FAQ
Ordering FAQs
We have some in-house finishing capability, can we order flat sheet printing only?
Provided you can order in the finished sizes shown on our website or in our catalogue there is no problem in having flat sheets.
How long will it take to receive my product?
Turnaround times for all of our standard products will be displayed online when selecting your product specification. This information can also be found underneath each product pricing table in the Fresh Press Prints catalogue.
I have not received a confirmation email from Orders with a Fresh Press Prints Job Number, have you received my job?
If you do not receive an order confirmation email within a reasonable time of ordering (three working hours (9.00am to 5.00pm Monday to Friday), then there is almost certainly an order problem. Please contact Fresh Press Prints on: 0121 415 6715.
I get an error page when trying to make a payment, what do I do?
Please check you are using one of our recommended browsers, refer to Websites FAQs for details. Try deleting cookies in your browsers tools or maintenance, then refresh the page and try to make payment again. If all else fails please contact Fresh Press Prints on: 0121 415 6715.
I am unable to make payment online, what do I do?
Although we much prefer you to pay securely online we will take payment manually if necessary. We make an £8.00 + VAT administration charge for offline payments to help cover the cost of the extra staff employed.
What is the £8.00 + VAT admin charge for (on web quotes produced by Fresh Press Prints and Orders placed with your Orders team)?
Although we much prefer you to pay securely online we will take payment manually if necessary. We make an £8.00 + VAT administration charge for offline payments to help cover the cost of the extra staff employed.
Why can’t I place my order verbally / via. E-mail (replying to an e-mailed web quote rather than "click to buy online")?
We are delighted to take your order verbally or via Email. We are proud to continue to have a great team of Quotes and Order processing staff who are only too happy to take your orders over the phone, by email or by post. However, to stay in business, we must cover our costs this is why we make an £8.00 + VAT charge for this personal service.
Why are your print runs 1250 not 1000 and 2500 not 2000?
The way we achieve exceptionally low prices is by being ultra efficient in the way we print several jobs for different clients together. This efficiency is greatly enhanced by offering the quantity breaks we do. It means that in every case we can offer 1,250 and 2,500 at better prices than we could 1,000 and 2,000!! For most jobs it also means that you will not have to order so often.
Job Despatch FAQs
Has the job been despatched? I have not received a confirmation email
Unless you have been advised of a problem with artwork requiring resolution before a job can be progressed then it is certain that your job will be despatched (or be ready to collect) when we guarantee that it will be. When a job has been packed and issued to our couriers a confirmation Email will be sent to you informing you that this has been done. If you do not receive an Email on the due despatch date then you should contact us. However please do remember that we are packing and despatching parcels until 8.00 pm. It is possible that the confirmation Email will not be sent until then.
Do we deliver do the Channel Islands / Isle of Skye etc.?
We are happy to deliver to all parts of the UK, however some places cost much more to deliver to than others. Our website has carriage pricing built in for every part of the UK so simply enter your postcode on our delivery page and the cost of carriage on the goods in your basket will be calculated. Please note: The delivery to some more remote areas may not be guaranteed next day.
What happens if I am not there to receive my Delivery?
There is no doubt that courier services work best if they are able to deliver consignments first time. The pressure of having a large area to deliver to and many deliveries to make means that couriers can rarely attempt delivery twice in one day. It is most probable that if delivery cannot be made then it will not be attempted again until the next day. If delivery is attempted a card should be left stating when an attempt to deliver the consignment again will be made.
Are guaranteed delivery times available (i.e. pre 9.00am)?
Our normal delivery service is guaranteed next day, however we offer a range of quicker delivery options depending on where you live in the UK.. These are: Before 12.00 noon, Before 10.00am , Before 9.00am and Saturday morning. The most common problem with these accelerated services is that no one is at the delivery address to receive the parcel! None of the ‘Before’ services has a ‘Not Before’ stipulation! We have heard of couriers attempting delivery of these accelerated services at 7.00am!! If no one is available then a card is left and the courier may not return that day!!
How do you package your products?
We use Double walled Plain cardboard boxes for the majority of our deliveries. The rare exceptions are very light items, such as Business Cards, which are not susceptible to courier damage. These are packed in single wall boxes. We send all our production under plain cover without reference to Fresh Press Prints anywhere. In the Sender area of the delivery sheets and labels there is only an account number. Our couriers are under strict instructions not to give out the name of the sender.
Are you happy to send jobs which I have ordered directly to my customer?
We are very happy to do this and a large proportion of our consignments are sent this way.
Do you offer a Double Guarantee on items being Delivered on time?
We take huge pride in offering a completely reliable despatch service. If we say it will be despatched on Monday then it will be despatched on Monday. We would really like to extend our guarantee to delivery. The problem is, to keep our delivery charges reasonable, we must entrust jobs to a third party courier. Whilst we believe that we use the best couriers in the country (FedEx and TNT) in common with all other couriers their guarantee extends only to refunding the value of the carriage if they fail to deliver for whatever reason. We do, of course, refund the cost of carriage if a consignment is delivered late.
Artwork Preparation FAQs
What happens if there’s a problem with my artwork?
If you prepare your artwork in accordance with the advice in our Artwork Preparation Section (which is one of our top tabs) then everything should proceed smoothly. If you have paid for a Pre-Print Check then any problems there may be will be advised to you and the problem solved, either by new files or a correction at Fresh Press Prints. If you opt out of the Pre-Print Check your artwork will go through an automated system and not seen by ‘human eyes’ until it reaches the press. Errors at this stage can be costly or impossible to correct.
How do I send in artwork which is to be Spot UV varnished?
Please send a separate file, with each page exactly like your CMYK file but containing just the areas you would like Spot UV varnished in black.
If I am ordering a Booklet - do Fresh Press Prints sort out pagination / creep etc... ?
We actually prefer booklets to be sent as individual pages so that we can allow for creep and control the imposition. Please refer to our Templates.
Why can’t I order (for example) two up business cards on an 85 x 110mm cards?
You certainly can do just that and simply specify an additional cut under Optional extras, Finishing. However please remember the centre cut will be one cut so it's important that the cards do not run to bleed
I work in Microsoft Word or Corel Draw on a PC or In-Design on a Mac, etc - can you print from a file in this format?
At Fresh Press Prints we require all files to be sent to us in PDF format. However there is absolutely no restriction on the programmes you can use to create your artwork. Microsoft Word is fine and even though many purists would not call it a 'design package' we receive some really great work produced in this program. The same goes for Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, Serif Page Plus, Xara..... the list goes on. Please refer to our Templates section for details about how to prepare your files successfully for print.
Whichever program you use the important final step once you are happy with your design is to make a PDF of it. This is a very easy procedure but will require PDF creation software. The 'professional choice' would be Adobe Acrobat, buy at www.adobe.com however there are some excellent, and much cheaper PDF creation software available and we have found that DeskPDF Standard is an excellent programme for PDF creation on the PC. It is available from www.docudesk.com and costs about £13.00 (paid for in dollars). If you decide to go for this software we have produced a tutorial about setting it up for files coming to Fresh Press Prints. Please refer to Preparing your PDF for details.
The final step is to view the PDF you have created to make sure everything is as intended. The good news here is that most computers have a PDF reader installed. If your computer doesn't then just go to www.adobe.com and download Adobe Acrobat Reader. This programme is completely free!!
I have downloaded some images from the internet - can you print from them?
For best results we need pictures to be supplied at 400dpi and saved in CMYK colour. Most images found online are saved in RGB colour at 72 dpi, so whilst we could print from them the results would be very poor. For more information on how we like artwork to be supplied please go to our Templates section.
Will colours print as vibrantly on Executive Paper or Equest as they do on Gloss Art Paper?
Unfortunately there are two reasons why colours will never look as vibrant on Uncoated Materials such as Executive and Equest as they do on Coated Stocks such as Gloss, Silk or Matt Art paper. The first relates to the absorbency of the paper which means that the ink dots will spread more (Dot Gain). An extreme example of what happens can be seen if you place a dab of ink on blotting paper! This ink spreading has the effect of darkening images and colours especially colours which are dark to start with. We take measures to counteract the Dot Gain but there will always be a loss of vibrancy. The second reason is that the very nature of the material means that it reflects light differently and this will always dull the vibrancy.
Will the colour of my Full Colour Printing match the colours shown on my monitor?
Unless your monitor has been accurately calibrated to match our press then the colours on your printing will almost certainly not match what you see on screen! We produce two Fresh Press Prints Swatch Sheets (or booklets) - one for Coated Materials (Gloss, Silk or Matt Art) and the other for Uncoated Materials (Executive and Equest). Each contains many hundreds of colour swatches and each one is marked with the CMYK mix used to produce it. The advantage of our Swatch Books is that they are actually printed on the presses which will eventually be used to print your work. Whichever programme you are using for your design you can be sure that if you use the CMYK values shown on our sheets then that is the colour you will get on your finished job (within printing tolerances). The Fresh Press Prints Swatch Books also contain a Hard Copy of the calibration image 'Ole No Moiré'. This can be used to greatly improve the colour accuracy of your monitor.
Will the colour of my printing match the colour hard copy I have printed out on my desktop printer?
Unless calibration between your desktop printer and our presses has been carried out the answer is most likely to be no! It is really dangerous to print something out on an un-calibrated printer and 'assume' that is how it will print. Our Fresh Press Prints Swatch Books (which can be ordered) are useful for this too. They contain a hard copy image which can also be downloaded. If you print out the image on your printer and compare it with the image in our Swatch Book you will be able to see how closely matched they are. Most desktop printers allow calibration to adjust the colours and by altering the amount of Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black it is possible to make the printouts match the calibration hard copy supplied in the Swatch Book. After that you can have more confidence that the output from your printer will match the finished print.
If you would like your printing to match to a colour hard copy then please state this in your order and send the hard copy in the post to us. We will ensure that we match to it as closely as possible and if there is going to be a problem in matching it then we will contact you and let you know.
What is the difference between Full Colour Printing and Spot Colour Printing?
Full Colour Printing uses four inks mixed in different quantities to produce multicolour images. The colour of these four inks is Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. Colour produced using these inks is referred to as process colour, CMYK or Full Colour Printing. Almost any colour can be produced by mixing these four inks but the gamut of CMYK (the range of colours which are possible to produce) is much more limited than the gamut of a Monitor or the gamut that you can see with your eyes.
Spot Colour Printing is a method that uses a different ink for each colour required. By using a single ink for each colour it is possible to achieve exceptional fidelity between print runs and good matching to either existing printing, or to colours from the Pantone (Pantone is the company which produces the standard colour definitions used throughout the print industry) Spot Colour swatches. If your printing only requires one, two or three colours, spot colour printing may have an economical advantage over full colour printing. However the main reason to opt for Spot Colours is if a colour needs to be extremely precise or falls outside that range of colour which can be produced using CMYK printing. For example, if you need to reproduce a very specific colour for a corporate logo or to match an existing piece of printing, Spot Colours Printing may be the best solution.
It is also possible to print using CMYK printing for images and most of the text plus Spot Colour for a particular colour which needs to be especially vibrant. If you have a project like that and would like to get prices please go to Non Standard printing.
Why do you need jobs supplied in CMYK?
Our Full Colour Printing Process uses Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black inks to produce Full Colour. If you design in RGB and supply files in RGB we must convert them to CMYK to print them. We can, and do, make this conversion. However the change from RGB to CMYK can change colours (because they are outside the CMYK gamut). It is better that it is done on files before they are sent so that you have complete control of the conversion and on how your finished job will look.
Why should Black and white images be supplied in greyscale?
Black and White images can be sent in CMYK Format but then the blacks will be made up of elements of Cyan, Magenta and Yellow as well as Black. If there is even a tiny shift in the colour balance during printing the images can end up with a cast (a yellow or magenta or cyan hue). If Black and white images are sent greyscale then they will only ever be made up of shades of black.
Why do you recommend images need to be 400dpi size for size?
Whilst we regularly print work with images at lower resolutions we always advise clients before doing so (if a Pre Print Check has been requested) because images which are lower resolution do not print as well. Edges can appear jagged and the picture is simply not as crisp. If you are aware that lower resolution images have been used but the ‘fault’ cannot be rectified please mention this in your order Special Instructions. This will save you being contacted unnecessarily.
I want a really fantastic print job shall I send my images at 1200dpi size for size?
Our Stochastic Screening gives perfect, near photographic quality but it will not be any better if the files are 400dpi or 1200dpi. Working at a higher resolution simply means images are ‘oversampled’. It means you are sending more information than is required. Files end up being much bigger that needs be and take longer to upload to no gain. Please do bear in mind that it should be 400dpi size for size. If you enlarge a 400dpi image to twice the size in your design, it effectively becomes a 200dpi image. You would need an 800dpi image to enlarge it to twice the size and still be 400dpi.
Why do you require fonts embedded in PDF files?
Before PDFs we had a huge issue with fonts. People used to send us the fonts they used in their design even though, legally, we should have bought every font we used. This was an impractical proposition which was widely recognised in the print industry. With PDFs all the font information required to print the document comes encapsulated in the file. This means we do not need the fonts used in the document to print it. If a PDF is sent without fonts embedded we are back to the start, needing fonts again which is not a productive way forward for Fresh Press Prints or yourselves. Please refer to our section on Preparing your PDF.
Why can’t I just design a three panel A4 folded to a third A4 with equal panels?
The reason that we ask for uneven panels is to allow for the loss of length of paper as it stretches around a 180 Degree bend. This becomes a bigger and bigger issue the thicker the paper used. If even panels are used there is simply not enough material after the two folds to make the third panel!! We strongly recommend downloading the appropriate template from our Templates section.
What is Bleed and Quiet Border?
Please refer to our Templates for files with appropriate bleeds and margins.
Understanding the need for Bleed and a Quiet Border is vital if, as partners, we are going to achieve our joint aim of an excellent finished print job. We require Bleed to allow for the tolerance of our guillotines (the machine used for cutting your job after printing). Even with our state of the art equipment there is a margin of error with the operation.
If your image finishes exactly at the edge of your required finished size then these small deviations may produce unsightly white flashes at the edge of your print. By extending your background colour or image beyond the edge of your finished job the effects of the same deviations are not noticeable.
We recommend that elements intended to go to the very edge of your finished job should extend 3mm beyond the edge.
A Quiet Border is the distance you should allow from the edge of your finished page size for text, diagrams or images not going to bleed. The reason for the border is again the tolerance in cutting. If you have a design where the text runs to the very edge then any cutting deviation will result in some of your text being cut off!!
With a very small Quiet Border even the smallest cutting deviation could result in the finished job looking uneven. We recommend a Quiet Border where there is no text etc. of at least 5mm around the edges of your job.
Why do my lines print fine on my desktop print but look much too fine on my finished print?
Most Desktop printers work at 300dpi, this means the thinnest line they can produce is 0.083mm. If your artwork has a line of 0.007 mm then it will still print as a 0.083mm line because that is the thinnest it can go. But our Platesetter works at 3800dpi so the thinnest line it can draw is 0.0065mm! In this case the line will look ten times thinner on our Platesetter. If you want to see a true representation of lines on your desktop printer do not go thinner than 0.083mm.
How do I prepare Artwork for Spot Colour?
We have found that it is easier to design for Spot Colour using channels of Full Colour. The steps to be used are:
Step 1) Decide what Spot Colours you require on the finished job. For this example we will use Pantone Reflex Blue and Pantone 032.
Step 2) Decide what CMYK Colours to use for each of the Spot Colours. In this case we will say that everything which will eventually be Reflex Blue will be designed in Cyan and everything to eventually be 032 will be designed in Magenta.
Step 3) Commence designing. Use Cyan for Reflex Blue Text, use Magenta for 032 text. If there is a Reflex Blue Photo then work on this in Photoshop and make sure that it is only a Cyan Image. Save it and import it in to the document. If you are going to have a Duotone photo then make the two tones Cyan and Magenta. When the Duo tone looks the way you want it to convert it to CMYK save and import it. For a graphic in (say) Corel use the Magenta and Cyan colours from a CMYK palette.
Step 4) Save the finished job and print it to get approval from the client. Of course the print you show the client will be entirely the wrong colours - Cyan and Magenta. You should show them swatches of Reflex Blue and 032 together with the print. In our experience this is one of the BEST things about using the CMYK technique for Spot Colour! The reason for this is that if you design in true Reflex Blue and 032 then the print out will be a Full Colour render of these Spot Colours. No matter how many times it is explained to the client that the colours are not accurate they will usually have in their minds that the colours they are seeing on the proof are the colours they will get!!! This often ends up being ‘a discussion’ when the finished print is presented. By producing proofs with ‘entirely wrong’ colours to those required this comparison does not arise.
Step 5) Order the printing online clearly stating, in the Special Instructions text box, that the Cyan is to be printed in Reflex Blue and the Magenta in 032.
The technique works well for jobs with up to four Spot Colours. In our experience very few jobs are more colours than this.
My PDF is A4 but I would like it printed at A2, can you do that?
We are happy to enlarge (or reduce) from one ‘A’ size to another (eg A4 to A3 or A2 to A4). Please bear in mind when enlarging that the resolution of images is being reduced. We will not undertake differential enlargements or reductions (where the job must be reduced more in one direction than the other (eg conversion from American letter to A4). In our experience this can lead to unexpected consequences. Such changes should be made by re-tasking the original design. Please clearly state your requirements for reduction / enlargement in special instructions.
How can I achieve bleed in Word?
There are ways in which Word can be used to successfully produce designs with bleed. Please refer to the microsoft help service.
Website FAQs
Why is the Fresh Press Prints website not working as well as it should?
If you come across a problem with the site we would be very grateful if you could let us know by completing the ‘Ask a Question’ form in the FAQs section. The more information you can give us about the problem the more efficiently we will be able to solve it. If the problem is preventing you from doing what you need to do please call Fresh Press Prints on: 0121 415 6715.
What Browser do you recommend we use with the Fresh Press Prints Site?
For the both the PC and the Mac the Fresh Press Prints website works best with the Firefox, Chrome and Safari Browsers all of which are completely free utilities. These can be downloaded and installed very quickly from www.mozilla.org/, www.google.com/chrome/ and www.apple.com/safari/ repectively. The Fresh Press Prints site has been tested with the latest editions of these browsers. If you have a problem using the site, updating to the latest edition of your browser will normally solve the problem.
The Fresh Press Prints website is not working and I need to place an order, what do I do?
We much prefer you to order online because it is a more efficient way of working. Please look at the previous question about Browsers. We also recommend that you go to your Browser Options or Tools and delete your 'Browser Cookies'. Cookies store information about websites on your computer and can become corrupt. For full information and tutorial please visit Here
If all else fails please do give us a call. Fresh Press Prints on: 0121 415 6715. We will be pleased to take your order manually. In these circumstances the £8.00 admin fee will be waived.
Miscellaneous FAQs
Do Fresh Press Prints print on recycled stock?
We are passionate about the environment and we re-cycle every spare sheet of paper and packaging we possibly can. We strongly urge you to do the same. The difference in cost between reusing paper and starting from scratch is huge. However this re-cycling is NOT the same as using recycled paper. Re-cycling means using material again and in this context it means turning used letterheads, flyers etc into stocks which do not need to be white so that the ink from the first use is not relevant. Such stocks include Newsprint and Packaging.
Re-cycled Letterhead and Leaflet Paper means taking used material and cleaning it to make it pristine white again. However ‘green’ the cleaning process is, it does not make sense to siphon off used paper and clean it, while at the same time virgin forests are being felled to make Newsprint and Packaging grades!!
This has been our stance for some years now, however the situation is changing. As the proportion of paper which is recycled has increased the percentage of Newsprint and Packaging made from virgin pulp has considerably reduced. We are now at the stage where there is more surplus used paper than can be used in Newsprint and Packaging and so, finally, recycling in to Letterhead and Flyer grades makes sense. Fresh Press Prints have decided to launch a 100% recycled range later this year.
Is the setup charge for personalised reseller catalogues a one off charge or applicable each time we order catalogues?
The setup charge for Reseller Catalogues is a one off charge. If you require additional Catalogues later in the year then we will simply charge the ongoing unit price for these.
Ask a Question
If you have a question which is not covered anywhere in these FAQs then the chances are lots of other people would appreciate having the answer too! Please pose the question here and we will answer you directly. We may also post your question and our reply in our FAQs section.