Monday, June 29, 2009

Graphics - What quality should they be?

Have you ever seen an ad in a magazine that is pixelated (blurred and fuzzy)? Chances are you have and the reason why is because the person designing the ad didn't use high resolution images.

Web sites and other electronic mediums usually only require low resolution graphics (72 dots per inch - dpi) and typically come in JPG, GIF, or PNG file types. Low resolution graphics work great on the web because they load fast and don't require a lot of bandwidth to transfer; however, print marketing is completely different.

When advertising in a professional print publication, the media department or the sales rep will provide you with a specifications sheet, known as a media kit. The media kit will have all the ad requirements - height, width, color, and resolution. The resolution is always the same for print - 300 dpi(dots per inch). As I'm sure you've noticed there is a big difference between 72 dpi and 300 dpi, that is why it's so important to use the correct resolution in your supporting files.

When you have a professional graphic artist create your logo, they should give you the logo in EPS format, which can be used in most print advertising. An EPS is a hi-res, vector based image that can be used for every advertising opportunity from business cards to ads to banners to billboards. If you want to learn more about having a professional logo created in EPS format, please contact www.xfactordesigns.com.

In addition to the logo, the other elements in the ad need to be hi-res if they are going to look crisp and clean in the magazine. Often times people have a hard time knowing what is hi-res and what isn't. A good rule of thumb is, if you are designing a 8.5"x11" full color ad, all your supporting photos should be at least 1MB each - the higher the MB (megabytes) the better quality the image will be.

If you need a print advertisement created, whether it's an ad, banner, flyer, brochure, business card, or label Xfactor Designs can help you!