CD DVD Disc Image Artwork

Artwork Instructions:

A good example: The artwork is SQUARE with no circular masking and artwork goes from edge to edge: The entire square image should be used. Let our system mask off the circular disc image.

Here is what it looks like on a disc (the quality of this photo isn't the best, but you get the idea).

• Be sure to look over our free art templates.
• Upload all artwork .jpg files directly to the TrepStar project using the green upload arrow button
• We accept .jpg images only.
• Your image should be 300DPI and RGB (not CMYK). For more information about RGB vs CYMK, click here
• Avoid using black or very dark backgrounds. Very dark or black backgrounds print ok, but not perfectly. It's better to use lighter background colors and darker text or graphics on the background.
• Avoid backgrounds that are solid in the same color. Solid sections of the same color will show print flaws more clearly. Solid chunks of color do not look as good as artwork that has actual content (like a picture). There might be some streaking or banding if your artwork contain large sections of solid color areas.
• Your artwork will be stretched to fit our packaging.
• While we do recommend you upload your artwork directly to the project, you may specify a URL to an image located anywhere on the internet (such as a folder on your website). An Acceptable URL would be something like http://www.yoursite.com/images/disc1.jpg
• We print to what's called "hub printable" discs.� They have a 2CM internal non printable area.
• Your graphic should be square (have a 1x1 aspect ratio). Start with a high resolution pixel size of 1425x1425 and choose image properties to select a print size of 300dpi RGB.
• Be sure to print the image on your laser printer. If it looks good at 4.75" printed size, it will look even better on the disc.
• If your first product sample you order from us looks fuzzy or blurry, it's most likely because you used a small, or low resolution image. An image on screen looks good, but when printed may look fuzzy. Your screen width may be 1600 pixels wide, but this is only a little over 5.3 inches in print size!
• It recommended to have the graphics reach all the way to the center and outward all the way to the outer edge. There is no need for your graphic look like a disc (circular graphical area). Our system cuts off (crops and masks) the image into a circular image.
• The image may print slightly off center due to variations in the printer. Because we print your entire image, it's undesirable to have a circular image to start with, or images with circular outer borders. This tends to make any off center printing look more obvious.
• Our system prints your image from edge to edge, so the outer edge of your artwork will be printed on the outer edge of the disc. This means if you have extra white space or cut/bleed markings on your graphic, that will be printed.
• Assume there is a small area (about 1mm) near the edges of the disc that will get cut off and not print. Don't design your graphic so important text or graphics are too close to the edge. Design in a little bit of a buffer (bleed).

Use our Free template: Do NOT make your image with a circular mask. Our Template just gives you an idea of where the printed area is. You may copy and use to get an idea of what's printed on a hub printable disc. Right click on this image, and choose "save" so you can work with this as a template if you like.

Here is a good example of a disc graphic image:. Notice how the inner diameter and outer corners can contain artwork. The "bleed" area will not be printed because our system masks the image to the size of the disc.

Your image should be square and contain artwork from edge to edge.

Example of a BAD disc image:In this example, there is a clear outer border that would look bad if the disc printed even a tiny bit off center. Also, the inner hub area has too much white space because we use the newer hub printable discs. This results in a white, unprinted area near the center of the disc:

Final Disc Print: This is what it looks like printed. The inner area graphic should have had a smaller inner diameter:

Another example of what not to do. This example combines just about all of the things you can do wrong with the disc artwork image. Remember, the image you give us will be printed exactly on the disc. Just because there is a circle in the middle does not mean it will print that way on the disc. We print edge to edge. This image is not cropped, so there will be space printed on the disc that this person assumed would not be printed (the black area will print on the disc). The image is not square, so the image will be squeezed, and not look round when printed. The circular hub area is much too large and should not be there in the first place. Those inner circles will be printed on the disc. The resolution on the text printed on the artwork is very low and granular so the text will print poorly. The artwork is circular instead of going from edge to edge. Avoid doing everything shown on this image.

The following example is how to correct the image shown above. This example has the artwork properly cropped to show just what you want printed. It is square. It contains artwork (background) from edge to edge including the center. There is no text close to any edge so nothing will be cut off.