Design Considerations for 26pt Thick Business Cards

Color Profile

Every device has its own colour space and displays colours differently. Different paper shades and textures can also have a great effect on how your image is reproduced. By using colour profiles, you can ensure that you’re seeing the image correctly on your monitor and that it will be reproduced properly on your printed product. At Jukebox our presses are calibrated using GRACol profile.

1. Download the GRACoL 2013 ICC profile into your system
2. Install the profile:
   • • Windows: You should be able to right click on the downloaded profile
       and open the “install profile” option. This will put the profile into the
       proper Windows folder. Alternately you can copy and paste the profile
       into: \WINDOWS\system32\spool\ drivers\color
     • Mac OS: Copy the file and place in either: /Library/ColorSync/Profiles or
       /User/(User Name)/Library/ColorSync/ Profiles
3. Now make GRACoL 2013 your global default setting in Adobe applications by
   choosing it as your colour working space
   • Click “Edit”>Color Settings
   • Open the Color Settings dialog box
   • Choose GRACoL 2013 as your CMYK working space

By choosing GRACoL as your working colour space you ensure that you’ll be getting an on-screen representation of your work that will closely match the printed output. If you aren’t working in GRACoL you run the risk of choosing colours that won’t reproduce well in the final piece.

Safety Margin 

Due to unavoidable shifts that occur during the production process, it is important to place any essential content of your design (text and graphics) at least 0.125” away from the edge (trim line). Content within our recommended safety margin of 0125” will not be trimmed.

The safety margin can be defined in Adobe InDesign during the document setup process or in the Margins and Columns section under Layout. In Illustrator and Photoshop, you will have to set up these guides in the document.  

Setting up proper safety margins will help avoid having your objects look as if they are about to fall off the page and ensure they are not trimmed off.

Bleed

Bleed is the artwork that extends past the trim line or finished size of your product. If any element of your artwork is designed to be printed to the edge, it must be extended past the trim line and into the bleed area by a minimum of 0.125".  

The addition of bleed compensates for uncontrollable shifts that occur during the printing and trimming process; and ensures that any content touching the edges does not leave unwanted gaps or borders.