General Requirements for Your Photos and Designs

General Requirements for Your Photos and Designs

Make sure your photo or design image meets the required file size, image dimensions, resolution, and file format before uploading it to our Web site:

• All files submitted must be smaller than 4MB.
• Refer to the Document Size Chart for help with document dimensions.
• For optimal print quality, the image resolution should be 300 PPI.
• Designs and photos must be saved to one of our Acceptable File Formats.
  
  

Capturing Images from a Camera, Scanner, or the Web

Your designs, photos and images can come from a digital camera or scanner. Any image you plan to use must be saved at approximately 300 PPI (Pixels Per Inch) at 100% output size for the very best printing results. In other words, determine the dimensions at which you wish to use your image in print. At that size, your image must be at a resolution of 300 PPI.

.For example, at 300 DPI a 1” x 1” logo should be at least 300 x 300 pixels, a 3”x5” photo should be at least 900 x 1500 pixels, and so on. If you use images at a lower resolution than this, the quality of your printed piece will be affected.

.Note: Head4it.com recommends 1600 PPI and any lower DPI will be rejected.top

Images from a Digital Camera

If you wish to use images from a digital camera, before you snap pictures make sure the camera is set at a high enough resolution to result in 1600 PPI at the intended photo print size. Most cameras have various settings for resolutions. The highest resolution for your camera depends on how many Megapixels it has.

A photo taken at 1280 x 960 pixels will produce a good quality 4” x 3” image. If you want your printed document to include a larger photo, you’ll need to set your camera’s resolution higher. You cannot change the resolution of a photo after it is taken, except by reducing its dimensions.top

Be careful when cropping a photo after it is taken. Cropping will reduce the number of pixels in the final image.
For example, if you had the 1280 x 960 pixel image mentioned above, but cropped it to about half its original size, you’d end up with a 640 x 480 pixel image. So now instead of being able to use it at 4” x 3”, you can only include it at 2” x 1.5”.

Images from a Scanner

Like a digital camera, a scanner must be preset to the proper resolution before image capture. Many scanners default to 150 DPI. Set your scanner’s resolution so that it results in 300 DPI at the image’s final print size.

If your resulting scanned image is smaller than the recommended size or has less DPI than you need, you should either rescan your original at a higher resolution, or use a smaller size of the image in your document. top

1: Overview

The steps to design your own document from scratch are simple:

1. Design your document to meet the Size Requirements and Resolution Requirements outlined below, using your preferred photo or design editing tool, such as Adobe® PhotoShop™ or Quark Express™.

2. Save it to one of the accepted file formats listed in the Saving Your Artwork section below.

3. Upload your design using the Upload Your Own Design wizard.top

The Document Dimensions Chart below shows design sizes (which accommodate for full bleeds) and cut sizes (final document sizes).The bleed area extends beyond the actual physical size of your final document so that when we cut your document the colour will continue all the way to the edge and not leave a small white border. Always design your documents to extend through the entire bleed area, but do not put any text or important graphic elements in the bleed area because they may be cut off. Full bleeds are permitted at no additional charge. top

To assist you, we offer a Photoshop (.psd) template for each of our products that you can download (from right-hand column of chart below). These templates are preformatted to meet our specifications. The outer guide on each template shows the bleed area. The inner guide is a suggested margin for placing text. Click the appropriate template from the
right-hand column to download it.

Document Size Chart

3: Resolution

Your artwork should be created at 300 DPI (Pixels Per Inch). Hence, a 1” x 1” logo should be designed as 300 x 300 pixels, a 3”x5” image should be 900 x 1500 pixels, and so on. The pixel counts listed in the design column above reflect a 300 DPI resolution for each product. If you create images at a lower resolution than this, the quality of your printed piece will be affected. (Refer to the chart above for the pixel dimensions of each of the Head4it products.) top

Make sure your images are at the proper resolution while in their final dimensions before uploading them to our Web site.

4: Colour

• Documents can be created in full colour.

• Head4it uses the high quality, 4-colour CMYK Process for printing.

• We do not use Pantone or PMS inks because we print using CMYK. But if you’ll be uploading a document which requires a PMS colour for a logo, choose a matching CMYK Pantone Process colour (if available in your software program) when designing your file. Once printed, the colour should be fairly close to what you are looking for. However, Head4it cannot guarantee exact reproduction of Pantone colours.

• If your software program is able to convert your design to CMYK colour mode, you should do this before saving your artwork. Not all colours in RGB mode translate flawlessly to CMYK. This is especially true for certain blues that can look more like purple after the colour conversion. If you do the conversion yourself, you will be able to make the proper modifications to colours before the uploading and printing.
  
• Colours may vary slightly from those that are viewed on your computer screen, or what is printed on your printer via a printed proof. top
  

Reducing Your Artwork File Size

How can I reduce the file size of the artwork I want to upload?

Image editing software applications enable you to save your artwork in a format of your choice. In general, saving your file as a high resolution JPEG will help to reduce the size of your file while maintaining relatively high quality of your image when it is printed.

The following are tips for reducing file size using specific application software. top

Tips on Image Size Reduction using Adobe Illustratorª

If you are using Illustrator:

1. Flatten the Illustrator file.
2. Open the .ai file in Photoshop and make sure when Photoshop opens the file it is 2730x1830 pixels.*
3. Save the file as a .psd to upload.

If your Illustrator file is too large when you open it in Photoshop, this means that you have an object extending beyond the art board. Open the file in Illustrator and make sure NO text or objects go past the black box. Resave the file and go through steps 1-3 again.

Tips on Image Size Reduction using Photoshop

To decrease size of a Photoshop file, flatten the file. If it is still too large, save it as a .pdf.
Select encoding: jpeg. First select #12 quality. Save the .pdf and check the file size. If the file is still too large, try saving it at lesser and lesser quality until it is small enough to upload. top

Tips on Image Size Reduction using other programs

• If your file is larger than 4MB, you can try saving it as a PDF, JPEG or TIF format. These file formats compress images in different ways to achieve a smaller file size.
• PDF is a good choice for simple line art.
• JPEG reduces the number of pixels and will work well for photographs that are too large to upload. Experiment with different levels of quality when saving to JPEG to get the best quality possible at an acceptable file size
  (less than 4 MB).
• GIF compresses files by reducing the number of colors displayed in the image. Therefore, it does not work very well for color photos. It is best for online display.
• TIF is another recommended file format for good quality printing results. top
  

Saving Your Artwork

For best quality, save your artwork as:

Adobe Photoshop Image (.psd)
Adobe JPEG Image (jpg, jpeg)

Other accepted formats include:

Adobe Acrobat Document (.pdf) – Recommended – Must embed all fonts
Encapsulated Postal Script (.eps) – Must outline all fonts
JPEG Image (.jpg,.jpeg) – Recommended for photos
TIF Image Document (.tif,.tiff) – Recommended for photos
Bitmap Image (.bmp) – Recommended for photos
PICT Image (.pic) – Recommended for photos
PostScript (.ps) – Must outline all fonts

NOTES

• All files submitted must be smaller than 4 MB. If your file is larger than 4 MB try saving it as a PDF or JPEG maximum quality to reduce the size. See more on Tips on Reducing Size Of Artwork

• Click to see tips on saving from Adobe Illustrator™

• All files must be in a PC format. We’re sorry, but we do not accept MAC files at this time. If you are using a Mac, please save the file with the file extension and use a PC to upload the file.

• If you are using Quark™ or another program not listed above, design your file to our specifications and then save it as a PostScript, PDF or JPEG maximum quality for upload.

• Documents need to be the exact size of the product to be uploaded into VistaPrint’s software. Please refer to the Document Size Chart for product dimensions. top
  

Uploading Your Artwork

You can upload your images (designs and photos) to be used.

Please note that when uploading files, they will be applied as full bleed images and therefore will need to be sized correctly.(See Document Size Chart for more information.)

Remember, your designs must meet the required file size, image dimensions, resolution, and file format before uploading it to our Web site. See General Requirements for details.

How to upload a document you designed from scratch. top

How do I upload an entire design?

You can upload your images (designs and photos) to be used as background images or as logos. If you upload them as background images you will be able to add text, photo frames and other graphics on top of them. If you upload them as logos, they will be in the foreground. That is, they will appear on top of our design elements or on top of background images. Text will always be on top of your uploaded logos.

Please note that when uploading images as background images, they will be applied as full bleed images and therefore will need to be sized appropriately. (See Document Size Chart for more information.)

Remember, your photo or design image must meet the required file size, image dimensions, resolution, and file format before uploading it to our Web site. See General Requirements for details.

Click to view instructions on uploading your artwork to our site. top

How to upload a document you designed from scratch
For more information please contact customer support. support@head4it.com