Hi
This is the first time I have ordered something from Zazzle, including a design of my own. I think ttheoverall quality is good. However, the print on the product is several millimetres off centre compared to the picture on Zazzle. This creates a gap between a line that ends at the top and the background becomes visible. See the two photos for comparison.
I would not have expected such a clear offset between the print and the original. I'm worried about all my previous designs, especially as I very often use outer frames (e.g. for cards). However, as i never get feedback on designs that have been sold, i don't know if this is a general problem.
Do you have any experience with this?
What is the best way to plan for this when designing? A 5mm offset in any unpredictable direction makes a big difference.
As a buyer, I would be a bit disappointed with the result.
Thank you for any feedback
Outer borders are always risky as there's no guarantee exactly where it's going to be cut, just somewhere between the green safe line and red bleed line. The blue print line is an approximation. I looked at your notebook in the Design Tool and your top yellow border doesn't extend all the way to the bleed line so you see some of the background image above the border. Also if you compare your images, the Z preview shows more of the design on the bottom then on the actual printed product you got. So it's like the whole print cut was shifted upwards.
I love borders but they are really hard to do (and risky). If you abide by the guidelines in the Design Tool to make sure there is no blank space/background showing no matter where they cut it, that usually results in the border not looking symmetrical in the previews. If you make it so it's symmetrical in the previews, it might not be up-to-snuff according to what is shown in the Design Tool. It's a difficult situation, I don't know what the answer is other than to avoid using outer borders, or use them knowing there is no guarantee it'll turn out the way intended.
