Chromaly Print Shop is Austin's go-to destination for high-quality promotional branding solutions. Every print shop has customers that prefer to use their own imagination in their design work.
That’s perfectly fine!
However, when you send those files to your printer, it’s good to send them files that they can work with the optimize the final output of your printed materials.
Canva is great for designing visually compelling materials that convert the end user into a lead. Canva can be a powerful tool in your marketing umbrella, especially when combined with professional printing services.
Why Use Canva for Print Marketing?
Canva is a user-friendly, online graphic design tool that has revolutionized the way businesses create marketing materials. Canva’s intuitive platform offers a number of design options to suit your brand’s needs– everything from flyers and brochures to posters and business cards. But to move from digital art to promotional prints, there are critical steps and settings to ensure the best quality in your printed materials.
Exporting Your Canva Design for Print
The first step seems obvious, but for good measure we’ll explain. Before you export your design, make sure all elements are correctly aligned, text is proofread, and colors match your brand’s palette. Use Canva’s grid and ruler tools to maintain balance and proportion in your layout.
Take note of the fonts you used, the color HEX code, and any special features required for possible enhancement by your printer.
The reason is because when the file comes over in the correct format, it’s a vector. A vector file contains objects, so all of the fonts you used, if they need to be modified in any way, will be to be typed out again and converted to a vector again for printing.
When you’re ready to export, it’s important that you choose the right file type.
For most print jobs, PDF is your best bet. It preserves the layout and quality of your design across different platforms and devices. Canva allows you to download designs in various formats, including PDF, PNG, and JPEG.
Here’s how to select the right format for your needs:
PDF Print: Ideal for flyers, posters, and brochures, this format saves your design at 300 DPI (dots per inch), which is the standard for high-quality prints.
PNG: Best for web, but can be used for small print pieces like business cards. If you send your printer this file type, it’s likely some work will need to be done if the file needs to be enlarged for a big file (e.g.brochure, etc.).
Small files like postcards, sometimes door hangers,envelopes, event tickets, etc. tend to work well with PNG file.
JPEG: Suitable for designs with gradients but not recommended for text-heavy designs as it might introduce artifacts.
JPEG files are generally not accepted by print shops. If it’s an image only (no text), printers can use these files, but as you add text, you tend to add granularity to the final print output.
To avoid white edges around your printed materials, set up margins and bleed correctly. Bleed extends the design slightly beyond the final cut size to ensure edge-to-edge color. Canva provides an option to include a bleed setting when you download your design. Always enable this feature to ensure the edges of your prints are not white.
As a heads up, Canva DOES NOT allow you to adjust the margin and bleed. They have a standard of 1/8" which is a standard for the printing industry as well.
The option for margin and bleed settings is part of the download. It's a small check box... check it out below.
Once your design is complete and settings are adjusted,download your file:
- Click on the‘Share’ button at the top right corner of the screen.
- Select ‘Download’.
- Choose ‘PDF Print’ to download your design as a high-resolution PDF, suitable for printing.
- Choose ‘CMYK (Best for Professional Printing)' to download your design as a high-resolution PDF, suitable for printing.
To guarantee your printed materials look as good in personas they do on screen, here are a few key requirements:
- Resolution: Minimum of 300 DPI.
- Color Mode: CMYK is preferred for full-color printing, though some printers can accurately convert from RGB (it's pretty rare though).
- File Format: PDF is preferred for its versatility and reliability.
- Size Specifications: Ensure your design dimensions match the product you are printing (e.g., A4 for flyers).
And that’s all folks. You can minimize the risk of print errors and ensure your marketing materials are produced to the highest standards.
At Chromaly Print Shop, we understand the importance of quality in print marketing. Using Canva for your design needs can be a game-changer, and with the right preparation, your printed materials will look great.If you’re in Austin or the surrounding areas, don't hesitate to contact us for your printing needs or feel free to request a quote here, and we’ll give you a call!
