Print Ready — The Obituary Designer's Complete Guide
TRIM LINE BLEED AREA

Honor Core Designer Studio presents

Print Ready.

Design Beautiful. Print Perfect.

The only print prep guide built exclusively for obituary and memorial designers. Stop sending files that come back wrong. Start delivering perfection — every single time.

$47 $17 Launch price
Get instant access — $17 Price increases to $47 soon · Instant PDF download

Sound familiar?

You've been here before.

Every obituary designer has felt this pain. This guide fixes all of it.

🖨️

You sent a file to the printer and it came back with white edges — even though you didn't put any there.

📸

The family's photo looked sharp on your screen but printed blurry. You didn't know why — or how to prevent it.

🎨

Your colors came back completely different from what you designed. The rich purple printed flat and dark.

📄

Your printer keeps asking for a "print-ready PDF" and you're not 100% sure you're sending the right thing.

📖

You're not sure how to set up an 8-page booklet — what order the pages go in, or how to send it correctly.

⏰

You're working on tight grief deadlines. There is no time for a reprint. You need to get it right the first time.

Inside the guide

10 chapters. Zero fluff.

Everything you need to know — nothing you don't.

Chapter 1
Size Matters
Standard print dimensions, flat vs. finished size, and how to set up your canvas correctly before you design a single element.
Chapter 2
Bleed & Margins
What bleed actually is, how to calculate it for any size, and the exact canvas dimensions for every common memorial format.
Chapter 3
Resolution
Why 72 DPI is never enough, how to check your images before printing, and what to do when a family sends a blurry photo.
Chapter 4
Color Mode
RGB vs. CMYK explained simply, how to export in CMYK from Canva Pro, and which colors shift most when they hit the press.
Chapter 5
File Formats
PDF, PNG, JPG, TIFF — when to use each one and exactly how to export a print-ready PDF from Canva, Illustrator, and InDesign.
Chapter 6
Fonts
How to embed fonts so they never get substituted, font sizing for print readability, and which fonts are safe for commercial use.
Chapter 7
Multi-Page Layout Guide
Step-by-step setup for 4, 8, 12, and 16-page booklets — including page flow diagrams, imposition order, and landscape fold instructions.
Chapter 8
Program Format Types
Bifold, trifold, booklet, memorial card, and bookmark — sizes, bleed calculations, setup tips, and how to upsell each format.
Chapter 9
Printer Communication
8 questions to ask any new printer, paper stock recommendations, a sample order email template, and how to handle print errors.
Chapter 10
Master Pre-Flight Checklist
A complete 40-point checklist covering every section of this guide — your go-to review before sending any file to print.

This guide is for you if —

You're ready to print like a pro.

✓

You're an obituary or memorial designer who wants to stop guessing and start sending print-ready files with confidence every time.

✓

You're self-taught in Canva or another design tool and have never had anyone explain print prep in plain, practical language.

✓

You've had a print job come back wrong — wrong colors, blurry photos, cut-off text — and you never want it to happen again.

✓

You want to offer booklets, trifolds, cards, and bookmarks but aren't sure how to set them up correctly for print.

✓

You're building a professional design business and want the knowledge and systems to match the quality of your work.

Written by

Nichelle Chavis

Honor Core Designer Studio

Nichelle Chavis is an AI consultant, digital designer, and creative business strategist who helps obituary designers build professional, scalable businesses. As the founder of Honor Core Designer Studio and the Honor Core Designer App, Nichelle has spent years helping designers serve families with excellence — while building businesses that leave a lasting legacy.

Print Ready was written because this guide did not exist — and it needed to.

"The families you serve are often grieving, trusting you to deliver something meaningful under a tight deadline. There is no room for a reprint. Getting your files print-ready the first time is not just a professional skill — it's an act of care for the people you serve."

Your designs deserve
to print perfectly.

Get the guide that makes it happen.

One purchase. Instant access. A complete print prep system you will use on every job, for every client, for the rest of your design career.

$47 $17 Launch price — limited time
Get Print Ready — $17 Instant PDF download · Price increases to $47 soon Questions? Email [email protected]
Honor Core Designer Studio

© 2026 Nichelle Chavis · honorcore.app