How Long Does It Take To Print…Anything?

After 30 years in the print industry, there’s one question we hear more than any other: ' How long will my print take?’ The truth is, there’s no simple answer since printing services are so varied!

This blog will cover all the aspects that impact print timescales to give you a clear idea of printing timelines. This way, you will know what to factor in when planning a project involving printed collateral.

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Printing Services: The Basics

Our job begins when you send your artwork off to us to get your printing services. It all starts with a thorough artwork check (more on this later). If all is in order, your project progresses to the pre-print stage, where the artwork is checked for technical things like colour and transparency.

Next is the main event - printing. This is the physical printing of the artwork in the format you asked for. It is typically done in one of two ways: litho or digital printing. 

Litho printing involves putting your artwork onto a metal flat plate using a laser to burn the image. Then ink is passed over the design, and the plate transfers the image to a rubber roller that transfers it to the paper.

Digital printing is a more modern technique where we take the digital file of your artwork and transfer it directly onto your chosen material (paper, card, fabric) using a printing machine connected to a computer.

At Bell Graphics, we specialise in digital print, allowing us to be more agile with print timescales.
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Once all of your printing is complete, we move on to the final - but still important - step which is the postpress. This is the finishing, cutting and packaging stage, ensuring quality and accuracy before it heads to you.

Finally, remember to anticipate delivery time. We’ll always choose the best delivery option possible, but allow time for your print to arrive!

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What Affects Print Timeframes?

Now you know a little behind-the-scenes information about our printing services, let’s take a look at the different things that can affect your print timescales.

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What You Are Printing

‍It may be an obvious one, but a letterhead will be faster than a 58-page brochure. There’s no rule of thumb here, but generally speaking, print that’s a single page (flyers, comp slips, business cards, etc) will be faster than things with more pages. 

‍The Quantity You Are Printing

The print takes time to get through the machines, so it won’t come as a surprise that the more you need to print, the more this time adds up. For example, a print run of 5000 pages will take less production time than 500,000 pages.

‍Artwork Delivery

If you’re supplying us with your own artwork, we can only get started once we’ve received this. And when we do, we have to check it to make sure it will translate to print well. 

‍The Complexity of Print

Now, this is a major factor that deserves its own special mention. Complexity is key. A bog-standard A5 flyer on a common paper stock will be far quicker than something that needs fancier finishes. These special additions can make your print look brilliant, but you need to factor in more time. Typical special finishes include:

Unique Designs

This is where you want the actual print to have a non-standard shape - maybe one rounded corner or a wavy edge. Known as die-cutting, a ‘die’ is like a cookie cutter for your print. These are produced and then applied to your project.

Spot UV

A type of varnish that is used in certain areas to add a glossy finish that can highlight specific aspects of your design.

Embossing and Debossing

Where some of the design is either raised or sunk in for a textured finish that adds luxury and uniqueness.

Foiling

Adding a metallic finish to areas of your design for luxe and eye-catching qualities.

Lamination

A coating is added to protect the surface. This is often used for print that’s going to be handled frequently or needs a little more protection, like business cards and brochure covers. Once applied, this needs time to dry, so it adds time.

Specialist Paper Stock

Most print jobs use standard paper stock. These are typically silk, uncoated and gloss, but some jobs require specific paper types. We may need to order paper in, which can add to your print timescales.

Binding

This only really applies to booklets with many pages - you get the option of ‘saddle stitched’, which are basically staples and is much faster, or perfect bind, which is a glued edge and takes longer.

Artwork

Incorrect artwork can cause many timescale issues, especially with the rise of design programs like Canva. You may not know what’s needed to create print-ready artwork, which can lead to delays. If you’re not sure what your artwork needs to include, read on…

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What Is Print-Ready Artwork?

Print-ready artwork is a design that ticks all the boxes and is ready to be converted to print. Ideally…

• It’s a PDF file with CMYK colour values - these are the four colours used by printing presses, rather than the three colours used on screen displays (that’s called RGB).

• It needs to be high-resolution imagery, as low-res can mean blurry print.

• It has a 3mm bleed and crop marks - this is where anything that needs to go edge-to-edge goes over by 3mm on each side. This allows for tolerance when cutting.

We can check your artwork once you've sent it to us, and can usually help to make it print ready. But if you prefer to make changes to it yourself and we need to send it back to you for changes, this can add time to our printing services.

If you have no artwork, it’s no problem! We have an in-house team of expert graphic designers who will create designs that are on-brand for you. Depending on what you need, this will take two to seven days.

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Typical Turnaround Times for Common Print Products

To give you a clear idea of what kind of timeline you’re looking at, here are some of the estimated turnaround times from proof approval for common products we offer printing services for:

Standard Print

Most of our standard print takes 3-4 working days. This includes:

• Flyers and leaflets
• Business cards
• Roller banners
• Letterhead and comp slips
• Posters

Booklets and Brochures

Booklets and brochures take a bit longer than standard prints, at 5-7 working days.

Pads

NCR notepads and purchase order pads take 7-10 working days

Labels

Sheet labels take 3-4 working days.

Can I Get Urgent Print?

We’ve all been there - something is needed for yesterday, and urgently! Our digital print allows us to accept rush jobs on a case-by-case basis.

When you request your printing services as a rush job, we’re able to put you at the front of the queue and focus on getting your products to you as fast as we can. This can be ideal if you’ve left it a little late (no judgment!) or need your printing done without delay. 

You’ll need to contact us directly to discuss urgent print needs, so we can make sure we can deliver, both figuratively and literally.

Print Timescales: We Work With You

Ultimately, it’s always best to give your print as much time as possible. Even straightforward jobs can have artwork snags, so err on the side of caution.

Once you know what you need, if it’s got anything fancy about it and you have print-ready artwork, you’ll be in a good place to know how long it will take. If you need help, we’re always available to discuss your print options.