Summary:
Direct-to-substrate printing lets you print directly on rigid materials for durable, high-impact designs, but the file setup is different from paper or vinyl. Use 300 DPI resolution, CMYK colour mode, white ink layers, bleed, and safe zones to reduce the risk of errors and maintain image quality when transferring your design to your chosen material.
| Time to Read | 6–8 minutes |
| What You’ll Learn | File setup for direct-to-substrate printing Ideal resolution Proper colour modes When to use white ink layers Why bleed marks and safe zones matter How professional printers can help |
| Difficulty | Moderate |
| Skills Required | One of the following: Photoshop Illustrator Canva |
Direct-to-substrate (DTS) printing allows you to print directly onto rigid materials like acrylic, aluminum, foamcore, or coroplast. There’s no paper or vinyl required!
This is an excellent printing technique to use when you want bold signage or durable promotional displays. But since you’re printing directly onto the final material, the setup process is a little different than what you’d use for paper, vinyl, or stickers.
In this guide, you’ll learn everything you need to know to set your file up correctly, from resolution and colour to layout and finishing. These tips will help you get a clean, accurate print that looks just the way you imagined it.
Print Banners, Posters, & Signs
Designing for Substrates Is Different: Here’s Why
With more flexible materials like paper or vinyl, there’s often a bit of wiggle room. A poster can be trimmed, a sticker can flex around a corner, and minor alignment issues might go unnoticed. Rigid substrates don’t come with that luxury.
When you print directly on a rigid material, what you send is what gets printed. There’s no stretch, no give, and often no post-print trimming.
Even with more flexible materials like vinyl and fabric, you can’t alter a direct-to-substrate print without cutting away material from the final product and changing its dimensions. That means no room for mistakes when you’re setting up your file.
Learn More: Direct to Substrate Printing: What It Is & How It Gets You a Better Result
Popular Products for Direct-to-Substrate Printing
Each of these requires careful setup to make sure you end up with sharp edges, bright colours, and accurate placement for your graphics.
File Setup Tips for Direct-to-Substrate Printing
1. Use 300 DPI Resolution
Your file should be 300 DPI (dots per inch) at the final print size. Higher DPI means more detail. If your file is only 72 DPI (like most web images), it will look pixelated or blurry when printed (especially on a large rigid sign that’s meant to be viewed up close).
Pro Tip: If you’re enlarging a photo or logo, make sure it’s high-resolution to begin with. Stretching a small image to fit a large canvas will lower the quality.
Learn More: How to Prepare High Quality Print Files
2. Set Your File to CMYK Colour Mode
Always design in CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black), not RGB. CMYK is the colour mode used by printers. RGB (Red, Green, Blue) is for screens.
If you design in RGB, your colours may look brighter on your monitor than they’ll appear in print (especially bright reds, neons, or greens).
How to Do It
- In Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, or Photoshop, set your file to CMYK before starting your design.
- In Photoshop, go to Image → Mode → CMYK Color
What about Pantone or “Spot” Colours?
Pantone colours are used in brand-specific print jobs to ensure colour consistency. But in most direct-to-substrate jobs, these colours get “converted” to CMYK because DTS printers typically don’t use special inks. If your brand orange is Pantone 165C, it’ll be translated into a CMYK mix that looks close, but may not be an exact match.
Learn More: What Does the “K” in “CMYK” Mean? Understanding Printing Ink Colours
3. Create a White Ink Layer (When Needed)
Some materials, like clear acrylic or brushed aluminum, aren’t white underneath. That means colours can look see-through or dull if you don’t add a white ink layer behind them.
White Ink Layers for Printing Explained
A white ink layer is an extra layer in your file that tells the printer to lay down white ink underneath your design, wherever needed. This helps colours stay solid and vibrant, even on dark or transparent materials.
You’ll need one for most projects that are printed directly on substrates like:
- Clear acrylic
- Brushed or raw aluminum
- Any other non-white substrate where colour vibrancy matters
How to Do It (in Illustrator)
- Create a new layer beneath your design called “White”
- Select the areas where you want white ink (usually all artwork areas)
- Create a new spot colour swatch named “White”
- Fill those areas using the “White” swatch
- Open the Attributes panel and check Overprint Fill
The Importance of Choosing “Overprint Fill”
Without this, your RIP software (the program that prepares your file for printing) may treat the white as a “knockout”, removing the area instead of printing under it. Overprint tells the printer to add white ink behind your colours instead of replacing them.
4. Add Bleed & Safe Zones
Bleed is the part of your artwork that extends past the edge of the finished piece. It ensures your background or images go all the way to the edge after cutting, with no white slivers.
The Safe zone is the area inside the artwork where you keep important text and images. Safe zones prevent important content from being cut off or sitting too close to the edge.
Best Practices for Printing on Rigid Materials
- Add 1/8″ (0.125″) bleed on all sides
- Keep all logos, text, and essential graphics at least 1/4″ (0.25″) inside from the edge
- For double-sided prints, mirror or align both sides carefully so they match when printed and trimmed
5. Prepare Your Print for Cuts, Holes, or Scoring
Some rigid prints are meant for special shapes or need to be displayed in specific environments. You may need to:
- Drill holes for mounting lawn signs or banners
- Add cutouts or special shapes
- Create folds for packaging or displays
How to Show This in Your File (The Quick & Easy Way)
When you print these products with Little Rock Printing, you’ll usually have options to select these special features when placing your order. That can save you extra work once you get your print products. But if you still want to know how to do it yourself, here are some tips:
- Use a contrasting colour (like bright magenta or cyan) to draw circles for drill holes or lines for cuts
- Place these on a separate layer labeled “Cut/Drill Layer”
- Include text boxes explaining what each element is (“Drill Hole – 0.25” diameter”)
- Use dashed lines for folds, solid lines for cuts
If you don’t know exact specs, ask our team. We’ll help!
Templates to Make Your Design Easier
We’ve created downloadable templates for some of our most popular products. Many of these use Canva to include built-in guides for bleed, safe zones, white ink, and edge alignment, so that you don’t have to start from scratch.
Print Confidently with Little Rock
When you’re designing for direct-to-substrate printing, every detail counts, from your colour mode to your edge alignment. But you don’t have to be a print expert to get it right.
With helpful templates, clear file setup tips, and a hands-on team that checks your files before printing, Little Rock makes it easy to bring your rigid prints to life.
