Before you start designing your artwork, it's important to choose the right template. Canva provides a range of templates available for commercial or professional printing products such as templates for business card printing, or more common products such as flyer printing and greeting card printing. In this article, we choose a poster as an example to show you the A to Z guide to prepare the artwork file for commercial printing. Please note that the steps are the same for all products! 

When selecting a template, make sure it's the right size and format for your printing needs. For example, if you're designing a poster, you'll want to select a template that's suitable for A1, A2, or A3 sizes. Additionally, you can always adjust the size of the file according to your desire.

Once you've selected your template, it's time to start designing your artwork. Canva provides a range of tools to help you create beautiful designs, including text, images, and shapes. When designing your artwork, keep in mind the printing process. For example, if you're using images, make sure that they are uploaded in a high-resolution format so they will not appear blurry when printed. You should also avoid using small text, as it may not be readable when printed.

After finalising your design, you might want to give attention to the file preparation process, it's important to set up your bleed and margin correctly before sending it off to the printers. Initially, our advice for the bleed size is 3mm. This advice strictly applies to all software when preparing your artwork for printing. 

Unfortunately, the bleed setting in Canva is fixed and cannot be changed. Therefore, to avoid any risks, it's best to ensure that all of your important text, visuals, or design elements are not too close to the edge or within the margin. This means that you'll want to keep your important design elements within the safe area of the document. You can refer to the picture above to understand where are the bleed and margin located in your design. By taking the time to adjust your design and ensuring that everything is set up correctly, you'll be able to send your artwork off to print with confidence, knowing that it will turn out as you intended.

Once you've finished designing your artwork, it's time to export it for printing. Canva provides a range of file formats for exporting your design, including PDF, PNG, and JPEG.

You'll want to use high-quality PDF file. Now here’s the step-by-step to get the right file format for printing your artwork



To download the file, click on Share > Download

Choose the right file format which in this case is > PDF Print

Under the PDF Print file type, select > Crop marks and bleed > select the page(s) that you want to print and > choose CMYK colour profile > select Download > Done!

*Please note the CMYK option is only avaliable for premium customers.
For all free accounts please select RGB

Before uploading your artwork, please check it for errors. Make sure to check the spelling and grammar, as well as the placement of images and text.