For most of our items, Mint Printing Australia only accepts finished artwork in PDF format with the following specifications:
• Photos and illustration resolution should be 300dpi.
• All colours converted to CMYK - no PMS colours, RGB, LAB etc.
• Fonts should be embedded or outlined.
• Crop/trim marks included with minimum 3mm bleed.
• Text and Important content to be 3mm away from the crop/trim marks (the safe text zone).
Some specialty items have different specifications, guides, or templates, and this is discussed with the client before commencing.
Mint Printing Australia will check submitted artwork files to confirm that they are print-ready. If files are submitted incorrectly, we will ask you to resubmit the files or failing that, attempt to fix them on our end. Any resulting artwork fees will be discussed with the client ahead of time.
General Artwork Specifications

"Trim/crop" is the border of your artwork specifying where it is to be cut. It defines the final size of the piece. “Trim” and “Crop” are interchangeable terms. Trim lines are represented by a vertical and horizontal hairlines marked on each corner of the page (see example to the left). In layout programs such as Adobe InDesign, when you export your artwork to PDF, a dialogue box asks if you want to include Crop and Bleed marks. Tick both of these then specify how much bleed. We recommend 3mm as a minimum.
"Bleed" is a printed area that extends beyond the trim. Allowing 3mm bleed guarantees that you won’t see a thin white line if the piece is cut fractionally to the left or right. It is basically and extra 3mm of artwork on all edges to safeguard against shifts when trimming.
"The Safe Text Zone" is a 3mm buffer zone within the trim line that ensures important text or graphics are not cut off when the document is trimmed down (see example on the left). Our print registration and finishing equipment is extremely accurate however it is best practice to include 3mm bleed and a 3mm safe text buffer.
Trim, Bleed, and The Safe Text Zone
Click to download a detailed PDF version of this image.

Bitmap (Raster) vs Vector
A bitmap (or raster) image (e.g. JPG, PNG, GIF) is made up of thousands of tiny set-size square pixels that cannot be enlarged without stretching/scaling each tiny square. This makes the image look blurry or "pixelated" at bigger sizes. The number of pixels within an image is the “resolution”. The more pixels within the image, the smoother and sharper it looks. Bitmap images need to be supplied at a minimum resolution of 300dpi (dots per inch).
Vector graphics (e.g. PDF, AI, EPS, SVG) are comprised of paths, which are defined by a start and end point, along with other points, curves, and angles along the way. A path can be a line, a square, a triangle, or a curvy shape. These paths can be used to create simple drawings or complex diagrams. Each point has a defined position on the X and Y axis meaning the file information can be exported and scaled to any size without distortion. When text is converted to outlines, it then goes from bitmap to vector and can be scaled to any size, remaining crisp and smooth. This is why we recommend outlining all text when supplying artwork.
