Art Specs - Color Profiles & Print Prep Guide for Artists

RGB (Red, Green, Blue) is the color mode used by screens — monitors, phones, and cameras. CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black) is the color mode used by professional printers, which mix physical inks to reproduce color on paper. RGB has a wider color range than CMYK, so vibrant blues, greens, and neons often shift when converted for print. Submitting your files in CMYK from the start gives you the most accurate, predictable color reproduction.

300 DPI (dots per inch) is the resolution at which the human eye stops being able to see individual ink dots at normal viewing distance. At 300 DPI, fine details, text, and textures reproduce crisply. Below that threshold, you start to see softness and pixelation — especially on smaller prints viewed up close. Submitting files at 300 DPI at your final print size is the safest way to guarantee a sharp result.

Bleed is extra artwork that extends past the final trim line of your print. We require 0.125" (1/8 inch) of bleed on every side because cutting equipment has a small amount of natural variation — typically less than a millimeter, but enough to leave thin white edges on a finished print if your background doesn't extend past the cut line. Bleed eliminates that risk and ensures your color and imagery run all the way to the edge of the page.

The safety margin is the area at least 0.25" inside the trim line where you should keep important text, logos, and key design elements. Because of the same natural variation in cutting that bleed accounts for, anything placed too close to the edge risks getting trimmed off. A good rule of thumb: bleed extends artwork outward past the trim line, while the safe zone pulls critical content inward away from it.

A flattened PDF in CMYK at 300 DPI with proper bleed is ideal for most print jobs. PDFs preserve color profiles, embed fonts, and lock in your layout so nothing shifts between your computer and ours. We also accept high-resolution JPG, PNG, and TIFF files. Keep your original layered files (PSD, AI, INDD) saved separately for future edits — submit the flattened version for production.

Screens emit light directly into your eyes, while prints reflect light from a paper surface — so the same image can never look exactly identical in both mediums. Three things drive most of the difference. First, screens use RGB color (a wider, brighter range) while printers use CMYK ink (a narrower physical range), so vibrant blues, greens, and neons typically appear more muted in print. Second, monitors that aren't calibrated will show inaccurate color regardless of the file. Third, paper type and finish affect how light reflects — matte papers soften color, while gloss and lustre finishes hold saturation closer to what you see on screen. Calibrating your monitor and ordering a digital proof or test print are the two most reliable ways to close the gap before committing to a full run.

In Photoshop: go to Image → Mode → CMYK Color. Photoshop will convert the file using your current color settings. Before converting, flatten your file or save a backup — some adjustment layers behave differently in CMYK. For more control, use Edit → Convert to Profile and choose a CMYK profile like U.S. Web Coated (SWOP) v2, which is a strong default for most US print work.

In Illustrator: go to File → Document Color Mode → CMYK Color. Illustrator converts the entire document, including all placed images and swatches. For a finer conversion, open Edit → Color Settings first and confirm your CMYK working space is set correctly.

Whichever tool you use, expect bright RGB colors — especially saturated blues, greens, and oranges — to shift slightly. Review the file after conversion and tweak any areas where the color shift is too aggressive before exporting your final PDF.

Yes. Our team can provide a PDF digital proof before printing so you can verify color, layout, and sizing before committing to a full run. Digital proofs catch issues that are hard to spot on screen and give you the confidence that your final print will match your vision. For new artwork or first-time orders with critical color matching, we recommend ordering a small test print as well.

If your file falls below our recommended 300 DPI, we'll contact you by email before printing. In many cases we can use Topaz AI — one of the most advanced image upscaling tools available — to recover detail and bring the file up to printable resolution. We'll never make changes to your artwork without your permission. You always stay in control of what gets printed.

Yes. The sizes listed on our specs page cover the most common formats, but we regularly produce custom dimensions for artists, photographers, and businesses with specific framing or display needs. Contact us with your trim size, quantity, and paper preference, and we'll quote your custom job and walk you through the file specs.