Artwork Set Up Guide

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WV HEROTIME

ARTWORK SET UP GUIDE

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Let’s get your artwork ready!

Before submitting your artwork, please make sure you follow this guide carefully. The better the files, the faster the game will be produced and the better it will look.

Artwork Set Up Guide

Note: Your project may have issues that incur additional costs if this guide is not followed carefully!

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How to make sure your graphic design for print is printed well? There are four areas that make the most significant difference when making a graphic design for print. On the following pages we’ll go into each in detail so you can ensure your files are perfect!

You can also view all this information on our Youtube playlist https://www.youtube.com/ playlist?list=PLCS1rWvDVjF44CLfYSvnn4kwmdWQstoD7

Artwork Set Up Guide

Setting up the specifications of your files

Managing your colors perfectly well

Make sure your text will be crispy sharp and not missing details

The file is kept and handled well

It is important to note that this extensive list is necessary if you want your artwork and game to come out perfect. Though most manufacturers, publishers, and players may not notice these issues, we want to make sure you are happy with the outcome. You can, of course, choose not to follow this list, but we will not be able to guarantee the quality of print in such a case!

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Setting up the specification of your file 1

Make sure the size of your file is the same as the actual printed file. Otherwise, it might get pixelated and lose its ratio as we set it up for print. You can use our Board Game Templates Generator to generate the exact files you need with bleed.

Make sure you add bleed and margins (safe area) to your files so that no important content is lost. Cut line The edge of the component when cut out. Bleed | 3mm Art should extend out to this to avoid white edges when the piece is cut out. Safe area | Min. 2mm Keep all important art elements (like text and icons) inside this area to ensure they’re not trimmed off.

Artwork Set Up Guide

We always recommend using gridlines and the alignment palette to ensure the content is aligned correctly. We will not be able to fix misaligned assets.

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The best software to use to compose your art files is Adobe Illustrator as it uses Vector Graphics instead of Pixel Graphics. However, if you must use a pixel graphic software (such as Photoshop) make sure the DPI is at least 300DPI; for textheavy artwork, it is better to have 450DPI.

Anatomy of a print-ready card! Artboard In Illustrator, the artboard is the size (in mm) of the card you require. This will be imposed into our template sheets and cut out with curved corners. Bleed 3mm bleed, to which all art should extend to. Art Created in Photoshop, or whatever art package you use. It should be embedded in the Illustrator file, ie. not be a linked file. Graphic elements / icons Things like borders, or vector icons should be layers in the file. Text Text should be a layer(s) in the file, not part of the art, to ensure crisp edges and accurate printing. Make sure to outline all text.

Artwork Set Up Guide

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Managing your colors perfectly well

Cyan Magenta Yellow Key (Black)

From the artwork stage, make sure all the assets you create are in CMYK, not RGB.

Use swatches in your file to ensure all the colors you use are identical throughout your components.

To reach the best color effect on large surface areas, do not mix colors too much. Use only two colors ( + black if needed) out of the CMYK color pallet.

Red Green Blue

SECTION 2 - EMOTIONS 11% COMPLETE

M96 Y100

LEVEL 2 - PRETTY REAL

For example: C+Y+K, or C+M+K, or M+Y+K. These use only three colors in your mixture. LET’S GET REAL BRO

04

DIG DEEP JOURNAL

M30 Y100 K10

Try your best to make sure the total percentage of colors on large surfaces does not exceed 180%. Over 180%, the ink will start becoming muddy. This is mainly for large surface areas that require a lot of ink, not tiny parts that are less ink heavy. Example: The red has a colour mix of 0% Cyan, 100% Magenta, 80% Yellow and 0% Black; totalling 180%.

Artwork Set Up Guide

If you have gradients, ideally flatten them to a PNG, not a JPG.

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Make sure your text comes out crisp

Text is mainly thin strokes of ink. Depending on the number of inks you use in the color mix, there is the potential for mis-registration. Printing registration – Wikipedia To avoid this risk, follow these steps. Perfect registration

Artwork Set Up Guide

Mis-registration

All text should be in a separate layer, so we can add an additional layer to protect against registration.

All black text should be 100%K, or if it is a different color, try to have a maximum of only two colors in it (C+Y, M+Y, M+K, etc.)

The text MUST be outlined to avoid any mishaps between the Chinese and the Regular Adobe cloud systems. To check your outlines, you can preview them using the ‘Outline’ view.

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File handling and sending to Hero Time

All files of the same component should be placed in one file, and not in multiple files. This will ensure that you can have a birds eye view of all the items and you can spot issues quickly. If you have one card or item that shows multiple times in your game, simply write under it the number of times it shows up (e.g. X2)

Dice organization example

Playing cards example BACK 88MM 63MM

x3

x8

x2

BACK

x2

x3

BACK

BACK

BACK

BACK

Wood and plastic products example. 15x15x6mm

25x14x6mm

20x14x6mm

23x16x6mm

23x16x6mm

x1

x20

x12

x8

x10

x10

x10

x10

white 白色

x15

12x7x6mm

15x15x6mm

x4

x1

x1

23x10x6mm

x1

x1

x1

x4

x4

x1

x1

x1

10x13x6mm

8x8x8mm

x8

x1

20x10x6mm

x1

x1

x1

x4

x4

x1

x1

x1

x1

Colors are a 25x14x6mm small sample, you can23x16x6mm choose any color 15x15x6mm 20x14x6mm 23x16x6mm from the white 白色PMS (Pantone Matching System) palette.

x15

x1

x20

x8

x12

12x7x6mm

15x15x6mm

Artwork Set Up Guide

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x1

x1

x1

x1

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File handling and sending to Hero Time 2 Flatten layers effects in Photoshop

The file cannot exceed 600MB in weight. In case it does, there are a number of ways to make it lighter:

• Flatten layer effects in Photoshop. • Import images into your AI file, do not paste them.

Do this by ‘Placing’ them. This means if you edit the original file (in Photoshop or wherever) it will automatically update in your AI file. This is priceless if you have an image that’s repeated many times!

all your images in the AI to make sure they • Embed don’t shift when setting them up for print. (If you have the same image or background that repeats itself throughout your assets multiple times, then you can link to it, but make sure you upload that image as well).

elements which are not complex images • Any (eg. simple icons, frames etc), include them as Illustrator shapes/objects, not linked images.

Import images into Illustrator by ‘Placing’ them.

Artwork Set Up Guide

Embed images into the Illustrator file.

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File handling and sending to Hero Time

Artwork Set Up Guide

To make sure we can adjust colors and maximize the printing effects, the files’ assets should be layered in 3 or 4 layers: Background, Images & icons, Text, and any templates for cutting lines.

It is best to send all the files in Adobe Illustrator. However, an editable PDF or PSD file will also be good. (Only use Jpeg/flattened files if you are 100% sure your artwork is flawless.

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File handling and sending to Hero Time

Congratulations your artwork is all set! You can easily drag and drop your files into our cloud, and now it’s Hero Time!

Artwork Set Up Guide

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Got a question?

Contact our Manufacturing Team manufacture@herotimel.com

SJLZ >~ Ean

Multi-Language Support

WU HEROTIME