Printing your files

Every design here is made to be printed at home on a normal printer, or handed to a print shop. This page covers the things that most often go wrong.

What you download

Two files: a JPEG and a PDF, both at 300 DPI.

  • Use the PDF when you are sending the job to a print shop. It keeps the size exact.
  • Use either when you print at home.

Print at the size listed, not “fit to page”

Sizes are given in inches — a 5×7 invitation, an 8×10 sign, an 18×24 poster. Set your printer, or your print shop, to that exact size, and turn off any “fit to page”, “scale to fit” or “shrink to fit” option. Those settings quietly resize the design and change the finished dimensions.

Printing at home

  • Print on card stock rather than ordinary paper — most people use something in the region of 200–300 gsm (about 80–110 lb). Ordinary paper works for a quick proof, but it will feel flimsy for an invitation.
  • Print one copy first, check the size and the colours, then print the batch. It saves both ink and card stock.
  • If your printer cannot print to the edge of the page, trim the card along the edge of the design with a trimmer or a sharp blade and a steel ruler.

Printing at a shop

Send them the PDF, tell them the exact size from the product page, and mention that the file is already 300 DPI. For anything larger than A4, a print shop or an online poster printer is usually cheaper and better than a home printer. For a big order, ask for one proof copy before they run the whole batch.

Colour

A screen glows; printed ink does not. Expect your print to look a little softer and slightly deeper than it does on your phone. This is normal and it is not a fault in the file.

Signs, posters and banners

Large sizes are meant to be printed as a poster — by a shop, an online printer, or on a wide-format printer if you have access to one. Printing an 18×24 design on a desktop printer at a smaller size will work, but it will no longer be 18×24.

If you would rather not print it yourself

A small number of designs are available printed and posted, marked as printed products on their product page. There are two kinds. Printed invitations are made to order: leave your wording in the order note at checkout, and you are sent a proof to approve before anything is printed. They ship within the United States only, and take five to nine business days from approval to arrival. Printed posters are fixed wording with nothing to personalise and no proof step: they are printed to order in the United States, and take about 10 business days for printing plus shipping time — roughly two to three weeks in the US, longer elsewhere. Each printed product's page states its own timing, so check there before you order.

Questions about a particular design? Ask us — we would rather answer before you order than fix it after.