Designer Tips

For the best results, follow the design recommendations below:

Upload your artwork as a .PNG files instead of a .JPG. The PNG format preserves colors better and yields a sharper output when compared with other formats. It is highly recommended and supported by nearly every image editing program on the planet.
For the closest color matching, we recommend that designers develop in CMYK and then convert their files to RGB before uploading them to our site.
Use textures or gradients for the backgrounds of your cards instead of solid colors.
Avoid using black or dark solid colors on the outer edges of your cards or other die-cut components. During the cutting process, the toner can chip slightly and the edge of the white card stock paper can become visible.
Use backgrounds that bleed off the edge of the image instead of borders to make minor registration errors less noticeable. DO NOT USE BORDERS! If drift of 1/8" were to occur, then it will not be as noticeable compared to a card that has uniform borders. Borders often exaggerate the drift that can occur.
Use the color profiles provided by The Game Crafter for closest color matching between what you see on your screen and in print.

Be aware that colors can turn out much darker in print than they appear on your computer screen, and that slight nuances may be lost.
Do not create any products on our site with borders. Small variances in registration/drift will cause your product to look much worse than if you use full bleed graphics. NO BORDERS! Borders often exaggerate the appearance of any small drift.

If you do use a border, make sure you follow the minimum border width recommendation noted on the template.
Use our game design tool called Component.Studio to build your art in an automated and precise way.
Be aware that because many different factors affect color (humidity, heat, age of fuser, toner changes, etc.), we cannot guarantee exact color matching between different printings or materials.
In laser printing, gray isn't made of white and black but rather a combination of all the colors. This makes it a hard color for the printer to match, and may result in some skewing of the other colors in the image as well (which may vary from printing to printing).

Watch the video below to learn about our templates and the proper way to insert artwork.