Questions tagged [print-design]

Questions about printing, the process of reproducing text and image, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and transaction printing.

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79 votes
12 answers
167k views

What kind of black should I use when designing for CMYK print?

My question is what kind of black should I use when printing. At the moment I use this black (split into CMYK): C:0% M:0% Y:0% K:100% It looks fine in InDesign or Illustrator but if I save a PDF ...
Flavius Frantz's user avatar
75 votes
13 answers
454k views

What resolution should a large format artwork for print be?

For wall-sized graphics and large banners (e.g. 3m × 5m), what is an acceptable PPI for print? As I understand it 300 ppi is the typical for 'small' artworks (esp. for clean text resolution). However, ...
Hemi's user avatar
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46 votes
7 answers
109k views

What price should I charge for design services?

I was hoping I would find some people in the industry that could help me decide what's the best price to charge to design (in this case) business cards. What are standard prices for professional ...
CBallenar's user avatar
  • 561
44 votes
12 answers
78k views

Should I design business cards in InDesign, Illustrator or Photoshop?

Basically what the question says, what are the pro's and cons to using InDesign, Illustrator, or Photoshop for business cards? Or is there something else you prefer to use?
JKFrox's user avatar
  • 587
37 votes
10 answers
13k views

How can a designer explain their work to non-creative people?

One issue I face personally is how can I, as a designer, effectively explain my work to potential clients or people that do not have a creative side. I know how to explain what software or process was ...
user9447's user avatar
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37 votes
2 answers
26k views

I need to print an image at a certain size. What dimensions and resolution should I use?

(This question is meant to be a resource to direct others to given that this is a common question.) Given the task of creating an image that will be printed at a certain size, what pixel dimensions ...
DA01's user avatar
  • 50.2k
36 votes
6 answers
9k views

What should you ask the printer?

We get a lot of questions in regards to what should my file spec be, what should I do with X and Y, how should I do my black etc. etc. and a large majority of the time we suggest to ask the printer ...
user9447's user avatar
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35 votes
12 answers
142k views

Illustrator: Resize Artboard With Objects Inside

I've been looking everywhere, and cannot find my answer so I wanted to ask here. I know how to re-size my artboard in Illustrator and all that, but I cannot get my artboard to re-size with objects ...
Xarcell's user avatar
  • 611
33 votes
10 answers
15k views

RGB and CMYK: Why both?

Any of you who have at least little experience with graphic design software, photography or professional printing, must have -almost undoubtedly- have gone through this: 'the struggle' of RGB and CMYK ...
paddotk's user avatar
  • 1,302
31 votes
11 answers
53k views

What DPI should be used for what situations?

I've been seeing the word 'DPI' pop up quite a lot when I export my work out in Photoshop and Illustrator. While I know that DPI stands for 'dots per inch', and that if you have too low of a DPI on an ...
JFW's user avatar
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30 votes
4 answers
760 views

Should in-house clients receive native files to make their own changes?

I am the in-house designer for a company that employs 8 marketing managers. These marketing managers are the ones that supply me with the lion-share of my projects. However, more and more, the ...
kdub's user avatar
  • 591
26 votes
4 answers
11k views

Should I watermark my work?

I am an art student who is trying to upload some digital work on a website. Do graphic designers typically watermark their work? If no, how do graphic designers protect their work? Update: ...
Sarah's user avatar
  • 261
25 votes
16 answers
336k views

Two-sided printing: exact positioning?

I have designed some fancy cards (80mm x 48mm), and I would like to print them on both sides of a sheet of paper now (5x2 per A4 sheet). Naturally, both sides of the print need to coincide exactly. ...
user1111929's user avatar
25 votes
5 answers
45k views

Charging an Intellectual Property transfer fee for design work

So, you've finished a design job (eg. a logo design) and the client asks for your IP surrounding the logo, eg copyright, original artwork files, notes, sketches, all of that stuff that went into ...
Quakesoldier's user avatar
25 votes
1 answer
5k views

Is it possible to use a fully open source workflow for print design?

Is it possible to use only open-source tools in order to produce professional level artwork? Has anyone actually done it? If not, where are the current gaps? Assume I'm producing a small multi-page ...
e100's user avatar
  • 9,812
24 votes
4 answers
24k views

What's the difference between CMYK Black and RGB Black

I know this sounds a stupid question, black is black right? Wrong: It's black right? so why are the CMYK Values so far away from black?
Dan Hanly's user avatar
  • 2,371
24 votes
5 answers
5k views

How do I make screenshots look good when printed in CMYK?

When printing screenshots alongside black text, black areas of the screenshot look a washed out "muddy dark grey" and "washed out". What causes this and can I improve the black color area?
e100's user avatar
  • 9,812
23 votes
6 answers
12k views

Who is responsible for text mistakes in a print project?

I am a graphic designer and my project was to design and print a cocktail catalog. Everything worked fine till the client realized, when I delivered the printed catalogs, that a cocktail΄s description ...
Triangle's user avatar
  • 231
22 votes
8 answers
2k views

What are common mistakes that you see in "professional" designs? [closed]

This might be too subjective but I'm curious about other peoples' experiences. Mods, please close if this is too far into "not a real question" territory. I see many questions on this site about "...
22 votes
7 answers
53k views

How can I have prints with white ink?

Say, I have a small business card that has solid, dark background and white text. Registration, ink amount and look & feel -wise I'd prefer the paper itself be dark and the text printed in one ...
Jari Keinänen's user avatar
21 votes
3 answers
3k views

How could letters overlap in manual typesetting?

Generally speaking, ascenders and descenders should not touch each other in the text body. This is self-explanatory as it could lead to text that is difficult to read. However, Erik Spiekermann ...
Philipp's user avatar
  • 1,093
21 votes
6 answers
106k views

How can I determine how much bleed to use?

I'm starting to do designs meant for printing, but I'm fairly new to this medium so I don't really understand how bleed works and how much bleed should I specify for: Business cards Large format ...
Andres's user avatar
  • 549
21 votes
4 answers
10k views

Why is Corbel listed as bad font for body text in Butterick's Practical Typography?

We are creating branding guidelines for a nonprofit voluntary organization. Only around 10 people will create content, but a lot more people will need to be able to view documents and publications ...
Carlo Beltrame's user avatar
21 votes
3 answers
73k views

What are the dimensions of a business card?

As per the title. What are the dimensions of a business card that fits in a wallet? (i believe it is a global standard?) Bonus marks if you can give the history behind how it arrived at that ...
Hemi's user avatar
  • 3,066
21 votes
3 answers
2k views

Bill a client for a design error?

A regular client of 3 years typically orders prints from us quarterly came in over a week ago with an order. Sometimes this client comes in with the designs and sometimes we do the designs in house. ...
user9447's user avatar
  • 18.3k
20 votes
6 answers
10k views

Is it essential to type "WWW" when our design contains URL, or is it a matter of taste by now?

I love the appearance of traditional url's, because the www in front of them eases and speeds up my understanding that there's definitely a certain web adress. But is there any established guideline ...
Aksana Zinchanka's user avatar
20 votes
8 answers
16k views

Why do newspapers use multiple columns?

This might not be the right place to ask, but I was wondering why newspapers use multiple columns? Does it take up less space, or is there a visual reason?
Tyler Gillies's user avatar
20 votes
8 answers
7k views

Which typeface is suitable for marking of wires?

I work as technician in company engaged in industrial automation. Our company need to find suitable typeface for marking of wires in electric switchboard. (Fig. 1) I also like a typography, so I try ...
Cooper538's user avatar
  • 303
20 votes
4 answers
205k views

What CMYK values should I use for rich black, and how should I handle tints/shades?

I'm working on a full color piece in Illustrator which has a few large black and grey areas. I'd like the black to be a rich black. I was thinking c30 m30 y30 k100. What is the best ways to match my ...
cwedge's user avatar
  • 448
19 votes
2 answers
6k views

Do I absolutely need a bleed for the interior of my book, if images cross over the edge of the pages?

This is the first time I've put images next to the edges of the pages in my books. I understand that that the printer may cut 1/16 inch off the pages, so that's why I let the images slightly overlap ...
Katy Kauffman's user avatar
18 votes
2 answers
17k views

What should be considered when using very thin lines on a print piece?

I'm designing a card game and my friend (who is a graphic designer and works at a commercial printing establishment) told me to keep in mind the thinness of my lines when sending the docs to print. ...
OghmaOsiris's user avatar
  • 3,025
18 votes
4 answers
3k views

Why do we still use points as a measurement of type size?

I'm in the UK, which uses metric units for pretty much everything now except road distances and beer (obviously best kept apart). Page sizes have been metric here and in most of the rest of the world ...
e100's user avatar
  • 9,812
17 votes
6 answers
3k views

Making a business card. Any advice?

I went around the web, reading articles about business card mistakes, and here is a full list of them: Don't use cheap materials/techniques or attempt to print your own. Don't use metal business ...
17 votes
3 answers
68k views

How do Pantone coated and uncoated colors relate?

I need some help understanding the relationship between coated and uncoated Pantone colors. From what I've read online, the coated formula (say 200 C) is for printing on coated (glossy) stock, and ...
nrser's user avatar
  • 367
17 votes
1 answer
18k views

Examples of good academic poster design [closed]

Do you have any good examples of academic poster design? Most posters look exactly the same (I don't want to pick on anyone in particular), and from my experience at conferences, almost nobody reads ...
YXD's user avatar
  • 181
16 votes
5 answers
9k views

What home printer would allow for exact alignment of front and back?

Note: I'm not a graphic designer, but this seemed like the most relevant place to post. Feel free to send me off somewhere else if I'm not in the right place. I would like to make some notebooks with ...
melkimx's user avatar
  • 169
16 votes
3 answers
4k views

An error in printed book is my fault: what do I do? [duplicate]

I designed a kids' activity book for my client. She handwrote all the text correctly and I typed a sentence out incorrectly. She approved the proof before print but that was the 6th draft so I guess ...
Pepefan's user avatar
  • 391
16 votes
6 answers
33k views

What is 5-colour printing?

When my print rep talks about five-colour printing, what does he mean? I know you have cyan, magenta, yellow and black - but what's the fifth?
e100's user avatar
  • 9,812
16 votes
3 answers
124k views

How to prepare a design for CMYK printing?

This was asked in another thread. When I searched to see if this question has been asked before it was not. Per Meta we are encouraged to create threads that show quality solutions or to future ...
user9447's user avatar
  • 18.3k
16 votes
6 answers
3k views

Does this New York Times magazine cover have any cultural significance?

I was browsing the Cover Junkie site when I stumbled upon this cover of The New York Times Magazine. I don't get it. How am I supposed to get what the cover tries to tell me? Are there any ...
Olivier Malki's user avatar
16 votes
2 answers
6k views

What does it mean when printers have told me my colour is not a Pantone colour, but in my file it is?

I've recently designed a cosmetic label for a client and I've given them the final file to have it printed at their designated printer companies. But a few have them have come back and said that they ...
Demie's user avatar
  • 161
16 votes
4 answers
137k views

Smallest font size for small print?

I'm setting up a document and the document has some * and footnotes. The document itself is A6 size, which is pretty small (postcard size). What font-size should I assign to the smallprint footnotes? ...
Dan Hanly's user avatar
  • 2,371
16 votes
3 answers
5k views

Is font hinting still relevant?

I've been Googling articles on the relevance of hinting, but most of the ones I've read are dated back to 2011 at best and the nineties at worst, which could mean they're outdated. Is hinting still ...
Vun-Hugh Vaw's user avatar
15 votes
3 answers
60k views

How does a monitor display the CMYK color? Is it actually showing the true CMYK color?

Suppose I'm designing something for printing purposes. Then I need to stick with CMYK model. When ever I'm choosing color while designing, I'm setting color based on what my monitor shows me as CMYK. ...
claws's user avatar
  • 543
15 votes
5 answers
57k views

is there a way to add hyperlinks in a Illustrator document?

I am creating a CV in Illustrator and exporting it to a PDF. I just read an article which stated that it is a good idea that we use hyperlinks in the CV so that the employer can just click and not ...
aurel's user avatar
  • 881
15 votes
9 answers
84k views

Why are there unwanted white lines appearing in a PDF print proof?

I designed a christmas card and I normally print it on vista print. When I ask for a print proof the outlines show. They don’t show when I print it at home. Why are there unwanted white lines ...
Jessica's user avatar
  • 151
14 votes
4 answers
20k views

What is a "cromalin"?

I've been asked by a client to design a full page advertisement for a catalog. The specs I received mention that beside a PDF of the page we should also supply "imperatively a cromalin: Without a ...
Andreyu's user avatar
  • 308
14 votes
2 answers
2k views

What should I do after sending a file to print with a typo?

After sending a booklet to print, after client approval, I noticed a typo that was my fault. The client supplied the text but in the design process it was edited and I have misspelt an email address. ...
Gillian's user avatar
  • 143
14 votes
4 answers
151k views

Can you convert a neon RGB color to CMYK for printing?

I have a logo that was done with RGB colors, now I have to work with this logo to do something for printing purpuses, the problem is that in the RGB version of the logo I have a shade of green I ...
Flavius Frantz's user avatar
14 votes
6 answers
8k views

When should I use rich black?

What kind of black should I use when designing for CMYK print? explains what rich black is, but when should it be used? If it gives a "blacker black", why not use it for all black elements in a CMYK ...
e100's user avatar
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