For some people, I guess you could say the technical side of graphics is something of a magic trick. You see it happen right in front of you and then witness the end result. Though you don’t truly know how the trick is done, you have a pretty good idea as to how it was performed…yeah, right.
Here’s the simple truth. True-graphics are done by true professionals. Just as you could dig a hole and fill it with water to call it a pool, a professional team would do a much better job than you could. With years of experience and the right tools, a professional graphic artist is a vital part of a collaborative team that provides the end result. Just as you wouldn’t stand over the guys making your pool and tell them how to do it, you should trust your artist (given their work record) to get you exactly what you need.
Having said that, it’s important to understand that you’re not going to fully understand everything involved with the process but there are some important factors you should be acquainted with. Let’s start with resolution.
You hear it all the time, “I need high-resolution artwork.” This is where you say, “What in the world does that mean?!” Here’s a simple breakdown.
Anything and everything you see on this site is NOT high-resolution artwork. It NEVER WILL be high-resolution artwork either. Simply put, you cannot take things from the Internet and expect them to be acceptable forms of artwork, ready to be printed.
Things shown on the web are generally saved at 72 dots per square inch, or DPI for short. 72dpi is a perfect way to show things on a computer screen. The minimum resolution we need our files to be in order to go onto a screen for screen-printing is 200dpi. The minimum for offset printing (like your handy dandy business cards) is 300dpi.
NO!!! You cannot take an image from the web at 72dpi and blow it up to 200dpi and expect it to work. That would be like taking a piece of normal-sized 8.5” x 11” paper and stretching it out to be 17” x 22”. There simply isn’t enough paper there to do it. The same goes with graphic images…there simply isn’t enough color information there to do it. The computer will try to fill in the holes when the “paper” starts ripping as it stretches. That’s how you get pixilated images like this.
This complicates things when we’re prepping the work to go onto press. So…if you’re needing to get someone high-resolution artwork, an Internet image won’t work.
Here’s what that same image looks like when saved at the proper resolution.
To help alleviate the problem, start making phone calls and sending out emails to whomever you need to in order to get your hands on the original files used to create whatever piece of artwork you need to provide a high-resolution file for. There’s a good chance it still exists somewhere but if it doesn’t, be prepared for extra charges that come with rebuilding artwork or separating a substandard low-resolution image.
Tags: ai, eps, File formats, Illustrator, layered, Photoshop, psd, raster, Screen-printing, screenprinting, vector
