You can download our pre-formatted start file

Create your own file from scratch...

To create new document select File > New > Document. For business cards, your Page Size should be 3.34" x 2.17", Margins should be 0.1" and Bleed should be 0.1". For postcards the Page Size should be 5.85" x 4.13", Margins should be 0.1" and bleed should be 0.06". Slug should be 0 in all cases.

Page sizes for other products can be found here.

Trim and text area

Your document should now look something like this. The color of your guides may be different, that’s fine.

You are now ready to create your design within this template.

You can now design your cards within this template. The only items that should touch the outer 'bleed' line are those that 'bleed' off the edge of your card. For more information on "bleed", please refer to our file preparation tutorial. The edge of your artboard shows where the cards will be cut. You should try to keep all your text and images within the inner 0.1" margin box to avoid the possibility of anything being 'clipped'.

Use the Info palette (Window > Info) to ensure any images you use have an Effective Resolution of at least 300ppi and that the color Space is CMYK.

Very fine text, rules and keylines should be avoided, especially if in a pale color or white out of a dark color.

Ensure none of your artwork is set to overprint. This option can be found in View > Overprint Preview.

Saving your artwork

Once you have completed you design, save your file as a .indd file. This file is your back-up should you need to make changes in the future. You should NOT upload this file!

Now export the file as an Adobe PDF. (File > Export). It is important that you select the following settings correctly to ensure your file prints correctly.

(Different versions of InDesign may have these settings on different tabs/pages, if you are unsure, please call and ask us)

General

Standard: PDF/X-1a:2001

Compatibility: Acrobat 4 (PDF 1.3)

Pages: Range 1-1

Options: All boxes should be unchecked, in older version Standard and Compatibilty may be in this section and should be set as above..

Include: All should be unchecked.

Compression

All sections should be set to Do Not Downsample and Compression should be set to None.

Compress Text and Line Art should be unchecked.

Crop Image Data to Frames should be checked.

Marks and Bleeds

Marks: All boxes should be unchecked.

Bleed and Slug: Use Document Bleed Settings should be checked, this will populate the boxes with the value you entered when making the new document.

Include Slug Area should be unchecked.

Output

color: color Conversion: Convert to Destination (Preserve Numbers)

Destination: US Web Coated (SWOP) v2

PDF/X: Output Intent Profile Name: US Web Coated (SWOP) v2

Advanced

Fonts: Subset ... less than should be 100%

Transparency Flattener: Preset: High Resolution

Ignore Spread Overrides should be unchecked

Create JDF File Using Acrobat should be unchecked.

Security

You should not set any passwords for your document.

Summary

This will show a list of all the choices you have made.

You should now Save Preset... and call it Goodprint, this will save you having to set all these choices again next time.

Click Export to save your PDF file.