Custom Printing for Newbies - Artwork Files

by Alex Plachta

This sounds like a more complicated topic than it really is - I promise!  This article is intended to give a functional understanding to a casual person who needs to order print but does not have a graphic design background.  It will not provide any ground-breaking information to someone with design experience!

Basically, file type is important because certain files may not translate well to physical printed products even if they look alright on your computer screen.  These files (known as raster images) and their images are made up of many individual color pixels.  They are mainly used as computer images and trying to use them for printed products is tricky because if the size of the product is any different than the size of the image then all the pixels need to stretch and will start to appear blurry.  This is not only relevant for large items like banners - in most cases you just cannot use these files and have the item look crisp.  Main examples:

.JPG / .PNG / .GIF / .TIF (Raster files - Blurry)

The files we are looking for instead are known as vector files.  These files have images created using formulas and can be stretched and shrunk without changing how the image looks.  The image will look equally clear on a large billboard and a business card. Main examples:

.PDF / .AI / .EPS / .SVG (Vector files – Best!)

To bring this back to a functional level – basically when you order a print product you should try to get a vector file like a pdf/ai/eps/svg to send to the printer.  In some cases, you may have to reach out to whoever designed the file for you and ask for a vector file.  Here at Office Express, we will help you with the ordering process and let you know if we need a different type of file or if the printed piece is small enough where we can use your .jpg file.

Thank you and feel free to reach out to print@oexusa.com with any questions or printing needs!