Creating documents for large format printing

We often get requests to print a large format document - court related exhibits, pictures, posters, etc. And by large I mean 16" x 20", 20" x 30" or 30" x 40".

This is usually not a problem UNLESS we get a file the size of a postage stamp (yes, we've gotten pictures that measured 1 x 1.25). We also receive files that won't blow up easily because of a variety of other reasons - but in the end, it all has to do with the size of the original.


Let's take that 1 x 1-1/2" picture. Some background first - lets assume that this is a picture off someone's phone and they "just saved it". Chances are it is saved at 72dpi (for web/computer/phone viewing). If you print at this resolution you will already see "Jaggies" (please remember that most printers print okay at 150 dpi and print great at 300 dpi)

Now let's blow it up to something as small as 8-1/2 x 11. Doing the boring math, this makes the picture have a dpi of 9.8 (that is 9.8 huge dots in a 1 square inch area) - imagine the jaggies here, not to mention it being blurry! Now lets blow it up to 16 x 20 - we are now down to 5.4 . this means that for each square inch of paper, we get 5.4 dots and since it has to fill the same amount of space as 150 dots would have in the beginning - these dots are gigantic. (Click on this picture and it will open in another window and you will see exactly what I mean)

Of course this is extreme - but even taking a 8-1/2x11 document (jpeg or tiff) starting at 150 dpi, and blowing it up to 20 x 30 takes the dpi down to 63.75. This may be okay from a distance, but if you want to read words, it will definitely give you a headache! Imagine reading a whole page like this - and this is really pretty good - I've seen worse.

With the cheap cost of storage - make those pictures/documents as large as you can to begin with. It will save you alot of headaches in the long run. And don't forget your camera/phone. Set your default size as large as you can - it will take up more space, but then you can transfer to another storage device. If you want to keep it on your phone for viewing - do a "save as" and save it in another document with a lower resolution.

A really good article on sizing pictures in photoshop can be found at http://www.layersmagazine.com/photoshop-resizing-images.html.

A Super Feature in Microsoft Publisher

More and more of our customers are using Microsoft Publisher. We happily accept those files! We would much rather see Publisher files than documents created in a word processor (i.e., Word or WordPerfect) or even worse, a presentation style program. We charge a fee for accepting these latter files.

But I am getting off point. I wanted to clue everyone into the Design Checker tool that resides under the Tools menu in Publisher. This little gem will help you avoid 95% of your problems when you take your file to ANY printer.

As you can see from the sample on the right, there are several types of checks you can run. I am mainly interested in the first 2.

"General Design Checks" will show you such problems as items outside the print area, overlapping items, hidden items, and even hidden text. But I am more interested in the commercial printing area.

Both checks inform you of many errors that are problematic for printers. The main errors we see are incorrect color spaces (RGB instead of CMYK or spot colors), poor graphics (i.e., "low resolution picture" which is under 150 dpi), or a transparency error.

The color space errors are worthy of several separate discussions. But depending on how your project is to be printed, RGB might be acceptable.

Picture resolution should ideally be 300 - 1200 dpi. Unfortunately, we often receive items that were copied from the web - those are always 72 dpi and just do not print correctly. At best they look blurry. And if they are scaled to a larger size, they get a seriously bad case of the "jaggies".

A transparency error is a little more suble. But it will not print correctly when processed through our equipment. This occurs because you selected a color and then used the "Transparency" section in the color menus. This is great for the web - but doesn't always turn out like you expect in printing. It may turn our okay at home, but when we send it through our postscript processors, there is no telling how it will come out. Sometimes it is solid, sometimes its a different color, and sometimes it just dissappears.

These are just a few of the most commor errors, but each item that is listed must be reviewed. As long as you understand the consequences of the design error, you may want to ignore it. However, it ALWAYS helps us produce the result you want if you fix all the issues found by the Design Checker.

3 Weeks & Counting

We are starting our 3rd week of the new year - and I'm still sticking to my schedule! Its amazing.

I committed to work on certain projects on set days each week. This is new for me - I have just been kind of "rolling with the flow". But I was tired of always being behind and just putting out the current hottest fire.

Monday is my day for blogging, tweeting and updating books for a Foundation I volunteer for. In the past I would get caught up in answering everyone's questions and just let these jobs slide. Well, as you can see from my blog list - I let it slide from last May - that is not acceptable! And the foundation calendar & books got updated just before the board meeting.

Part of my problem has been that I would simply forget. Well, let me tell you...To Do lists are my best friend this year. This may be 2nd nature to most of you, but it is a struggle for me. I would try to keep lists, but would loose them, or the list would be so doodled on, I couldn't make it out. I was also bad about taking a scrap of paper and writing a note on it if I couldn't find my list - then I'd lose the note!

This year I am trying once again to use a time-management system with a weekly calendar. AND THEN TO OPEN IT! Simple isn't it. I have those weekly, monthly & quarterly items noted for the year. Then I use Post-Its to keep track of the stuff I have to remember. I also note all promises if have made to customers and even put message slips in my planner if I have them.

I've already laid out my marketing planner for this year - with post-it notes. They are little strips of notes. I wrote all of our products on a separate note and then put them on the year at a glance calendar. Now, if I get a special from one of my vendors, I can easily change my plan to pass that particular savings on to my customer. Love it!

Wondering how I have been in business all these years? Me too...but I must admit I have great employees. And it isn't that I lost business (probably did, but don't know it), but that I want more business - and I feel my personal organization is a major factor for success.

Happy New Year!

New Year... New Blog... New Website

I am ready to start this new decade with a new attitude - especially as it applies to marketing, both for me and for you. Over the past year I have been reading, studying, surfing, tweeting and linking to all sorts of great people in the field of marketing. Now it's time to put some of those lessons into practice - for both of us. After all, if you look good and get more business...I should too!

One of my first accomplishments was to rough out a 1 page business/marketing plan for the year. I got some basics on this from Maria Marsala at http://www.businessandmarketingplan.com/. I plan on taking some of her seminars this year. Find someone you feel fits your style and follow them. You don't always have to pay for their information...just follow them on LinkedIn or Twitter and pick and choose the seminars you feel would really benefit you - then pay for those.

This whole year all of MY marketing efforts will focus on YOUR marketing. And while we are at it, I think the biggest lesson I learned this year is that EVERYTHING is related to marketing! From planning my day to the processes we use in our shop to the way we answer the phone, and even our "on-hold" opportunities.

So over the course of this year, you will see lots of changes.

• I plan on blogging at least once per week. The first week will center on general marketing issues, week 2 on Microsoft Publisher (and other programs), week 3 on preparing for the upcoming month, and week 4 on general topics - hopefully suggested by you.



• On Mondays, I will have a Tweetbit..maybe a special or maybe a really hot marketing tip. So be sure to sign up to follow me - I promise, I won't tell you when I'm going to lunch!



• Our web site will be constantly updated to reflect everything we do - I'll Tweet that as its completed too!



• Continue our bi-weekly e-newsletters



• We now have a discussion board on the web site (accessed from the Home Page). Hopefully we can all share tips, tribulations and triumphs!

I told my family that I wasn't making any resolutions for this year...but it seems like I just did!

6 Design Distractions

Everyone who sits down to prepare a document for their Printer has a vision of what they want to convey to their audience, whether it be customers or patrons. Elements that distract from clearly portraying that vision need to be corrected.

We get files in many formats, but no matter what program was used to create the document, we see the same problems over and over. Unfortunately, these items reflect poorly on the creators and their organizations. Some elements make them look unprofessional, some are distracting, but most are both.

1. Distorted Graphics (Extremely distracting and unprofessional - especially if someone is paying you to do the layout).
   
   Observation: It seems some people loved the House of Mirrors at the local fair, because that is how their pictures look - tall and skinny or short and fat. It appears that the authors who do this first type all of their articles, then put in the pictures to fill up all the space.
   
   Correction: Put in the pictures 1st - then flow the text around them. Programs such as Microsoft Publisher, Adobe InDesign, and Quark Express all have excellent text wrapping features. You can even curve text around the contours of the graphic.
   
   
2. Ragged Edged Lists
   
   Observation: Does it ever appear that the paper is distorted when it really isn't? Instead of tabbing, the author typed periods to space to the other side of the page. But since type is proportional, each line ends at a different spot.
   
   Correction: Use the right tab with a leader.
   
   
3. Borders / In-Document Spacing
   
   Observation: Borders are all over the place - we will do a separate blog on this soon! The most distracting infraction is that the author isn't consistent in each section of the document - as in a brochure. The 2 outer panels have large margins and the middle panel has none. A system problem is that the margins may automatically adjust to the author's printer, which is usually an inkjet and requires about 1/2" or more - but printers have equipment that can print to 1/4" or 3/8". (Let's not even talk about printing to the edge in this posting.)
   
   Correction: Print it out and fold or cut the document the way you want it to turn out. Never rely solely on the on-screen version. If your printer won't print to the margin you want to use, allow it to cut off and then mark a line. I know it's low tech - but draw out (story board) your layout and then physically measure it.



4. Low Resolution Graphics
   
   Observation: Almost always the problem is that the authors use web graphics, and then, to make matters worse, try to enlarge them. On screen graphics are low resolution - only 72 to 90 dpi. Printing requires anywhere from 200 to 1200+ dpi, depending on the printing process and what quality the author wants to produce. (dpi is dots per inch and is the number of pixels in 1 square inch).
   
   Correction: Try to get the original graphic and be sure to embed it in the file (do not link). Also, do not enlarge a graphic - it keeps the pixes packed together. If you have a 72 dpi graphic and enlarge it, it may end up a 12 dpi graphic! Conversely if you have a 72 dpi picture and make it smaller, you are "packing in" those pixels and the dpi increases.
   


5. Caps and Underlining
   
   Observation: Authors use all caps or underlining for emphasis, or sometimes everything is in caps. When we all (yes I'm dating myself) had typewriters, this is what you did. But now we have colors, italics, and a bazillion fonts! Also, underlining is now associated with links - its an on-line world after all.
   
   Correction: Be creative - use other formatting tactics - but don't go overboard.
   


6. Use Of Everything Imaginable.
   
   Observation: Nothing is more distracting than every line or word being in a different color, or font, or size....etc. It's like the author cannot make a decision, so just uses everything! Nothing stands out and the reader is not sure what to look at.
   
   Correction: I believe that less is more. Stick to 2 or 3 fonts and use colors for emphasis.
   

If you have any questions or observations, lets discuss them in future blogs.

It's Personal!

I don't remember much from English class - after all it was a long time ago. One thing I do remember is when to use an apostrophe.

I have lost track of the times that I have seen an apostrophe when someone was simply using a plural...like "the turkey's were lucky to escape the hatchet!"

It drives me absolutely crazy! It changes the whole meaning of the sentence, or it makes the sentence so confusing that I have forgotten what the point was.

"Apostrophes for Dummies" says:
Apostrophes are those little curved marks you see hanging from certain letters. They look harmless enough, so why do even well educated people throw them where they don't belong and leave them out where they're needed? ...

For a little guidance, Wikihow tells us:
Avoid using an apostrophe to indicate a plural. The incorrect use of an apostrophe to form the plural is called the greengrocer's apostrophe, since grocers are often the worst (or at least the most visible) offenders. If you have more than one apple, then write apples, not apple's. If you cannot replace the word with "his," "her," or "their" and if it isn't a contraction, then an apostrophe should not be used

So please, the next time you feel like hanging that little curved mark, ask yourself "who owns it?"...make it personal!

Having said all that...I just don't understand those its, its' & it's!

Paper Paper everywhere

As a printer, I see a lot of different kinds of paper, and I love it! Maybe it's just me, but when I receive something in the mail, I respond more favorably to a better quality of paper.

Of course if it is TOO good, and they are soliciting donations, then I have a negative reaction, but I am also leery of something that looks too unprofessional.

Good quality paper from a business shouts success to me. It tells me they are a quality organization that has a true vision of their goals. However, knowing paper, if it is the very most expensive of paper, I don't figure I can afford their services!

On the other hand, something sent to me on a cheap copy paper screams "amateur" to me. I usually steer clear of these companies because they appear to be doing everything "on the cheap" so I feel they might do my job the same way. Of course this is also a marketing opportunity for me.

Non-profits have a much more difficult time. They must walk a tightrope of looking professional and not appearing too slick. They need a piece that is attractive enough to receive at least a glance, but not so fancy that the receiver feels they are wastrels. Again, something on cheap paper that looks like it has been copied for the 100th time (your know...crooked, running off the edge, skewed...) scares me. This piece ends up in the trash can immediately.