Baby Chicks ~ so cute they’re not just for Easter anymore. This is the little illustration I did to create a New Year’s greeting card to send to clients, colleagues and good friends. To everyone,  I wish you a most creative, and interesting (for stories to share) year yet!

Not long ago, I was commissioned to design an invitation, a “save the date” postcard with a corresponding web page for a Roaring 20’s Gala benefit. The gala proceeds are to go to the Madison Claire Foundation in support of its key project: To build Madison’s Place ~ “a universal accessible playground where children of all physical and developmental abilities can play together to foster friendships, acceptance and understanding.  Playgrounds should be for everyone!”

The Madison Claire Foundation was created in loving memory of Madison Claire Millington whose two precious short years on earth were ended due to complications from Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). The foundation is dedicated to helping children and their families diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) and other life threatening illnesses and disabilities.

My first reactions were “Wow, what a great project to be handed!” followed by “how do I come up with a concept around “The Roaring 20’s” that hasn’t been done a trillion times before?” to “how do I tie together a Roaring 20’s concept with a cause that helps children with disabilities?”

Answering the “hows” is always: Do the research. I have never read “The Great Gatsby” and I realized my factual knowledge of that wild time in America was sorely lacking. What I knew for certain was I didn’t want to use some lame silhouette of a flapper twirling a long string of pearls. Last thing I wanted to do was “sex it up.” This was about helping children, after all.

A lot of the history of that era is fascinating and conflicting: You’ve got a rise of Communism and the Klu Klux Klan, the carefree social elite and notorious gangsters, jazz, radio, movies, the automobile ~ oh my! But one of the more interesting statements about the 1920s was it was the first decade to emphasize youth culture over the older generations, and the flapper sub-culture had a tremendous influence on main stream America, especially when it came to new words and phrases. Some have gone out of style, others still enter into our conversations today.

After doing some digging, I thought the best approach would be to explore the popular culture of the time. I looked into fashion, color pallets found in homes, art deco and advertising. I looked into popular typefaces that could work for the invitation ~ faces that were readable, but also graphically hold up on the web.

Breaking it down, all this intriguing (no, really, it was) research lead to:

1. The Ideal Visual: A peacock feather. The rational: At the time, America was fascinated by all things exotic and peacock feathers suggest all things exotic ~ far way places filled with spice, mystery and adventure. King Tut’s tomb had been discovered and a popular Chinese parlor game called Mah Jong was all the rage. Homes were decorated with vases of peacock feathers or they found their way into an art deco patterns. Then, of course, there’s your feather boa and fan. I was lucky to find beautiful photography of peacock feathers isolated on a white background ~ perfect to wrap copy around. The peacock feather was an eye-catching, non-cliché solution that visually captures the essences of the 1920s.

2. Next: Deciding on the right typefaces. These were easy to find. Deciding came down to what had the right look and feel for a gala invitation. It came down to a charming Coventry Garden and just as fitting, Gatsby.

3. The One Thing That Felt Missing: An actual theme. Yes, it’s being called a “Roaring 20’s Gala,” but that felt more like a descriptive characteristic verses a theme. To find a “theme” that might work, I turned to music. The song “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love, Baby” popped into my mind.

Most people will remember it from the 1938 screwball comedy “Bringing Up Baby” in a scene where quirky heiress Susan Vance (played by Katharine Hepburn) and befuddled paleontologist Dr. David Huxley (played by Cary Grant) attempt to coax a surly leopard named Baby off the roof of a house by singing “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love, Baby.”

But here’s the history behind the song:
“I Can’t Give You Anything but Love” is an American popular song and jazz standard composed by Jimmy McHugh and lyrics written by Dorothy Fields. It was introduced by Adelaide Hall at Les Ambassadeurs Club in New York in January 1928 in Lew Leslie’s Blackbird Revue, which opened on Broadway later that year as the highly successful Lew Leslie’s Blackbirds of 1928 (they did 518 performances), wherein it was performed by Adelaide Hall, Aida Ward and Willard McLean. Given those facts, the song’s date of conception made it feel like the right choice for the gala’s theme.

The rational for the theme choice I presented was that this is about a mother’s love for her daughter. She couldn’t give her anything but love, because there isn’t a known cure for the defect she was born with. I’m sure many parents feel this way when their child is born with a disability. So in essence, this is a fundraiser to be able to build on that love and provide a safe and fun place for children with disabilities play and be active.

4. Next came copy for the invitation. I found several websites listing the words, phrases and meanings behind the slang that sprung up during the 1920s. I wanted to use a select few choice expressions for the invitation, but not so over the top that it was ridiculous. (What I found interesting were the expressions regarding dating and affection revolved around “money.” For example, “Bank Closed” meant no kissing or necking allowed. “Cash or Check?” meant do you kiss me now or kiss me later.)

Copy for invitation:
Step into the world of Jay Gatsby, carefree high society, mingle with flappers,
 fly boys and maybe a few notorious gangsters ~ all for a swell time and 
a good cause.* 

So put on your glad rags and join us at the ritzy Van Dusen Mansion, 
Saturday, September 24th. There will be hot jazz, cool drinks and a swanky 
silent (and live) auction.

Details:

The Place: 
The Van Dusen Mansion
1900 LaSalle, Minneapolis, MN 55403



The Date: September 24th 2011

The Time: 
6:30 pm  Cocktail Reception, Hors Dourves, Silent Auction
8:00 pm  Program and Live Auction
9:00 pm  Live Jazz Band

Tickets: $75 per person or $150 per couple
Attending in costume is optional, but we’d love to see you arriving all dolled up.

Putting It All Together: Invitation Front Cover

Invitation Front Cover

Invitation Inside

Production notes: The invitation shown here was produced from digital files and not the actual printed piece. Size of invitation is 7.25” square printed on Wausau Royal Linen Bright White 100 lb. Cover. Invitations mailed
in 7.5” square white cotton envelope. Save the date postcard (design based on invitation) is an affordable era sized 4” x 6” with this little detail I designed for the back.

To learn more or would like to attend the gala go to http://madisonclairefoundation.org/gala.php

Image via Wikipedia

I’ve been running into articles, blog posts and running commentary on the pricing, (the evils of crowd sourcing, included), of design project work, logos in particular. I’m guessing because at some point in a designer’s career, they will be asked to design one and as designers, we can all relate to what it takes to create an effective, well-thought out logo mark.

What really surprised me was how LOW some designers are pricing out a logo project. Demographics might have something to do with it. I mean, a logo designed in NYC will probably costs more than say a logo designed in Kansas City, just because of the difference in the cost of living. It could be these designers are just out of school and their prices reflect that. But there is more at work here than that.

In reality, a logo design project isn’t the same as having your brake pads replaced. There is no industry wide-set cost.  (Not to mention all the variables involved: What does the logo represent, what do you want your target audience to see/feel about the logo, how will the logo be used, etc. and so forth.)

If you’re in the design field, you’ve most likely have heard of the Carolyn Davidson. 40 years ago, while attending Portland State, she was paid $35 for designing the world-wide ubiquitous Nike logo. When I first heard about this years ago, I thought how sad and I hope they gave her a shit-load of stock. Nike did give Carolyn stock later, now worth $643K. Not a bad return for the 17.5 hours she spent on the project.

But that’s not the point. Time isn’t the only thing a client is buying from a designer. The thing is, designers are, in essence, visual researchers and recorders of the human condition. They understand and capture society’s pulse, its trends, moods, concerns, obsessions and desires. Artists, and yes, designers, have been doing this since the dawn of cave paintings.

The trouble is designers often have a difficult time conveying their value to a client. This is especially tough when you’re just starting out. That’s where building a solid, trusting working relationship with the client becomes key. This, of course, takes time. But if you stand your ground in terms of your pricing, a client who is worth their salt will respect you for it and understand that you are as serious about running your business as they are running theirs. It’s a win-win. You won’t feel taken advantage of and the client gets the opportunity to understand your value and all the wonderful things you can do for them. You don’t want to be all things to all people, I’m just saying be resourceful, ask good questions of the client and tell them “here’s how I can help you with that.” Over time, the client will look to you on a regular basis as the-go-to-creative to help them with their marketing needs. I’m speaking from personal experience, here.

My mantra has always been good design is in the relationship and in terms of value, it’s priceless. I know there are a lot of designers out there that believe this, too. The sad thing is designers are seeing potential clients outsource their projects to India and Indonesia, because the designers there charge $11.50 an hour. Yes, this is discouraging and I’m sure it will continue as the global market is here to stay. But I look at it this way: If a potential client values rock-bottom pricing above everything else, then seriously, you don’t want to have them as a client.

The low-ball pricing, the practicing of outsourcing and crowd sourcing of design means the art of design and its ability to effectively communicate will greatly diminish, not to mention the demise of the design industry in this country. In the long run, that’s too high of a price for society to pay.

Related articles

• Design and History of “swoosh” (sjdesignstudio.wordpress.com)
• Good Design is in the Relationship (grandciel.wordpress.com)

Below are more from the Box of Creative Reasoning2. The first one is a working title for the project, book, poster, t-shirt or as Steve, my partner, suggests doing a small watercolor and letterpress on top of it for a work of art to be framed. Anything to decorate the offices with, my dear.

Box of Creative Reasoning2: Working Title. I say working title, because like with any plan, it pays to stay flexible. Hey, that could be another “box theme.” Flexibility…

Box of Creative Reasoning2 No. 5  We all need good mentors and we all have a bank of knowledge we can use to teach others. Just sayin’.

Box of Creative Reasoning2 No. 6 It’s easy to approach everything with caution. It’s super hard to be brave.  To be successful means taking the leap. Sometimes the thing people are most afraid of is their own success. To that, I say, stop getting in the way of yourself.

Box of Creative Reasoning2 No. 7 My partner, Steve, works with a few conservative people on his board. They are talented people, don’t get me wrong. But they tend to look at a situation from a single point of view. To say that can be frustrating is an understatement.

Box of Creative Reasoning2 No. 8 I think I created this one more for myself. I find it really hard to focus sometimes. I have my design business, I have the demands of others, I have my drive to do my own artwork and to be an artist. I want to write and illustrate children’s books. I also want to learn how to ride horses really well, learn sign language and not be afraid of the water, because snorkeling looks like such a joyfully, peaceful thing to do.

Box of Creative Reasoning2 No. 9 Practical advice for anyone, be it a reporter, someone starting their own business, or the president.

Next week’s post: Something Completely Different.

Related articles

• Paper Goods: Loving the Little Book of Letterpress (chroniclebooks.com)
• letterpress business cards (imbrandon.com)
• Letterpress (without a press) (fatimajamadar.wordpress.com)

I was lying down, nursing a lousy headache, when this idea came to me. Ironically, I get a lot of ideas when my head is pounding. Sad, but true.

I decided to design a series of mini-posters, all set in Helvetica. I know, how everyday blah, boring pedestrian. And for someone like me, who is completely crazy in love with beautiful typography, Helvetica might seem like a lame choice for my little creative venture. As it turns out, most of my business materials, proposals, rationals, questionnaires, invoices are all set in Helvetica.

I also recently ran across a blog post about all the huge and hugely famous mega corporation logos that are designed using Helvetica. There is even a movie out about Helvetica!

Box of Creative Reasoning2 No. 1 The “Ignore Everyone” part has been a hit with those I have shown this to.

Box of Creative Reasoning2 No. 2 Practical advice without the sappy sentiment.

Box of Creative Reasoning2 No. 3 My partner, Steve, likes to put in his 2 and a half cents into everything I happen to be creating at the moment. He suggested the theme for this one.

Box of Creative Reasoning2 No. 4 I have a good friend who devised the concept of “prototypes.” Takes the sting out of a failed attempt and makes you feel less of a loser.

My partner, Steve, thinks I should offer these at a buck a pop. Ever the entrepreneur. What I will do, though, if there is enough interest and response, is make these available, for free, as PDF downloads from my website. They print beautifully on 8.5” x 11” and you don’t need a snazzy color printer. I had such fun creating these there may be more thoughts in a box to come!

Cover via Amazon

I have been reading a really good book about creativity lately, Twyla Tharp’s “The Creative Habit.” This book isn’t just for artists ~ its for everyone. We think the major creative breakthroughs only happen to geniuses. That’s simply not true. Everyone is creative, whether they know it or not, because creativity is more about a process than a “jolt of inspiration” or a major “ahha” moment. A writer, a medical researcher, an attorney, a mother ~ you name it, they are all creative. The outcome of what each person produces is different as is their creative process it takes to get them there. The major breakthroughs ~ they happen when creativity becomes a habit ~ an everyday thing.

There’s the chapter Tharp’s book she has called “Scratching.” I find this particularly interesting. All along I have been researching, brainstorming and noodling as a way to my next idea and what I really want to do is scratch. Scratching feels just as it sounds ~ digging deep, ignore nothing, being curious, because you never know where and how all the pieces will come together to gel the next idea.

Scratching involves collecting bits and pieces of “stuff” that are interesting, inspiring, or a just a hunch, putting them in one place and see how it all stacks up. The collecting can lead to ideas for a novel, song lyrics, an invention, decorating a living space, crafting a business plan or in Tharp’s case, dance.

I have been doing my own share of scratching this week. A current project of mine is to design an invitation and other various pieces to promote a Roaring 1920’s fundraising gala for a non-profit foundation. What fun, you think ~ but at the same time, this party theme has been done A LOT before. The creative trick is not to fall into the cliché pit.

So I started scratching. The first thing I did was check out the venue for the gala. That was easy ~ everything is online, so I checked out their website and took the three-minute video tour. That gave me the visual backdrop for the event. I could see people mingling about, enjoying themselves in silk evening gowns, tuxedos and pinstripe suits, feather boas and long cigarette holders. (Although the rooms won’t be a blue haze due to our modern ban on smoking).

Then I started exploring the era ~ I haven’t read any Fitzgerald novels, much less seen the movie The Great Gatsby, but started by looking into the historical context of the times. I discovered that this was the first decade to emphasis youth culture over older generations. I looked into the fashion, the music, art deco, popular color schemes and the slang. What surprised me about the popular vernacular is that many of the expressions we still use today, like blind date, joe for coffee and john for toilet. Many of the expressions I didn’t know, like “cash or check” meant “kiss me now or kiss me later” or a “fire extinguisher” meant “a chaperone.” A lot of clever ones went out of style, but I’m glad bee’s knees and cat’s meow are no longer with us. Nerdy as saying “swell.”

All this scratching not only allowed me come up with a theme for the gala (something with more meaning than just Roaring 20’s), it gave me the perfect non-cliché visual and period fonts to use for the invitation and other pieces, plus it generated working copy for the invitation. The scratching process lead from one spark to the next that formed into a well-rounded concept. Instead of panic, “like what the hell am I going to come up with that hasn’t been done and over done before!” I got curious…I mean real curious.
(I promise to post the design results and details about the gala in a future post).

While this was an enjoyable process, scratching I’m sure could be used to generate ideas to solve a difficult problem, put a plan together, or make something as “boring as a pile of gravel” interesting and marketable. I know scratching is essential to my own work as an artist ~ it’s a part of the creative habit ~ just like writing a blog post every Sunday.

Side note about Tharp’s book ~ it’s simply, beautifully designed. I love the use of typography throughout and the elegant use of black and grey with a few red highlights here  and there just right. Plus she provides practical exercises that any one can use to get into the creative into a creative habit.

Related articles

• So Long, and Thanks for All the Galleys: Thirteen Books for Ten Years (omnivoracious.com)
• Twyla Tharp’s Creative DNA exercise (satsumaart.wordpress.com)

Japanese Face Cards Watercolor © Kristin Maija Peterson

After what I thought was a mutual satisfying result, feel flat for the client when I applied it to a layout for a promotional piece. So what when wrong? The layout is clean, readable, professional, but somehow in the client’s mind, it didn’t work.

That was it. After careful thought, I told the client I had to resign and why. To be fair, I should give you some background. This project, (re-vamping a brand, website and marketing materials), is not a paying project, but an agreed upon exchange for services. Not everything is about money and my thinking going into this is we will mutually benefit from each others’ expertise in a way that otherwise would not be affordable to either of us.

What is the client doing for me other than frustrating the hell out of me? Actually, a great deal. She conducts life mastery programs for business leaders, teams and individuals. For me, she is getting me unstuck and empowering myself to go after what brings joy to my life. It’s perfect timing for this point in my life, as I have being wanting to take steps to shift the direction of my business, as well as my artistic life. In other words, she’s helping me get out-of-the-way of myself.

With a paying client, the outcome would be totally different. Gentle reminder here: If for no other reason, it’s very important that a client pay at least one-third of the total project estimate up front, because if the project should happen to go south, at least you’ll won’t be left completely high and dry. The likelihood of you seeing additional compensation is slim. But, then again, it depends on the designer-client relationship.

Resigning from a project is new territory for me. I guess you could say I have strong instincts to what makes a good client and knowing what I can do for them. This could be the end of the story, but it’s not.

We had a very engaging, creative discussion about where we were, where I was at with the project. It hurt to give up, I was honest, but what was agreed upon is that it would be a good idea to step back, engage others options, let things rest and breath for a bit. Because her business model is deeply rooted in ancient Chinese wisdom, her vision for what looks right for her business is centered in Eastern thought. My Western mind was taking this into account, but my approach also centered on her target audience ~ how would they perceive the new look and feel.

I love the Eastern aesthetics, especially Japanese. But my Western mind says it’s a cup of tea, while someone with Eastern thought would tell me the essence of the tea held within a cup. Object verses relationship. Maybe I need to take an Eastern approach more often and see what transpires.

I’m going to go out on a limb, here and show you the said logo mark in question. I’m doing this with some reservation, because I don’t think this is my best work, but every post needs relevant visuals. As a designer, I don’t work in a vacuum, so I’m put it out there.

This project is a complete branding overhaul for a woman-owned business. I really like this client and believe in what she does. I support her unique approach and vision she has for her business.

The overhaul begins with the logo mark. The right place to start as everything going forward will reflect around the new logo mark. Best of all, the client really loves simple. Simple is good. It makes for a great logo mark. (See an earlier post about Chermayeff & Geismar’s Design Process)

Her current logo mark is busy, dark and has the over-used, misused typeface Papyrus. She knew it wasn’t doing her a lot of favors, so having successfully designed a logo for one of her programs, she asked me to help her with a total branding re-vamp for her business.

We met and discussed what she envisioned for her new logo mark and branding. I listened. I took careful notes. I got it. Or so I thought. The trouble was the little sketches and visual examples the client showed me for direction were so simple and at the same time felt awkward, elementary and unsophisticated.

Conscientiously or sub-conscientiously, perhaps I was feeling I was being designed at. This is something I try never to do to a client. Instead, I make them a part of the process and approach projects in the spirit of collaboration.

This was the complete opposite of the “client who has no idea of what they want, but they will let you know when they see it.” My client knew what she wanted and it was my job to visually interpret that and only that. I should be so lucky.

Unfortunately, all my interpretations of the ideal simple logo fell terribly short of what she envisioned. At each round, my head said this looks good, this will work, but in my gut I knew it wouldn’t feel right to my client. My gut was right. Even providing rationals for each direction didn’t sell her on any of it.

At one point, I felt like I was headed for a design-crisis. Stuff like this doesn’t happen to me, not after years of experience ~ I almost always capture the expectation for a logo mark in the first round. There maybe a little tweaking involved, but in general, the solution is seen by the client in the first presentation. This is not say this is easy. Far from it. It takes a lot of time brainstorming, exploring, sketching, researching, and finessing to arrive at the right solution. The pressure is always present when it comes to creating a rock-solid logo mark that is going to work for the client, but more importantly, for their target audience.

This is when all the inner critics come out and start chanting crap, like “you’re a hack, you have no talent as a designer, you might as well give up…” The thing is I didn’t want to give up and I certainly didn’t want to let the client down. Did I tell you I really like this client?

So what did I do? I took my client’s examples and suggestions and reproduced them, literally, even though as I did, they looked awkward, elementary and unsophisticated. She had to see that. But something happen along the way. A break through. I took the simple elements and found a solution. I just had to step back and not think about it so hard. The bonus is I could live with and even be pleased by the result. My worst fear of “please don’t make me design something ugly or stupid and have it out there for the world to see” evaporated.

Then I remembered what Chermayeff & Geismar’s said about the design process. When a new logo mark is created often times it has no meaning to the client or anyone else for that matter, because it is so new. It hasn’t gained recognition and it doesn’t have a history. It becomes the job of the designer to sell the client on a new logo mark, explain all the reasons why it look will work. The opposite happened here. I had to get my head around my client’s vision and understand what her logo mark needed to represent. She knows how her business works, its history and reputation. It’s far newer to me.

In the end, what I created resonates with my client. She loves it. It represents her interpretation of what her business model is about. It will be new to her audience, though. It becomes my job to strategically build meaning for the new logo mark through a fresh, new website and marketing materials that will resonate with her audience. My client has an excellent reputation for what she does. Having a very simple logo mark will make her memorable as all good simple logo marks do.

Note: I may share the before and after logo marks as well as more details in a later post. Right now, the project is underway and nothing has been formally introduced or launched.

Related articles

• Examining The Design Process: Clichés and Idea Generation (smashingmagazine.com)
• 60 Highly Clever Minimal Logo Designs (matamala.wordpress.com)

Ohhhh, shit.

The one very essential piece of branding I keep tossing around in my head, jot some thoughts down, then get busy with business and client projects only to realize when I’m out and about, attending events and networking venues that out of my mouth comes, “Blah, blah, blah and blah” response to “So, what do you do?”

That’s it. I’ve had enough of the glazed look that happens to people’s faces when ever out comes the  “Blah, blah, blah and blah” explanation of what I do.

Because like you, I do SO much more than “Blah, blah, blah and blah” for my clients and my business. The trick is how to fit what I do into 10 snappy words that are memorable. It’s like a tagline line only a bit longer and for most of us, way harder to craft. Which explains after years of running Grand Ciel, I am still waltzing into networking events without a clever, but honest, 10 Word Blurb.

Then I remembered, at yet another event (with the opportunity to network) talking with a friend and colleague of mine. He knows what I do, but was curious enough to ask about my process. During our conversation, I jokingly said “I Save the World From Bad Design.” My friend said, “Hey, that should be your tagline.”

I do have an effective tagline. But I think he was on to something. “I Save the World From Bad Design” doesn’t means I‘m wiping out every tacky bill board sign or sparing you from obnoxious advertising. Even though it isn’t exactly a 10 Word Blurb, at least it’s a start.

The thing is my clients are small to mid-sized businesses and non-profits. I specifically work with women-owned businesses. They all are fabulous at what they do and I believe they deserve good, clean design just like the BIG GUY corporations. But often small businesses, especially start-ups aren’t clear on what good branding can do for their business. They understand they need a logo, business cards, a website, promotional marketing materials and a social media strategy, but have no idea were to begin building all this or what it should look like.

That’s where I come in.
I create unique brand personalities that match clients’ vision, philosophy and mission they have for their professional endeavors. Good design makes everything they are building feel real. It’s no longer an idea or dream, it’s officially launched. This can be a for new business, a new product, a new service, a new market.

During the course of building a working relationship, clients call on me to do a whole host of things that A. I haven’t done before, like writing for clients and B. are really challenging. I’ll be totally honest with clients when they ask me to take on something I haven’t done before and or the level of difficulty involved. That doesn’t stop me from trying to work out a creative solution. Most of the time, the results are better than expected. The client is happy and I’m a hero. Plus, I’ve learned something new and have a renewed sense of confidence.

But I’m still working on the perfect blurb. Some how I need to work together a thought that surrounds smart, effective design, resourceful, honest, dependable, and all around creative chick. At least I’ve got the 10 words down (I think). The magic will be to make it sound fresh, memorable and me.

Do you have a 10 Word Blurb or an eloquent 30 second elevator speech? How did you arrive at it? I would love to hear your thoughts on creating
a blurb that works and make saying it out loud sounds so right.

Related articles

• How Not to Rewrite Your Tagline (mpdailyfix.com)

This is not to say that clients are dense, far from it. Mine are brilliant at what they do. I learn new stuff from them all the time. So I thought I would return the favor and draft a simple guide, not too technical on photo and graphic files and what is going to work best for print projects. Note I didn’t go into the virtues of RGB verses CMYK. That’s for another post all together. Second note: If you found this to be of value, please share. There is also a PDF download of this guide at the end of this post.

______________________________________________________

You are working with designer on a project that involves print pieces. It could be a promotional take-away for a trade show, it could be full-page ad for a trade publication  or it could be an annual report.

All of these printing pieces will inevitably need photos that relate to your business and of course, your company logo. In providing the photo and graphic files, you might hear your designer talk about photo resolution, vector and raster files. Resolution can be a tricky to understand, because most people outside the design world think, “it looks great on my computer screen, it should work for print, right?”

Try this simple exercise:
Print out a web page that contains photos or better yet, one large photo. How does it look to you? Granted printing out a photo from a desktop printer is not the same as a photo professionally printed. But, for the sake of this exercise, you’ll notice the photo that looks great on your computer screen, looks rather fussy and lacks sharpness when printed. Why is this? It’s because the photos (as well as graphics) are set at a low resolution. Perfect for the web, not meant for printing.

Not All Photos Are Created Equal

As you can see the same size photo in inches can have different levels of quality
because of their different resolutions. The more dots per inch means the higher the quality the photo will have and the likelihood it will print well.

So how can you find out if your photos have a high enough resolution for print? While you may not have a software program, like Photoshop, that you can open photos and check the image size, there is a simple way to gauge photo file sizes.

Go and look at the photo files you have stored on your computer, CD, DVD or thumb drive. Compare the file sizes. In the this screen grab, it shows two different photo file sizes. At 15.7 MB, the Brochure_Cover file is much larger, a good indication it’s a high resolution photo file. Compare that with the Townhome_photo file. It’s only 204 KB. This is a sign that the photo file is way too small for print purposes.

TIFF verses JPEG
Both photo file types work for print purposes, provided the files size is large enough. A TIFF file is uncompressed and will have a higher file size than a JPEG. JPEG are compressed photo files and will show a lower file size, but have the same quality as the TIFF photo file. A rule of thumb: A photo file that is either a TIFF or JPEG and has a file size of at least 6 MB, it should work for print purposes. Note that JPEG photo files are compressed, so if the file is under 6 MB, chances are it will still pass mustard and have the resolution needed for print purposes.

A Final Note About Photo Sizes
When it comes to using photography in print, ideally, a designer will want photos at the size they will be printed. For example, an 8 x 10 inch photo is needed for a layout. The designer will want an 8 x 10 photo file at 300 dpi ~ that makes file size around 20+ MB. If you are using a professional photographer, arranging for the proper photo file size to be provided to you and your designer becomes a non-issue.

But in the case where you are supplying photos you’ve taken using your digital camera, chances are the photos are very large in scale by inches, 36” x 27” for example, but the photos will have a low resolution of 72 dpi. Not to worry ~ send them to your designer anyway. Your designer can adjust the file as needed for final output.

A designer can take the example photo size of 36” x 27” at 72 dpi and scale
down to 6” x 4.5” and while increasing the resolution to 300 dpi. Not only is the photo at a dimensionally practical size, it also has the resolution for print quality. Rule of thumb: The larger the photo is in inches and at 72 dpi, the larger the scaled down photo for print can be.

Raster Verses vector graphic Files

The basic difference between a raster graphic file and a vector graphic file is that raster files are made up of pixels, just like photos. Vector files are composed of paths. Don’t worry about remembering the different terms, but do be aware of the benefits of having vector files of your company logo and other graphics that may need to be printed at different sizes ~ from small on business cards to large on trade show banners and signage.

Because vector files are composed of paths and not pixels, they are not affected by resolution. In other words, a vector graphic can be scaled up to the size of a bill board and never lose its quality. It will always print clear and sharp.

How do you know if you have vector files of your company logo? If you have them, these files will have extensions such as .ai and .eps and you probably can’t open them. When a designer creates your company logo, he or she probably supplied you with a JPEG file equivalent of your logo so you could import it into Word documents, etc. However, it’s a good idea to request, (after you’ve paid your designer, of course), the .ai and/or .eps files of your logo to have on hand. A vendor or another designer may need or prefer to use those vector files to ensure the best print quality for your next project.

Providing the Right Photo and Graphic Files

I think this has happened to all designers, myself included, when a client will send a photo or graphic imported into a Word document, thinking that this should be fine to use for their print project.

The problem with sending photos in a Word document is you’re sending
a “copy” of the photo and not the actual photo or graphic file itself. The
copy does not have the quality needed for print purposes.

You will need to provided files that have extensions .TIFF or .JPEG for
photographs and files that have the extensions .ai or .eps for logos and
other graphics.

A Special Note:
Supplying photos that have already been printed, for example, an 8 x 10 glossy photo of your board of directors, will not generate the best file for print purposes. Even if your designer has a high quality scanner, scanning a print photo makes it a “second generation”, in terms of quality. It’s like taking a photocopy of a photocopy. The quality goes down every time you make a copy of the copy. The photo may turn out grainy, because of the dots existing in the print photo. It’s always best to supply your designer with digital photography and not printed photography.

Sending Photo and Graphic Files

Have lots of photos and graphics to send? While e-mailing isn’t always an option, it’s one way to get photos and graphics to your designer in a timely fashion. An easy way to send a number of files at once is to place the files in a folder and zipped it ~ this compresses the file folder. So long as the zipped folder is under 7 MB, it should send just fine. You should probably confirm with you designer on the size of an e-mail attachment he or she can accept.

A Special Thanks

The idea for putting this Client’s Guide to Visual Content together come out of a discussion from the LinkedIn Creative Freelancers Group. Jennifer Quinton of Quinton Design Studio  started the conversation by asking how other freelance designers explain photo resolution to clients. Most designers, at one time or another, are faced with having to explain resolution, photo quality for print purposes and what the difference is between raster files and vector files.

So I decided to draft a guide that speaks to clients who are confused by designer speak, but would like a better understanding on what files will work best for their print projects. I hope I kept it clear and simple enough. That can tough order. After all, it is hard for designers to explain something they know so well and are experienced at, to clients who are new to these terms and principles.
Besides Jennifer, I’d like to thank:

Diane Stewart of Stewartstudio Graphic Design
Gerry Suchy of gmsdesigns
Kirk Roberts of Kirk Roberts Design
Lori Barnes a Freelance Print Designer
Nicholas Nawroth an all around creative dude.

Each of you provided thoughtful content that went into creating this guide.
Download a PDF of this guide.

Related Articles

• Design and Print Terms Explained – A reference guide (smallbusinessbranding.com)
• Tools for Raster to Vector Conversion and Creation (brighthub.com)