Custom printing is available on every product in the range, and most of the delay in any custom order comes down to artwork. Not because artwork is difficult, but because a handful of small technical details decide whether a design prints cleanly or arrives with a logo that looks slightly off. This article is a practical checklist of what to send us, and what to check before you do. None of it requires design software expertise - it is simply the list of things worth getting right the first time.
Bleed: the bit of design you never see
Bleed is the extra margin of artwork that extends past the final cut line. When a card or sticker is trimmed to size, the blade does not land in exactly the same place every time, so a design that stops dead at the edge can end up with a thin white sliver. Bleed solves this by letting the background run past the edge and then trimming it away.
The practical rule is simple: keep your background and any colour that should reach the edge running a little beyond where you expect the cut. That way, however the trim lands, the edge is filled. If you send a file with no bleed and the design touches the border, we may need to ask you to extend it before production, which is the delay this checklist is meant to avoid.
Logos and where to place them
Send your logo as a clean, high-resolution file rather than a screenshot, a photo of a sign, or a small image pulled from a website. Vector artwork - a file built from lines and curves rather than pixels - scales to any size without going soft, which is exactly what a printed card needs. A logo that looks fine on a screen can print fuzzy if the only copy you have is a low-resolution image.
Give a thought to placement, too. A logo usually reads best with a margin of clear space around it, so it does not crowd the edge of the card or sit on top of another element. If the card also carries a tap instruction or a code, decide which element leads and let the logo support it rather than compete with it.
The quiet zone around a printed QR code
If your design includes a printed QR code, the quiet zone is the blank margin that must surround it. A QR code is read by pattern, and other marks pressed right up against it can confuse the scanner. Leaving clear space around the code - no text, no logo, no border artwork touching it - is what lets a phone lock on quickly.
The safest habit is to treat the code as something that needs breathing room on all sides. Do not let a background pattern or a photo run through it, and do not shrink it to make room for other elements; a small code with no quiet zone is a code that will not scan. Our dynamic QR page explains how the printed code and the tap work together.
Colour, contrast, and sending the right file
Contrast matters most where printing meets reading. A code, a logo, or an instruction should stand clearly against its background, because pale-on-pale or busy backgrounds make everything harder to see and to scan. When you send artwork, send the original working file rather than an exported picture with the layers flattened, so the design can be adjusted without rebuilding it from scratch.
If you are not sure whether a file is suitable, send it anyway and ask. It is far quicker to check a file up front than to discover a problem after proofing. You can see how we approach a custom build on our customization page.
Check it before you send it
Before you send anything, zoom in on the edges, look at the logo at the size it will actually print, and picture the code with a clear margin around it. A minute spent checking saves a round of changes. When the artwork is ready, the spec - format, chip, finish - is the other half of the brief, and you can compare formats on our products page.
If you have artwork ready and want to know whether it will print well, send it across and we will look at it with you. Message us on WhatsApp at +86 151 0247 7198 or email nina@cwtape.com and ask us anything about preparing a file for custom printing.