Graphic formats for the web and for print
If you create graphics for your publications you may want to use these off- and online. Maybe you have a website where you promote a piece of software and you do classifieds in the local newspaper?
Well, then you know about the format problem a layman has with the two worlds of print and screen design.
Basically we speak of resolution and color depth, what confuses people totally.
Just to get a few things straight:
- dpi :: means dots per inch and comes from the world of print. A computer graphic (like your website logo) is almost always calculated in 72 dpi, which is meaningless as long as you just publish digital. For digital publishing, keep with PIXELS
- print quality :: if you talk about print outs of you screen (e.g. on a 600 dpi laser printer), the print out is still “dithered” up from 75 dpi. That is important to know, if you mail your logo to the marketing folks for them to create a poster or other prints
So, logos and buttons from a web page are never good enough for a print out. They are just too small. On the other side is creating a logo or button from print material possible, by downsizing your graphics from the print layout.
But beware: making a graphic web like means more than just downsizing from Photoshop! Keep the loading time of the page in mind and reduce colors, etc.
Here some link tips to get wording and topics straight:
Glossary Terms and wording
Design Issues Web Design tips
Happy halloween!
