When it comes to printing on to CD, DVD or Blu-Ray there are a few things to watch out for. Here are a few useful tips we’ve picked up over the years that we’d like to share with you.
1. Idea – Think about how the image will look when on a disc. Lot’s of people create artwork that doesn’t allow for the hole in the middle of the disc as well as the fact the disc is circular to start with. It sounds a simple one but you would be surprised at the amount of people who don’t think about this.
2. Disc Sizes- The standard size for a CD, DVD and Blu-Ray disc is 120mm x 120mm. When you create you artwork make sure you’re working on a page that’s this size.
3. Resolution – You need to be creating your artwork at 300pdi minimum to make sure there is no loss of quality when saved and imported into the printing software.
4. The Inner Circle – When you’re designing your artwork to send to a printer or to use with your disc printer DO NOT put your own white circle in the middle of the disc. This is the most common fault with artwork. Nearly all disc printers have their own mask they use when printing. This mask will have been adjusted to make sure it’s lined up perfectly with the discs it’s printing on. Whenever we print artwork that has the circle removed in the image itself it’s never aligned right or the right size. This is what leads to a little white, half moon shaped image appearing on your discs center. Leave your artwork solid and the printer will handle the rest.
5. Bleed – It’s the same with the outer edge. Don’t create your artwork with a circle around the edge. The image to create is a 120x120mm square. Of course don’t put anything you need in the corners but this will make sure you have no white rings around the outside. Let the printer take care of the clipping.
6. Colours- Most disc printers are CMYK (Cyan Magenta Yellow & Black) so you should set your artwork up in this way. The main problem here is that most printers don’t colour match. So you may have a pantone ref to use or it might look right on the screen but that doesn’t mean it will print that colour. Monitors vary and can be very misleading and don’t always tell you what the print will look like. If you have specific colours that you need to match then it might be a little trial and error that’s needed. Sometimes this is the only way to achieve what you need.
If you stick to these guidelines you should be fine but if you’re unsure, would like to talk any problems through or just want to outsource your disc printing then feel free to contact us at Handisc.
Call 01264 335118 or Email info@handisc.co.uk
Thank you
Handisc Support
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