The Dummies Guide to Image Files

BY SAM | PUBLISHED: APRIL 25 2012

It happens all the time, you’re asked to supply a logo or an image to someone, and they ask for a .xxx file. But you don’t know what one is, much less how to find one - or worse, create one!

Clients tell us this can be a real issue, so we thought we’d help out by clarifying some of the terminology – we know we have a habit of taking it for granted that people understand it all as well as we do . . . So, to find out all you ever wanted to know about file types (but were afraid to ask!) download our handy PDF guide.

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The Dummies Guide to Image Resolution

BY SAM | PUBLISHED: MARCH 05 2012

When an image is supplied for printing purposes, the printer will often ask for it to be supplied at, for example, 5" x 8" at 300dpi or 300ppi. But what does that really mean? Most people find it hard to understand, so we thought we’d try to help simplify things a bit . . .

Let’s start with pixels. All images which come from digital cameras or from scanners are made up of pixels. The word ‘pixel’ is a contraction of the term PIcture ELement. A pixel is in effect a tiny square of colour. Think of it as a very small floor tile! If you magnified a high resolution digital image to around 1,600 percent you would be able to see the individual pixels, or tiles, that the image is made up of.

Pixels are also often referred to as ‘dots’ – so PPI (pixels per inch) and DPI (dots per inch) are the same thing. The DPI or PPI is the number of dots, or pixels, per inch in your image. This affects the print size of your photo and will affect the quality of the output. If there are too few pixels per inch, then they will be very large and you will get what is known as a ‘pixellated’ image. In effect you can see the individual pixels because they are so much bigger than they should be, so edges look jagged and areas of flat colour, such as sky, looks dotty.

For example, if your physical image file size is 5” x 8” at 300 dpi – but you increase the physical file size to 10” x 16” then you will only have 150 dots per inch not 300, and so the picture quality reduces. Likewise, a 72dpi image shrunk to 50% of its original size will effectively be 144dpi and so on.

Ideally images should never be used at more than 100% or they start to pixellate, but you can get away with enlarging them a little, depending on how vital the quality of the finished item is – for example you might get away with it in a internal staff newsletter, but not in a glossy ‘coffee table’ type book of photographs! We always recommend that you don’t enlarge pictures more than 125% of the original size at 300dpi. Any more than this and you will see noticeable degradation, and more than 200% can mean that the actual pixels that make up the photo will become visible.

DPI is only really relevant when printing an image. In commercial printing, 300dpi at 100% is needed in order to have enough detail and to look natural. However, for use on the web, a resolution of 72dpi is fine as web files need to be kept as small as possible to ensure that pages load quickly.

We hope that’s helped to make it a bit clearer, but if you have any questions at all about resolution, please call or email us and we’ll be happy to help.

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Can’t write? No worries, use a ghost!

BY GILL | PUBLISHED: JANUARY 12 2012

We have clients in many industries and one thing they all have in common is that they want to raise the profile of their businesses and sometimes themselves – whether that's through opinion piece articles in relevant trade magazine, or through writing their own Blogs.

But what happens if you can’t write? And many people can’t as we know .. . . So when your leading trade mag calls you up and asks for 750 words on what’s going to happen in your industry in 2012, the immediate reaction is to panic and run away! But it doesn’t have to be. Likewise, if one of your new year resolutions is to write a Blog on your website, or even start ‘Twittering’ - with the intention of interacting more regularly with your client base – a lack of ability to string a few words together could see you grinding to a halt on that particular resolution before you even start.

There is an answer, and one which the likes of many celebrities have used over the years in order to write their ‘autobiographies’. Hire a ghost writer! In simple terms, a ghost writer listens to what you want to say, writes it down in note form, and then somehow manages to translate it into perfect prose that sounds like you wrote it. Which in effect you did, just with a bit of help . . .

We’ve been asked numerous times over the years to assist with projects like this. So if it’s something you think you might need a little help with - whether for a blog, an magazine article, or something else entirely - give us a call and we’ll see if we can help!
 

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Just how cool are QR codes?

BY GILL | PUBLISHED: OCTOBER 05 2011

Finally, printed media meets online content head-on, for completely 'joined up' marketing. It's everything we've been dreaming of . . .

If you have no idea what we're talking about - let us explain. QR codes are those funny little black and white boxes that are starting to appear on magazine ads, posters, takeaway menus and a host of other printed materials. All you have to do is download a QR reader to your smartphone, hold it up to the QR code and hey presto - you're automatically taken straight to that company's website - or to a specific page within it, if that's how the code has been set up.

Getting your own QR code is also dead easy - just Google 'QR code generator' or have a look at www.qrstuff.com - and follow the really simple instructions. You'll have your own code in no time. Or of course just ask us to add one to your next piece of printed literature!

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