TABLE OF CONTENTS


Designing your artwork - layout considerations

  • You must always consider a 3 mm bleed area around the edges that will be removed while printing.
  • Blank Spaces: All the areas marked as grey in the template must remain white. During the automated

    process of sorting, the areas are used for tags (e.g. bar codes) by the Postal Service.

    Keep in mind that this is just an example, and the dimensions required for the ‘postal area’ vary depending on the format of the mail product you are designing for. 


Sample guidelines for a Maxi-Postcard format:



Below: an example of a Maxi-Postcard with the guidelines applied. See how the image spans across the bleed and the text doesn’t go beyond the safe area.



The address box

  • The address box includes only the sender and recipient address
  • It can’t be bordered or underlined and it should always be left-aligned
  • The sender address should be smaller than the recipient’s address
  • The whole address block needs to be created using the same font.

    Italic and decorative fonts, handwritten and serif fonts (e.g. Times New Roman) are not allowed. Reversed text (white text on dark background) is also not allowed. We recommend fonts like Arial, Verdana and Helvetica.

  • For the recipient's address we recommend a font size of 11pt


Working with images and text

  • Color mode must be CMYK (other color modes may increase printing costs and do not guarantee color fastness). Please contact us for special colors.
  • Important text and picture elements have a safety distance of at least 3 mm to the final format
  • Images and graphics must have a resolution of at least 250 dpi
  • Line drawings must have a minimum of 1.200 dpi
  • As standard font we use Roboto 11pt. If you would like a font other than the standard font, please let us know by email to data@optilyz.com so that we can add it to your account. If the desired font is not part of the Microsoft Office standard fonts, please attach the corresponding font as a file


Exporting your document

  • Export your document to PDF/X3
  • If your mail product has front and back or several pages, save it as a multi-page PDF
  • Fonts must be embedded in the document, otherwise the quality may be affected during print. 


Download our design resources for Germany here. 
Download our international design resources here.


Important: Automation capability

As a requirement for sending Dialogpost, your items must be fully capable of automation. If the automation is not given, a surcharge of 0,05€ per shipment will be applied.

The automation capability of a letter mail consists of:

  • machine readability of address and franking
  • the design of the address side
  • the physical nature of the shipment

There is a front side and a back side. On the front is the address field. On the back side there are usually graphics or appealing text designs - there are no postal limitations here.


Postal specifications:

  • Defaults and zones must be adhered to or higher postage rates will apply ("surcharge")

  • Gray areas must be left blank

  • The inscription contains the sender's and recipient's address and must not be longer than 10 cm

  • The inscription may not be outlined or underlined and must be left-justified.

  • The sender's address is single-spaced above the recipient's address

  • Font size is 11pt.

Important: Please check the attached brochure by Deutsche Post for any further information.


Advertising vs. non advertising mail


Only advertising will be allowed to sent via DIALOGPOST. Non advertising mail will be send with the standard postage rate.
Please check out this article for more information.



Next article: How do I prepare my design for print?