Taking digital designs into the real world can be fraught with gotchas and gremlins. We’re so used to the world being digital that some of us have forgotten how to prep our work for poster printing.
If you’re thinking of doing a run of poster designs for a campaign, party, gig or simply to adorn your own walls with, here’s a guide to how to print your work. Follow our tips and you'll soon be poster printing with confidence – and you'll no longer have to worry about in bali print shop.
Set the right resolution
Print files are BIG. One of the most common delays in poster printing jobs is work being sent back by the printer because the resolution is too low. Files destined for print should be set to 300 DPI (dots per inch). Simply put, the more dots that make up the image, the higher the resolution. More printed dots in an inch means a higher-quality reproduction.
When resolutions are too low the end result can be a blurred and pixelated poster. In Photoshop you can set the dots per inch on creating a new document by going to 'File > New' and entering 300 in the Resolution box.
Set the right size for poster printing
Popular poster printing sizes are A2 (594mm x 420mm), A3 (420mm x 297mm) and A4 (297mm x 210mm). Paper choice and weight can be discussed with your printer but 170gsm Silk or Gloss Art FSC or 150gsm are good choices. GSM stands for grams per square meter and determines how heavy the paper stock is.
How to supply your files
Supply your print files in the PDF format (print resolution at 300 DPI) or tiffs with no compression at the same DPI. It is possible to send JPGs if they’re high-res enough. So if you just want to print a poster of your pet pooch from a photo on your smartphone you can do this by sending a JPG, but be warned: the edges of the photo will be cut off and the colour will shift.
Choose the right poster printing shop
Different printers have different levels of expertise, so it's worth doing your homework and getting personal recommendations. Also make sure you tailor the printer to the job at hand.
However, you might just want to print lots of stuff digitally without a special finish or on the highest grade paper. So don't write off high street poster printing at places such as Bali Print Shop : they offer a decent, affordable service and will print your photo posters and can help you enhance your work with a range of photo art effects.