this text
Color
While in the design phase we love playing with color and visualizing what color will be best for each element! Once these details are all decided your design will need to be sent as 100% black. Make sure your document is in CMYK mode (File > Document Color Mode > CMYK). You can check your artwork by using Separation Preview.
We can always answer additional questions for file prep! Let’s get started on your letterpress project today!
