File preparation Services
– Scout Motto
Once a design has been determined, quite often the file needs to be modified for use in different media. A great poster design will have to be modified if the same design is to be applied to a T-shirt. T-shirts are produced using a variety of techniques nowadays. The image can be applied by screenprinting each colour separately or digitally printed by specialized machines. An image printed on dark fabrics may have to have a white underlay as part of the final production file. Lets take that same poster and you wish to have that original poster of 11 x 17 enlarged to be a banner 8ft x 12ft, the graphics have to be of sufficient resolution to maintain the integrity of the image. Many factors go into determining the best resolution, graphic style and design techniques:
- Desired Viewing Distance
- The further away the subject is the lower the resolution the graphics need be.
- The further away, the size of the wording needs to be larger to have maximum readbility.
- Use of vector graphics
- Vector graphics, unlike bitmap images are made of mathematical formulae and maintain the same resolution as the printing device at any size. A vector logo will have the same resolution and appearance at business card size as a banner 20 ft wide.
- File format
- Many printers, large format, engravers, offset printing may require specialized file formats. High end, production output devices may not accept some of the more traditional file formats such as Microsoft Word and will need to be converted.