Print Only Service

Getting your letterpress just right

Letterpress presses ink into thick, soft card for a beautiful debossed finish you can see and feel. If you'd like letterpress on your own design, please read through these guidelines before requesting a quote.

File Setup

• Supply a high resolution, print ready PDF
• Set up your file in millimetres, not pixels
• Letterpress needs vector artwork. Text (including Canva text) is fine, but photos, bitmap images and artwork made in Photoshop can't be letterpressed
• Set anything you'd like letterpressed to 100% black: C0 M0 Y0 K100, or #000000 in Canva
• Please don't set your artwork in the ink colour itself. Just let me know your ink colour in your quote request
• Guest names can't be letterpressed, as each plate is custom-made. Print them digitally instead (see my guest name printing guidelines)

Ink Colours

Letterpress inks are Pantone Uncoated (PMS U) colours, carefully mixed by hand. You can choose 1, 2 or 3 ink colours. Each colour needs its own plate, so if your design has more than one colour, please let me know which parts are which.

A few things to know:

• Blind letterpress (pressed with no ink) counts as a colour too, as it needs its own plate. For example, black text with a blind border is 2 colours
• Letterpress inks are slightly translucent, so your ink colour needs to be darker than your card. Light or white ink won't show on darker card
• A design printed on both sides in one colour also needs 2 plates

Lines & Text

• Keep all lines and strokes at least 0.25pt thick
• Where there are small gaps between letters or lines, use at least 1pt
• In Canva, text at 8pt or smaller will usually be too thin to print well
• Not sure? In Illustrator or InDesign, draw a 0.25pt line and compare it against the finest parts of your design

Letterpress With Printing

Combining letterpress with digitally printed text or colour? Please supply a 3 page PDF:

• Page 1: digitally printed elements only
• Page 2: letterpress elements only
• Page 3: the full design combined, so I can see how it should look

Digital printing can move up to 2mm as the card runs through the press, so I recommend leaving about 7mm between letterpress and printed elements. Avoid designs where the two need to line up exactly.

Choosing Your Card

Letterpress gives the deepest, most beautiful impression on thick, soft card. Not sure which stock to choose? Mention it in your quote request and I'll recommend the best option for your design, or explore my card stock guide.

Not sure if your design suits letterpress? Send it through with your quote request and I'll let you know. For general file setup, see my print guidelines.