Why are my designs coming out pixelated with random color smudges around text/graphics?

Question

I'm using illustrator CC 2017. I wanted to make an email signature. I made the dimensions 330x148px. (I would have used 600x220px but when I added it to my saved signatures it wouldn't let me resize it so I neeed it to be rather small).

What I'm seeing is pixelation and random smudged colors that seem like a haze on top of everything. It looks terrible. It is really evident in the space between text which should be completely white. Below is the JPG file I exported.

I found a vector file of a hex grid pattern and added it as a background.

I tried aligning the pixels to the pixel grid and didn't really see any change. When I view in pixel preview it looks bad as expected.

I exported it out as JPG, 72ppi, Baseline Compression, Anti-aliasing "Type Optimized", and quality 3.

After spending hours of research and countless thoughts of giving up I've decided to ask for help. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Alton

Answer 1

Set the quality to a higher number. Setting the number that low compresses the image and creates artifacts.

I would also suggest that you create your signature with text instead of using an image for the whole signature.

Here is an example signature

Instead of using a background color in the table you would change that with a background image.