Creating Print Ready Files in Canva
Many of our customers are creating print ready files in Canva and sending them to us to print now.
Canva is a great online design platform which has lots of templates for different designs.
If you want to use Canva to create your artwork, it is essential to make sure your files are set up correctly in the beginning
Setting Up Correctly When Creating Print Ready Files in Canva
The most important part will be to start your design with the correct size in Canva.
PLEASE NOTE
British sizes differ from American so make sure you choose correctly, look for sizes based on the ‘A’ series paper size, not the US ‘Letter’ size!
Also, look at the measurement – the A series of paper is in millimetres (mm) not pixels
If you are unsure – see our size guide
There are lots of template designs in many common sizes you can choose from or you can choose a custom size and use the many images and elements that Canva have available to add to your design.
(Some templates and elements are not available on the free version)
RGB to CMYK Print Ready
Canva can only save designs as RGB files but printing is produced in the CMYK colour system.
Sending RGB files is fine but these will be automatically converted to CMYK in our system and this may mean the colour output may vary from what you have seen on screen.
Does Your Design Need Bleed?
Not sure what bleed in printing is?
Bleed is ink that prints beyond the trim edge of the page to ensure it extends to the edge of the page after trimming.
If your design does require bleed, the next step will be to check bleed has been included in your artwork.
In Canva with your design open, go to:
FILE >> MENU
Then down to:
VIEW SETTINGS
and make sure there is a tick next to the “Show print bleed” option.
This will then change your view slightly so that there is a dotted line at the page edge.
The area outside of this is the bleed area.
(see image – Bleed Area Example)
If you see white gaps around the design edges, you can resize or stretch your image element(s) to cover them.
Bleed Area Example (dotted line)
Save Your Canva Design as Print Ready Artwork
Once you have checked that there is bleed, the second step is to ensure the pdf is created to include the bleed.
If you go to “file” and “download” to open the download setting.
In the window that opens select “PDF Print” in the file type, then click on the “Crop marks and bleed” box to ensure the bleed is included in the pdfs.
(see image : File > download > PDF print)
This should then create a high-res pdf file with the bleed included.
Once you have done this, simply send us your files along with all the information about the job and we will print it for you!
File > download > PDF print
Assistance with your designs or supplying print ready artwork?
Simply drop us a line and speak to our experienced customer service staff if you would like some advice