You just don’t have the right tools for the job! These programs are great for typing reports and manuscripts but they were never really meant for graphics. Trying to design a business card in Word, Open Office, WordPerfect, or similar programs is the artistic equivalent of using crayons to create the Mona Lisa. _ Awww! Yeah!!! Cool guy rocking the Word designed Business Card! This is pretty basic file info for most programs (Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, Corel Draw, etc,) All these programs have their own issues and limitations but if you can at least set your file up in the right pixel size, you are starting your design out on the right track. If your image looks pixelated on-screen in a 300dpi environment, it will look even worse when printed!.You MUST design your card in CMYK mode for print (not RGB web mode).Your business card image resolution should be set at 300dpi.The size of your standard business card should be 3½” x 2” or 1050 pixels x 600 pixels.Try to use stock sites and other high-res image sources for your inspiration and design imagery.īefore setting up your business card design file, check the following essentials: It is also advisable to avoid right-clicking/saving random images on the internet for use in your print projects. My advice is to use a proper business card design template that is already prepped and optimized for print purposes. No it won’t! It will look like an unholy mess! Not because you’re putting a picture of a cat on your business card (although that’s not a good idea either unless you own a pet store), but because you’re trying to force a low-res image that was created for web use into a design that needs to be created for print? The two things are not compatible.ĭon’t ask me why people do this? You cannot magically transform a 180px by 180px Facebook icon into a crisp hi-res portrait! Pasting a graphic or picture from the internet into your design and enlarging it to 50 times its original size will not achieve the effect you want! “Hey! I really like this tiny bitmap image of a cat wearing sunglasses I saw on the internet! That would look crazy-cute on my business card!” Here is a common thought among people who want to design their own business card You’ve grabbed a tiny (72dpi) image from somewhere on the web and tried to enlarge it to fit in a much larger 2”x 3 ½” (300dpi) space? Either way, the resulting prints will be a hideous blurry mess of pixel stink.Designed your card at a miniscule 72dpi (or lower) instead of the required 300dpi.When you get pixilated images, you’ve either: (Just you try playing ping-pong, typing a letter, or eating a sandwich with pixel-hands…you can’t!!!) She couldn’t hold onto her chicken dinner for very long thanks to her pixel hands….curse you pixilated business card disease! I do not want my hands to suddenly turn into a big mess of undefined pixels. Pixilated! Yuck! Don’t people see this mistake? A pixilated design looks like it’s caught some kind of nasty digital blur infection! I actually try to avoid putting my hands on pixilated business cards in fear that I’ll catch this terrible condition. While I don’t purport to be the world’s greatest design expert, I’ve been in the design and marketing business long enough to know when someone’s made a massive business card booboo! Moreover, working for a company that specializes in business card printing has given me a particular insight into the kind of eye-offensive business cards that cause design and marketing people to drop to their knees, pleading with the Gods of Style & Good Taste to please stop the hurting!!!īefore you start designing your card, here is a list of some of the biggest business card errors! A car crash mixture of different pixel dimensions conjoin to make a truly hideous business card…keep away! The business card! That ancient print object that has been hooking-people-up for centuries can be both a thing of simple beauty and a hideous design Medusa that turns all tasteful sensibilities to stone!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |