Design Checklist: Does your design include everything you need on it to be successful?

Designing marketing and print material can be overwhelming. There's so much marketing science out there that every tiny decision seems to have a thousand expert opinions attached to it. But here's the truth: if you like your design and you know your customers, you're already on the path to success.

Let's cut through all the marketing noise and keep things simple. We've put together a practical print design checklist that'll help ensure you don't miss anything crucial before your artwork goes to print.

Design Checklist#

What makes design truly effective? It's memorable, catchy, clear, and builds your <a href="/blog/clusters/branding-identity" class="internal-link text-[#007756] hover:text-[#005d42] underline font-medium">brand identity</a>. Here's what you need to check before hitting submit:

• 1##### Does it have your logo?

Your logo is your company's face. Make sure it's consistently placed and clearly visible on all your printed materials!

• 1##### Does your design feature a call to action?

What's the point of this piece? If you want to inform, include detailed and accurate information. If you want people to buy your product, tell them exactly how and why they should.

• 1##### Have you proofread?

A poll from Standing Dog Interactive found that only 3% of people didn't mind errors. That means 97% of people noticed and disliked typos. Ouch! Poor proofreading is a silly mistake that can make or break your product's success.

<AcademyProTip>Triple-read your work, get someone else to check it, and run it through Grammarly to catch those sneaky errors.</AcademyProTip>

• 1##### Have you graphic proofed?

Graphic proofreading means polishing the visual appeal. Sometimes long sentences look awkward in print, words split badly at line ends, or text spacing goes haywire. Give your work a visual once-over – it'll make a huge difference to how people receive your message.

• 1##### Confirm image size and resolution!

The difference between a 300 dpi and 72 dpi file is like comparing a Porsche with that beat-up Suzuki you drove in university. Double-check your image resolution before printing to avoid cheap-looking, fuzzy graphics.

Stick to 300 dpi or higher, but save your design files in the highest resolution possible. Here's another crucial point: if a printer has to blow up an image more than 20% of its original size, you'll see quality loss. Send over your highest resolution files and let the manual resizing process handle the rest.

• 1##### Colour Modes

Time to get a bit technical. When you're designing on your computer or tablet, you're probably using Red-Green-Blue (RGB) colour spectrums. That's normal. But most printers use a different system called <a href="/blog/clusters/artwork-prep" class="internal-link text-[#007756] hover:text-[#005d42] underline font-medium">CMYK</a> spectrum, which adds different colour shades to create the right hues. RGB works by taking colour away instead.

Think of it this way: both your computer and the printer speak English, but the printer's from North Wales and keeps using terms that your South African English-speaking computer doesn't quite get. Easy to misunderstand instructions, right? Same concept applies to colour spectrums.

<AcademyProTip>Fix this by setting your design software to CMYK spectrum through your colour settings. Your printer will thank you!</AcademyProTip>

• 1##### Make sure you set your trimming, crop, and bleed boundaries!

When you upload your file, there'll be a section beyond the print area designated as safety excess. These are crop marks or lines showing where your design gets cut. Sometimes your design will bleed past these – that's perfectly fine!

Bleed and crop lines give your design that professional, edge-to-edge feel. Much more immersive and compelling than white borders.

• 1##### Select the right paper!

Now for the fun part! You've survived the technical talk about resolution, crop lines, and colour spectrums. Time to pick your paper! Paper type creates texture, visual appeal, and tactile feel. There's a paper for every effect you want to achieve.

<AcademyQuote>Matte paper looks formal and works brilliantly for <a href="https://www.printulu.co.za/product/brochures" class="internal-link text-[#007756] hover:text-[#005d42] underline font-medium">brochures</a> and booklet interiors, while gloss adds that premium shine for marketing materials.</AcademyQuote>

For more paper questions, contact our team – we love talking paper!

<AcademyDadJoke>Why don't printers ever get lost? Because they always know where to find their margins!</AcademyDadJoke>

Working through this design checklist is your best bet for keeping projects streamlined, moving smoothly, and hitting their mark every time.