For photographic or raster images it is best to save in either EPS or flattened TIFF format. These file formats will ensure that your images remain sharp and maintain the same beautiful color they had originally. Images saved in JPEG or GIF format are compressed and this can cause a loss in quality of the image.

For vector illustrations and images (see Vector Images below) it is also best to save in EPS format.

Whatever application you’re working in, and whatever application you used to create placed graphics, *always work and save in CMYK for print jobs. RGB images will not look right when film is made and printed. At Frontline we always check the files to find any RGB files and convert them to CMYK, but the time we take to convert these images will add extra cost to your job.

Working in CMYK from the start when designing print jobs also lets you see colors on your screen that will be closer to the final printed piece. If you convert to CMYK at the last minute, and don’t check how images look, you may be unpleasantly surprised at how the proof or final piece turns out.

* The one exception is when sending images for Wide Format poster or banner printing. Please send RGB Photoshop files that have been flattened.

If your document contains raster images (see section below) that are too low in resolution it may comprise the quality of the way your final printed piece looks. Beware of the difference between your office inkjet or laser printer and high quality offset printing. Any pixilation or “roughness” in your image can become glaringly obvious when printed on offset, whereas you may hardly notice it on your inkjet printer.

The safe rule of thumb is to always save all your Images at 300 pixels/inch (also called dpi - dots per inch) at slightly bigger than the size they will finally be printed at.

• You have a photograph you will be placing in a promotional brochure. In the final printed piece you want the photograph to be 3” x 3”.
• Currently when you open this image in Photoshop the image size is 20” x 20”at 75 pixels/inch.
• With “Resample Image” turned off, change the resolution to 300 pixels/inch. The pixel dimensions of the document should not change (in the top part of the image size window).
• The size of your document should now measure 5” x 5” which is larger than you need at the correct resolution. You can now either send this image or if you need a more compact image (to decrease upload time etc.), make the dimensions smaller with “Resample Image” turned on this time.

For vector images (see section below) from programs like Adobe Illustrator or Macromedia Freehand, you don’t have to be concerned about resolution, unless your vector based file contains bitmap images you have placed into it.

Unfortunately any images that you download to your disk from a webpage by right-clicking (PC) or control-clicking (Mac) will have a resolution of 72 pixels/inch. This means that unless the image is much larger than you need in print, it is probably too low resolution for good quality in print. Stock Photography downloaded from commercial websites will be at the resolution specified, and some sites give away free images at higher resolutions.

To be safe always check your image size in Photoshop or other image editing software.

Digital Camera pictures can be a cost-effective easy way to get great images for print design. Always use the high quality setting on your camera to ensure high enough resolution. Also to be safe always check image size in Photoshop or other image editing software before placing into the design.

If you create your imagery or your document in a program like Adobe Photoshop that uses layers, it is important that you flatten before saving. By flattening layers you decrease your file size, remove font information (you won’t have to send these fonts), and in general ensure that it your document will open and print properly when it comes to us.

Raster Images, often called bitmap images, are made of colored pixels or dots. How a raster image looks when it is printed depends on the resolution of the image. Every raster image has width and height in pixels. The resolution determines how many pixels per inch you will get and how many inches in height and width your final image will be. Adobe Photoshop is the most popular software for editing and creating raster images.

Photographs and scanned images are always saved as raster images, but images created in paint programs, 3-D rendering and other software can also be saved as raster images

Vector Images are made up of mathematical formulas that specify curves, line thickness, and colors etc. Because it is created from mathematical formulas, a vector image can be scaled up or down as much as you want without any loss of detail. Illustrations that involve shapes, lines, solid fills and gradients are where vector images are usually used.

Adobe Illustrator and Macromedia Freehand are the most popular software applications for editing and creating vector images.