No one can deny the beauty and satisfaction of freshly printed labels. However, there is a world of work to be done before we get to the best part! Your level of preparation, editing, and review before sending labels to the press is critical! Getting the pre-press stage right means preventing label mistakes most commonly made.
Many businesses try to quickly put together a label and send it to print with an urgent deadline, only to find themselves with an entire batch of labels that’s botched and unusable due to even the smallest of errors. Costing even more money and time to get things right. Let’s make sure that doesn’t happen to you!
As a full-service label partner, the M&R Label team offers pre-press review services to prevent errors before any label gets printed. We’re here with expert tips on how to avoid mistakes during the pre-press review process and a guide on standard pre-press procedures. Let’s dive in!
What is Pre-Press?
Pre-press is the stage where your labels are tested in real-time regarding their quality, design, measurement, and color correction. This step is of high importance as it contains all the in-between tasks necessary to ensure your label design is ready for press. In order for your product label to be top quality, it must have the right size and be free of mistakes or blemishes. This is why the pre-press stage is essential prepping your custom labels. Think of the pre-press stage as the pre-op of label printing!
Before a crucial surgery, nurses prepare the patient for operation; think of the pre-press stage the same. This stage prepares your labels for printing, ensuring nothing is missing, and your custom labels will come out as good as their digital prototype. Sending your label designs straight to printing without running them through the pre-press stage is often a big mistake. There are many benefits of putting your labels through the pre-press stage; here are some that will help you understand just how vital this stage is…
Benefits of Hiring Professional Pre-Press Printing Services
Hiring a professional team like M&R Label for your pre-press stage is highly recommended. Here are just a few of the top benefits your business will enjoy from hiring an industry expert:
- A team of true professionals, such as M&R Label, will ensure the consistency and quality of your label is best-in-class.
- Another benefit of hiring experts is that you will avoid common label mistakes.
- As there are a variety of printing technologies, the pre-press service experts ensure your design will print exactly the way you envisioned it without any hindrance or mishaps.
- Hiring a printing press reduces the likelihood of errors; thus saving you time, wasted money, and frustration!
Your Step-by-Step Guide: A Pre-Press Checklist
In addition to ensuring your label design is trendy and on-point, you must also clear all the pre-press checklists before heading to the printing press. Many people don’t realize the level of detail that goes into this final stage. M&R Label is here to be your guide. Here is an example of a typical pre-press checklist to go through before sending your custom labels off to a printer:
Proofread Everything!
How would you feel if your label had a misspelling and you did not know about it until after the product hit the shelves? It is a big mistake and can cost you a lot of damage. These types of errors can easily be avoided with the first step of the pre-press stage; proofreading. Some customers may ignore your typos or grammatical errors, but all it takes is one social media post about it to hurt your brand. Proofreading also includes graphic proofreading. Graphic proofreading ensures your design doesn’t lack anything, i.e., it will fit perfectly to the size of your label, the lines are all straight, and the text and images are properly spaced.
Confirm Image Size and Resolution
Your custom label will not look glamorous if the resolution or image size is off. Rectifying an image resolution mistake can cost you a lot of time and money. For designing labels, your print item should be at 300 DPI or more. Saving your design files at high resolution should be the rule of thumb. It’s essential to save the designs at high resolution. But this isn’t something you need to worry about when partnering with a label printing service like M&R, we’ll handle all the technical details.
Verify Color Accuracy
The digital file vs. what comes out of the printer aren’t always the same in terms of resolution or color. The pre-press stage helps you see the difference and adjust what needs to be changed. Checking the existing color mode will help you see how your label will look after printing. This part of the pre-press stage enables you to ensure your logo design will look as good as you imagined it on your product.
Check for Bleeding and Crop Marks
Before your label hits the printers, you must ensure your crop marks, the file’s color bleed, and framing. Another thing you need to check is the cut marks; these lines help you cut your logo right where it should be. All these tips and tricks help you make your logo extremely professional. It gives the feel that you have put in extra effort in designing and printing your label.
Adjust Positioning
Imposing helps you save paper and print faster. You can cut your cost of printing by positioning your logos better. Whether you are printing custom logos, booklets, or brochures, positioning can help you print your labels faster and more accurately.
Use a High-Resolution PDF
Once you have proofread your design and made sure it’s ready for the printers, your next step is to save it in a high-resolution PDF. It’s the perfect format for logos, brochures, booklets, or any marketing material you want to print.
Partner with the Best Label Printer in the Industry!
Clearly, this is not the area to skip steps or cut corners! For professional results and a successful label printing experience, trust M&R Label. As your full-service label partner, we offer professional Pre-Press Label Printing Services for all of our customers. It’s the best way to ensure the highest quality label while also protecting your reputation and your bottom line.
We guarantee superior design, fast turnaround, and excellent customer service. Did we mention we have over three decades of industry expertise? Read 5-star reviews to find out why loyal customers choose M&R for every label project – year after year. Contact us today to learn more about our label services and how we can help you achieve your business goals.
