Frequently Asked Questions
In this section, you will find answers to some commonly asked questions. If there is a question you cannot find information on, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
What is a printing proof?
A printing proof is a trial print or sheet of printed material that is checked against the original to see if corrections need to be made. It is not often a correct colour match for the final output, but rather is used to ensure content accuracy.
What do the different printing terms mean?
- CMYK – Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black: The process colors used in color printing. Black is usually added to enhance color and to print a true black.
- Crop Marks – The lines drawn on artwork indicate where the image or image area should be trimmed after printing.
- PMS Colours – Pantone Matching System: A commonly used system for identifying specific ink colors.
What image resolution do I need?
Image resolution is very important, especially if you will be printing your work.
As a general rule, your image needs to be 300dpi resolution to be used in print work, and 72 dpi to be used in web work / on screen presentation.
DPI (or Dots Per Inch) is the number of dots of ink generated by the half-tone process contained in an inch of picture. Digital images measure pixels per inch or centimeter
I want an image to place into Microsoft Word or PowerPoint that has a transparent background. What format do I need?
If your image is a vector image, you can export your logo (or request that your logo be provided to you) as a WMF (windows meta file). This format has no background.
If your image is a raster image (e.g. JPG) this becomes more difficult. Some Microsoft applications have the ability to specify a particular colour and make it transparent, but more often than not, you will be unable to use this graphic with a transparent background. GIF formats can be exported with a transparent background, but generally this file type is only high enough quality for use on screen. It is not a suitable format to print.
The other option is to use the image on a background the same colour as the background in the image. For example, if your image background is white, put it on a white background.
What are raster and vector image formats?
There are two main types of image formats – Raster images and Vector Images.
Raster images
Raster image formats should be the type you would be most familar with. A Raster format breaks the image into a series of colored dots called pixels.
Benefits: A Raster image is often able to achieve a more realistic effect than vector images. It is often also able to have more effects applied to it compared to vector effects. Negatives: A raster image is resolution dependent. This means that if you have a small image – you cannot make it bigger without losing image quality. However, you can take a large image and scale it down (ie make it smaller). A raster image is also often significantly larger in size (MB) compared to a vector graphic.
Common raster image types include: JPG, GIF, TIFF and BMP.
Vector images
Unlike raster images, vector images do not store their information as a series of dots. Rather they store information as a series of mathematical calculations. This means that vector images are “resolution independent.” This means that they can be increased in size infinitely and they will look as clear and as sharp as they did at a smaller size.
Common vector image types include: AI and EPS.
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