Pre-designing your cards before uploading to MOO is recommended for design professionals or those very comfortable with graphic design applications. Technical knowledge is required to use our templates and to save your work in the best format for print.
Helpful Tips for Designing Your Cards
Set Color Mode to CMYK
No spot colors. We use Coated GRACol-2006 ICC profiles.
Include a 2mm Bleed
Extend all backgrounds to this area to ensure edge-to-edge printing.
Maintain a 2mm Safe Area
Keep all important elements within this area to avoid trimming.
Avoid Crops and Printer's Marks
These are applied by MOO as we send your files to print.
High-Resolution Images
All images should be at least 300 dpi for crisp printing.
Flatten Transparency & Turn Off Overprint
This ensures your design prints as expected.
Set Opacity Above 40%
For the best print quality, avoid using low opacity settings.
Use Font Sizes 8pt and Higher
This ensures the best legibility in print.
Avoid Rich Blacks
Use 100% K black for crisper, more legible text.
Use Appropriate Line Weights
Thicker lines print better. We recommend 0.5pt and above.
5 Rules for Designing the Perfect Fit
- Account for Bleed and Safe Areas: Fill the bleed area with background colors or images, and keep important elements within the safe area.
- Submit Vector-Based PDFs: For designs with graphics or text, use vector formats. We recommend applications like Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, or recent versions of Adobe Photoshop. Note: Saving text as JPEG may result in 'fuzzy' edges.
- Ensure High-Resolution Images: When using photography and text, use images at 300 dpi and save your final design as a PDF.
- Pre-flight Your PDFs: Use the 'Adobe PDF/X-1a:2001' preset when saving. This option is available in Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, and recent versions of Adobe Photoshop.
- Save Designs as Single-Page PDFs: Save each design as a separate single-page PDF for easy uploading.