PDF preferred
Print-ready PDF/X-1a or PDF/X-4 is the format to aim for. Most design tools (Canva, InDesign, Affinity Publisher, Word with care) export to PDF cleanly.
Artwork & file guide
What we need to print your book.
The eight things to get right in a print-ready yearbook PDF, plus the most common mistakes — and what to do if you don't have a print-ready PDF and want help.
- In-house UK production
- Paperback & hardback options
- Premium thread-sewn binding
- School-friendly support
- Reliable leavers' deadlines
Eight things every print-ready PDF needs.
Don’t panic if you’re not sure about all of these — every order gets a preflight check before printing, and we’ll flag anything that looks off. The list below is what we’re checking against.
Correct page size
Set your document to the trim size of the printed book (A5, A4, etc.) right from the start — don't design at A4 and resize later.
Bleed
Add 3mm bleed on every edge for any image or background colour that runs to the edge. Without bleed, you get a thin white line at the edge of the page after trimming.
Safe margins
Keep important content (text, faces, titles) at least 5mm in from the trim edge. Things drift slightly during binding — the safe area protects them.
Embedded fonts
All fonts must be embedded in the PDF (most exports do this automatically; check your settings if you're not sure).
High-resolution images
300 DPI at print size is the target. Avoid screenshots, low-res social media downloads, and small images stretched up to fill a page.
Cover spine
Hardback covers need the right spine width for the page count. We'll calculate this for you and supply a cover template before you start.
Single pages, not spreads
Export single pages, not facing-page spreads, unless your workflow specifically requires spreads. Single pages give us more flexibility for binding.
Common mistakes
What we see most often.
- Text or faces too close to the trim edge
- Low-resolution images stretched to fill a page
- Missing or wrong bleed
- Pages exported as spreads when single pages were needed
- RGB images that look saturated on screen but dull in print
- Cover artwork without spine accounted for
- Hyperlinks left in the PDF (they don't print, but they sometimes break export)
Don’t have a print-ready PDF?
We can lay it out for you.
Plenty of schools come to us with a Word document, a folder of photos and a list of profiles — not a finished PDF. That’s fine. Our typesetting service takes raw content and produces the laid-out book.
Pricing is fixed-price per page, agreed up front, with revision rounds included. Get in touch with what you’ve got and we’ll quote it cleanly.
Start your yearbook
A school yearbook should be exciting, not stressful.
Tell us your year group, page count and deadline. We’ll come back with the right format and an honest price within one working day.