Advertising Material Lodgment Requirements
Please remember that suppliers of digital advertising are responsible for checking the quality and integrity of their files before submission to ACP Magazines.
In summary, ACP Magazines will only accept digital files that meet the following requirements. Files that do not meet these specifications will be rejected:
- File must be a PDF version 1.3.
- All fonts must be embedded.
- All elements must be CMYK. RGB or spot colours are not allowed.
- Images must have an effective resolution of at least 150dpi. 300dpi is recommended.
- Trim size must be correct according to ACP specifications.
- 5mm bleed must be included on all sides of ad. This is in addition to the trim size.
- PDF must contain crop marks, positioned outside the bleed area.
- Files must be supplied as single pages, one PDF per page. Spreads or multipage PDFs are not allowed.
- Truetype, CID or MultipleMaster fonts are not allowed.
- Total Ink Weight must not exceed magazine specific limit (300% for papertype-1 titles, 280% for papertype-3).
ACP Magazines cannot take responsibility for accurate reproduction of advertisements if:
If you have any questions regarding the submission of digital advertising to ACP Magazines, please contact your ACP Magazines account representative or the Production Services Department.
For more detailed explanation of the main errors which occur in digital files and important points to keep in mind when preparing and submitting digital files to ACP Magazines, please read the following.
For recommendations regarding file setup, PDF creation, image resolution, separations and general best practices advice, see ACP Production user guides
Requirements and Recommendations for Submitting Digital Advertising to ACP Magazines
ACP Magazines can only accept digital ads via Quickcut or ACP Ads (selected publications ONLY) - digital files will not be accepted on disk, via email or any other content delivery system.
Quickcut -- a service provider for electronic delivery of digital files, have proven to be the most efficient method of receiving and tracking digital files at ACP Magazines. As they provide the facility to check your file for errors before it arrives, ACP Magazines recommend that you use this service so that you do not submit files which contain errors and will not print correctly. ACP Magazines do not have the resources to accept and track digital advertisements supplied by email or on disk and to repair files which have been prepared incorrectly.
For more information regarding their services please contact Quickcut:
+61 2 9467 7500 (reception) or
+61 2 9467 7602 (fax)
1300 768 988 (Tech Support)
Via the Web -- www.quickcut.com
ACP Magazines can only take responsibility for accurate colour reproduction of digital advertising material if a digital file and proof is supplied in accordance with 3DAPv3 guidelines.
ACP Magazines, in conjunction with other publishers, prepress companies and printers have been working with the 3DAP committee to create new standards for digital advertising.
The latest 3DAP specifications (3DAPv3) is based on the international printing standard ISO 12647-2 and incorporates the ISO 12647-7 tolerances for proofing quality control. More information is available at www.3DAP.com.au.
The 3DAPv3 standard encompasses different paper types. ACP has adopted ISO paper types 1 and 3, the majority of our titles falling into the paper type 1 category. A list of papertype usage per magazine can be found here. Advertisers should can also check with the relevant production controller for each title to confirm the correct paper type for proofing and CMYK separations. Supplying the correct files and proofs will allow our titles to achieve consistency in material supplied from various sources, minimising colour compromises on press. CMYK separation profiles for Photoshop is available as a free download from the 3DAP website. ACP highly recommends the use of these profiles for image preparation.
3DAPv3 Proofs and the Control Strip
In order to verify that a proof is in compliance with the 3DAPv3 proofing requirements, each proof must have the following 3DAP endorsed Control Strip printed alongside the advertising material. Use of the strip obligates the user to follow the QC procedures supplied by proof vendors to the user after approval of their individual device. ACP will reject a proof if the control strip measures outside the specification, or if the strip does not carry all of the relevant information. This wedge is only available to users of 3DAP approved proofing systems.
Material instructions - correct publication date and booking number are essential
Now that we are receiving digital files, we often do not receive material instructions and it can be difficult to track material without sufficient information. In addition to supplying material instrutions it is necessary to enter accurate details within the Quickcut software to allow us to identify your advertisement.
It is particularly important to enter the publication/run date which refers to the cover date of the title (not the on sale date) along with the unique booking reference number allocated to the advertisement.
For DPS advertisements where they are required separated into Left and Right hand pages – please be clear on which one is which.
For Consecutive advertisements where they are to appear one after the next, please advise the order in which they should appear.
Within the Quickcut ticket pPlease also advise tick the “Hard Copy Proof Supplied” check box if you will be sending a 3DAP compliant proof. Within the “Material Instructions” field please advise and what kind of proof it is (Epson or Kodak Approval etc). This information can be entered in the "Comments" field although Quickcut are endeavouring to add a specific field for this purpose.
PDF files
ACP and 3DAP recommend that PDF files are made to meet the international PDF/X-1a standard, which is available as a preset in all modern layout programs. PDF/X-1a ensures that the file you submit contains all the elements that are need for accurate print reproduction. It will also ensure that unnecessary elements that could affect the reproduction are not included. Click here for more information about creating a compliant PDF.
Images should have an effective resolution of 300dpi.
Low resolution images lead to poor print reproduction. What looks ok on screen might look a lot worse once it’s printed. Note that it’s the effective image resolution that is important, taking into account the scale factor of images in the layout program. Click here for more information of image resolution.
All files should be prepared for process colour (CMYK) separations
Special arrangements need to be made when advertisements are booked with spot colours - please contact ACP Magazines Production Services if this situation arises.
Your digital file will be rejected by ACP Magazines if it contains TrueType, MultipleMaster or CID fonts
These font types are not supported by all of our printers and therefore we will continue to check files and reject those which contain these fonts. Type 1 Postscript fonts are the only acceptable fonts. If you need to use another font type, outline it in your layout application before creating the PDF.
Your digital file will be rejected by ACP Magazines if fonts are not embedded
Fonts must be embedded in the final file and should therefore be active on your system at the time of creating the PDF file
Choose type size carefully
ACP Magazines recommend that you do not use type size smaller than 8 points as this is difficult to read. Reverse type smaller than 12 points may not reproduce well and serif and non-bold fonts smaller than 10 points may disappear into reverse areas.
Spine Allowance - what is required for double imaging
Only streamer headings or baselines of very large type can run across the gutter of a double page spread. Type or product shots should always clear the spine and should never be split.
Perfect Bound Magazines
Type must be designed to clear the spine by a minimum of 10mm each side of the spine (total 20mm) due to this space being optically lost in the spine of the magazine and therefore must be in addition to any word or letter space already present. Any critical image cross over should be double imaged across the gutter. ACP cannot take responsibility for any optical loss of an image in the gutter of a double page spread without the supply of a double imaged PDF file and accompanied digital proof. Click here for more information about setting up double imaging for perfect bound magazines.
Saddle Stitched Magazines
Titles bound by this method require type to clear the spine by 3mm, this space may include any word or letter space already present.