Which Print Products Need the Most Artwork Setup? What We Learned From 501 Artwork Issues

In early July 2026, our marketing team took on the gargantuan task of sifting through almost 5,000 customer orders with one purpose: to uncover 501 real Aura Print orders where our pre-press team had recorded artwork issues. The first thing we realized? Artwork problems don’t belong to one product category alone; they came up across a real mix of orders, from simple flat print jobs to more complex multi-file, multi-finish print projects.

Some of our products naturally come with more moving parts than others, though. More sides, more designs, more finishing options, more places for bleed, metallic foil, cut lines, safe zones, quantities, or file names to get a bit muddled before the order reaches production.

We don’t want you to think this means those products are difficult to order, and it certainly doesn’t mean customers are doing anything wrong by choosing them. It simply means some print products need a little extra tinkering at the artwork setup stage than others.

A straightforward flyer with one design and no additional finishes is entirely different from a full playing card deck, a multi-name business card order, or a folded and foiled invitation. They all count as print, of course, but the setup behind them can be wildly different.

A Quick Note on the Data

A quick note before we get into the numbers: this is not a product-by-product error rate. Our team reviewed orders where an artwork issue had already been recorded by our pre-press team, so the data shows which products appeared most often within that incorrect artwork sample. It does not tell us which products are statistically more likely to go wrong overall, because that would require comparing each product against the total number of orders in the same period.

At A Glance: What We Found

Here’s how the most common product groups showed up in the 501 artwork issues we reviewed:

Playing cards appeared most often in our artwork issue records, making up 20.4% of the incorrect jobs we reviewed. Business cards followed at 16.4%, then invitations at 12.0%, flyers at 9.8%, bookmarks at 7.8%, and stickers at 6.8%.

Together, those six product groups accounted for a large chunk of the artwork issues our pre-press team recorded, which makes sense when you look at the complex setup they often involve. We’re talking multiple designs, front and back artwork, custom sizes, die-cut shapes, metallic foil layers, rounded corners, drill holes, borders, and all the other little finishes and details that need to be crystal clear before our production team can confidently print the order.

The patterns we spotted were less “customers struggle with these products because they’re impossible to order”, but more likely that products with extra sides, shapes, finishes, or versions naturally need more complex, clearer artwork setup than a simple flat print file.

The Product Patterns We Spotted

Once we had the product data in front of us, the next question was obvious: why did these products keep appearing in the artwork issue records?

It wasn’t just a case of “this product is easier to order than that one”, because that wouldn’t really be fair. A lot came down to the design, finish(es), quantity, the number of files that made up the order, and how much setup work was needed before we could confidently process the order into production.

What we did see, though, were patterns, lots of them. Playing cards naturally involved multiple designs and front/back setup. Business cards frequently came in different sizes, shapes, finishes, and names. Invitations brought custom formats, quirky folds, metallic foil, and precise borders, while flyers were often more straightforward, but still tripped customers up when size, bleed or resolution wasn’t quite right. Bookmarks and stickers had their own setup quirks as well, especially where holes, cut lines, rounded corners or die-cut shapes were involved.

So, rather than treating this as an “ultimate league of problem products”, we’re going to look at what each product tended to teach us about artwork setup, and what customers can check before sending their artwork files over to us.

1. Playing Cards

Playing cards appeared most often in our artwork issue records, making up 20.4% of the incorrect artwork jobs we reviewed.

Now, this doesn’t mean playing cards are a nightmare to order – far from it! What we do know about the nature of playing cards is that they can involve a lot more setup than people might expect.

On the surface, a playing card design and order might sound simple enough – it’s a deck of cards, all the same size, usually with a front and a back, often with rounded corners if you’re going for a professional-looking proxy deck. But once your artwork lands in our pre-press inbox, there are a few moving parts for our team to check before the job can go anywhere near production.

You might have 52 different card faces and one shared back for a poker-style card deck, or 78 major and minor Arcana cards in a tall tarot card deck. You could have a full custom TCG game deck with different quantities of each design, or a custom-size novelty deck with different front and back artwork. But unless your files are clearly named and organized, our design & pre-press team might end up having to spend a little time doing detective work to figure out what goes where.

The most common setup problems we see tend to involve missing card faces, unclear fronts and backs, artwork supplied at the wrong size, inconsistent file dimensions across the deck, or no clear note explaining how many copies of each design should be printed. If metallic foil, rounded corners, or playing card boxes are involved too, there are even more details to line up before everything can move into print and finishing.

The thing with playing cards is that they need to feel like a proper, cohesive set once they’ve been printed, cut, collated, and packed. If one card is a slightly different size, if the safe zone is tighter on some card designs than others, or if the back artwork doesn’t look consistent across the deck, those little differences can amount to a deck that looks like it’s made up of a mish-mash of cards that were never designed to go together in the first place, which is why setup matters so much.

Before sending playing card artwork over, it’s worth checking that every card face is included, the backs are clearly labeled (especially if the backs aren’t consistent across the deck), the artwork size matches the card size ordered, and any quantities or deck order instructions are written in your corresponding artwork email. If you’re ordering multiple designs, don’t just assume the file names will explain everything on their own. “Card_1”, “Card_2” and “Final_Final_ActuallyFinal” might make sense to you in the moment, but it will likely result in our pre-press team needing to contact you for clarification, which could ultimately delay your order.

So, to recap, playing cards are not difficult to order by any means, but they do reward a little organization. Send us the full deck, label the fronts and backs clearly, tell us how many of each design you need, and make sure every card is set up to the same size before you send them over to us. Your order will move much more smoothly, and Nicola, our pre-press manager, will do a little cheer!

2. Business Cards

Business cards were the second most common product to appear in our artwork issue records, making up 16.4% of the incorrect artwork jobs we reviewed.

At first glance, that might seem a little surprising, because business cards are small, familiar, and about as old-school as print gets, so surely they should be one of the easiest products to set up? Well, yes and no. A simple rectangular business card with one printed design on the front, one design on the back, and no special finishes is generally straightforward, but business cards don’t always stay simple, especially not at Aura Print.

The most common business card issues tend to involve artwork being supplied at the wrong size, text or logos sitting too close to the edge, missing bleed, unclear front and back files, or foil business card artwork not being supplied separately from the print artwork. We also see a lot of multi-name business card orders where the customer sends several designs for different team members, but doesn’t always make it completely clear how many of each they need. For example, a company might place an order for 750 business cards split across 8 different designs. Unless you tell us how to split those quantities up front, we’ll have to reach out for clarification before we can set up your proof.

And because business cards are small, there isn’t much room for error. A logo that sits a fraction of an inch too close to the edge on a flyer might not be a huge issue, but on a business card those few fractions can make the entire business card design feel cramped. Borders can be especially unforgiving too, because even the tiniest movement during trimming can make a neat border look slightly uneven once the cards have been cut down.

If foil is involved, business card artwork needs even more clarity, which is something we dive deeper into inside our dedicated study on why foil, die cutting, and rounded corners need extra artwork setup. Our team needs to know exactly which parts of the card should be foiled, and that means supplying the foil artwork separately from the main print file. If the foil is built into a full-color design, missing altogether, or sitting slightly out of line, the job will have to pause while we ask for a corrected file or clarification.

Rounded corners can catch people out as well. A standard square-cornered design might technically fit the card size, but if important details are sitting too close to the corners, they can either end up lost altogether or feel too close once the corners have been rounded off. The same goes for QR codes, contact details, social media handles, tiny taglines, and anything else that really needs to stay readable.

The easiest way to avoid business card delays is to check the basics before sending us your files: make sure the artwork size matches the card size ordered, add bleed if the design runs too close to the edge, keep your text and logos firmly inside the safe zones, label front and back files clearly, and tell us how the quantities should be split if you’re ordering business cards for more than one employee.

The short version? Business cards might be small, but they sometimes require mighty setup. The more finishes, shapes, names, or sides you add, the more helpful it is to give our pre-press team clear, complete files from the start.

3. Invitations

Invitations made up 12.0% of the incorrect artwork jobs we reviewed, which makes a lot of sense when you think about how much weight they need to carry.

Unlike a quick flyer or a batch of regularly ordered business cards, invitations are often one-offs, designed to feel as special as possible. They might be for a wedding, birthday, launch night, exhibition, baby shower, brand event, or charity gala, and customers quite rightly want them to look as polished and on-theme as possible when they reach their recipients.

The issues we tend to see with invitation design usually involve custom sizing, precise borders, bleed, folds, and front/back setup. A lot of the invitation designs our pre-press team sees have neat frames, centred text, decorative edges, illustrations, photos, or very fine details that sit too close to the trim line, which can look beautiful on-screen but leave very little room for real-world print movement and trimming. If the artwork is ever so slightly out, or the border sits too close to the edge, the finished invitation can look slightly off even though the design itself is stunning.

Folded invitations bring their own little quirks too. If the crease line isn’t quite clear, or the design hasn’t been set up with the fold in mind, important details can end up too close to the crease or sitting in a place that just doesn’t work once the invitation is folded. And if there are multiple versions of the same invite, such as different guest lists, ceremony and reception versions, custom menus, wedding RSVPs, or information cards, crystal-clear file names and instructions become even more integral.

TL; DR: Invitations are not difficult to order, but they are the kind of product where neatness really matters. Check the size carefully, give borders and text enough space to show off, make creases clear, and label any versions accordingly so our pre-press and production teams know exactly what belongs where and how many copies of each you require.

4. Flyers

Flyers and leaflets made up 9.8% of the incorrect artwork jobs we reviewed, which is interesting because, in many ways, flyers are one of the more straightforward products to set up. But they’re also one of those bread-and-butter print products that commercial printers, ourselves included, tend to produce a lot of. With this in mind, it makes sense that they would show up in our data even if we don’t consider them a complicated order.

There usually aren’t lots of versions, deck orders, cut paths, staff names, or specialist setup instructions to worry about. A flyer is often a flat print job with one side, two sides, or a fairly simple design that needs to be printed, trimmed, packed, and shipped. That doesn’t make flyers immune to artwork issues, but it does mean the problems we see tend to be the classic print setup culprits rather than anything wildly technical.

With flyers, the issues are usually things like artwork supplied at the wrong size, missing bleed, low-resolution images, important text sitting too close to the edge, or confusion around whether the order should be single or double-sided. Because flyers are often ordered for events, promotions, menus, launches, handouts, or last-minute campaigns, they can be the kind of job customers want turned around quickly, which is exactly when little setup details are likely to be missed.

Size is a big one, too. Half Letter (5.5×8.5"), Quarter Letter (4.25×5.5"), 4×8", 4×6", 5×7", and custom flyer sizes are not interchangeable, even when they look like they might be on-screen. If the artwork has been designed for one size but the order has been placed for another, our team needs to check whether the file should be resized, cropped, or supplied again.

Bleed is another common flyer culprit, especially because so many flyer designs use full-color backgrounds, photos, patterns, blocks of color, or artwork that runs right to the edge. If that design stops exactly at the trim line, the finished flyer can end up with thin white edges after cutting, which is not exactly the grand campaign launch you likely have in mind.

In short, flyers are usually nice and simple to order, but simple doesn’t mean setup-free. Check the size, add bleed if the design runs to the edge, keep important details away from the trim line, and make sure you’ve supplied both sides if you’ve ordered double-sided print.

5. Bookmarks

Bookmarks made up 7.8% of the incorrect artwork jobs we reviewed, which makes sense when you look at how much can be going on in such a narrow little strip of print.

They might seem really simple at first glance, but bookmarks don’t always play by standard rectangle rules. One customer might want a classic silk bookmark with a tassel hole, another might want holographic foil on a dark fantasy design, another might want painted edges, rounded corners, a magnetic bookmark with a backing card, or a fully die-cut shape that follows the outline of a hammer, stained glass window, picture frame, book stack, or anything else their hearts desire.

Lovely? Absolutely. Always straightforward to set up? Not quite.

The main challenge with bookmarks is that there often isn’t much room to play around. They’re long, slim, and usually packed with artwork, text, borders, illustrations, logos, drill holes, foil details, or shaped edges. If a line of text, a QR code, border, character, or important design detail sits too close to the edge, it can feel a lot riskier than it would on a larger product, simply because you’re working with a smaller amount of space.

Finishes can add another layer too. Foil bookmarks need to be clear and lined up properly, painted edges need artwork that will still look right once the edges have been finished, and die-cut bookmarks need an accompanying cut path our team can follow. If there’s a drill hole, we need to know where to position it, and it’s also important not to place it too close to the edge of your bookmark, as this could result in tearing once you’ve added your tassel.

We’ve seen some amazing bookmark jobs come through the studio, from bright storybook-style shapes to dark foiled fantasy designs, magnetic bookmarks with accompanying backing cards, and dramatic die-cut author merch. The ones that move through pre-press the most smoothly tend to have one thing in common: the artwork makes the intended finish obvious.

TL; DR: Bookmarks might be small, but they can be surprisingly mighty from a setup point of view. Keep important details away from the edges, leave room for holes and tassels, make any die-cut shapes clear with a supporting cut path file, and be extra careful with borders, foil, and narrow layouts before sending your files over.

6. Stickers

Stickers made up 6.8% of the incorrect artwork jobs we reviewed, and most of the setup quirks here come down to one thing: shape.

Unlike a standard flyer or business card, sticker artwork often needs to tell us more than just what should be printed. It also needs to show us where the sticker should be cut, whether that’s a simple square, a circle, a custom die-cut shape, or several kiss-cut stickers arranged on one sheet.

That’s where things can get a bit sticky. Sorry, had to.

The issues we tend to see with sticker artwork are usually around missing cut lines, unclear kiss-cut paths, shapes sitting way too close together on sticker sheets, artwork running too close to the edge, or multiple sticker designs being supplied without clear instructions. A sticker might look perfectly obvious on screen, but our cutting equipment still needs a clear cut path to follow. If the path is missing, sitting on the print artwork, too close to the design, or not lined up properly, the job has to pause while we check what needs changing.

Sticker sheets bring their own quirks too, because there might be several designs on one sheet, each with its own cut line. Those cut lines need enough space between them, and the artwork underneath needs to line up properly so each sticker peels away as intended. If one sticker is too close to another, or the cut path hugs the artwork too tightly, there might not be enough room for our die-cut operator, John, to achieve a clean finish.

The simplest way to look at it is this: stickers are brilliant for custom shapes, sets, merch, packaging, and little branding extras, but the cut setup for die-cut stickers needs to be clear. Send the print artwork, make the kiss-cut or die-cut lines obvious, leave enough space around each shape, and label multiple designs properly so our team knows exactly what should be printed, cut, and peeled.

Other Products That Appeared in the Data

Playing cards, business cards, invitations, flyers, bookmarks, and stickers were the product groups we saw most often in our artwork issue records, but they were not the only ones keeping pre-press busy.

Art prints, certificates, greeting cards, tickets, swing/hang tags, booklets, and playing card boxes all appeared in the data too, usually for very familiar reasons: artwork supplied at the wrong size, missing bleed, unclear front and back files, low-resolution images, fold or crease confusion, or design details sitting a little too close to where we needed to trim, fold, or drill the print.

The common thread was the fact that each product had its own little setup traps. A banner needs artwork that works at a much larger scale. A folded greeting card needs the front, back, and inside panels to make sense once creased. A ticket order might involve numbering or perforation. Booklets need the page count and running order to be right. Product tags might need drill holes, string holes, or shaped holes to be clearly accounted for.

So, while the top six products gave us the clearest patterns, the wider data told the same story: the more a product needs to be sized, folded, numbered, drilled, cut, finished, or supplied in multiple versions, the more helpful a clear artwork file becomes.

What All These Products Had in Common

Looking across the product data we painstakingly gathered, the pattern was pretty clear: the products that showed up most often were usually the ones with a lot of moving parts.

That might mean multiple designs, like playing cards or business cards for a full team. It might mean a product where neatness really matters, like invites with borders, folds, or matching wedding information cards. It might mean a product with a custom shape, hole, painted edge, foil layer, kiss-cut/die-cut line, rounded corner, or narrow layout that gives the artwork less room to do its thing.

In other words, the issue was rarely the product itself but the amount of information the artwork needed to give us before production could get to work.

A simple flat flyer might only need the basics checked: size, bleed, resolution, and whether it’s single or double-sided. A die-cut bookmark, sticker sheet, foiled invitation, or full playing card deck naturally needs a bit more clarity, because there are more decisions for our pre-press team to check before the job can move forward.

That’s not a bad thing, though. It just means the more custom your print order is, the more helpful it is to make your artwork, file names, and instructions as clear as possible from the start.

Before You Send Us Your Artwork

Before sending your artwork over, it’s worth giving your files one last look with the product itself in mind.

·         Playing cards: have you supplied every card face, labeled the backs clearly, and explained the deck order or quantity split?

·         Business cards: if you’re ordering business cards for multiple people, have you made it clear how many of each name or design you need?

·         Invitations: have you checked the size, borders, folds, front and back artwork, and any matching pieces that need to sit together as a finished set?

·         Flyers: have you supplied the correct size, added bleed, checked image resolution, and included both sides if you’re ordering double-sided?

·         Bookmarks: have you left room for drill holes, narrow edges, die-cut shapes, foil details, or painted edges?

·         Stickers: have you supplied clear kiss-cut or die-cut lines, left enough space between shapes, and labeled multiple designs properly?

Spotting an issue is only part of the story, so we’ve also written about what happens when artwork isn’t print-ready, including how our pre-press team helps customers clarify files, correct artwork, and get orders safely through to production.

You don’t need to overcomplicate it. Just ask yourself whether your artwork tells our team everything they need to know about the product you’ve ordered. If it does, great. If it doesn’t, that’s usually where pre-press has to put on their detective hats and start asking questions.