Paper or Plastic

There are many reasons for why you would want to have a project printed versus keeping it electronic. However, you’ll probably want to have a digital version to distribute as well. Often companies will have this displayed on their website to download or email it to clients and customers. With the iPad being one of the top selling Apple products, it’s more obvious than ever, companies need to offer a digital version of their reports, catalogs and brochures as there are many people who prefer a digital version than a printed one.

Although you may have to pay an extra cost to have the digital version made, you’ll save considerably on having fewer copies printed and cut back on the waste of creating so many print materials. The catch is that people could be viewing this file on a screen as small as an iPhone or as large as a 28″ iMAC monitor. There are a few things to do and consider when making your file so it can work on any device.

1 – Save your file as a PDF in RGB. RGB stands for Red Green Blue. This color combination is used when viewing a document on a screen. To do this, I am assuming the file was made in InDesign which is the most commonly used layout design program. When in InDesign, go to “print”. In the setting box that appears click save as postscript file. Then open Adobe Distiller and create a setting that is RGB. Carry your postscript file over to the Distiller window. If you’re unfamiliar with this process, a more detailed tutorial can be found on Adobe’s website.

2 – Make sure your file is under 10MB. Since people will be downloading this from the web, you want to make sure the file is not too big or it will take too long to download. You can control your file size by adjusting the settings in Adobe Distiller. Image quality can be changed from “maximum” to “high” and image resolution can be changed to between 150-250. Ideally you want your file to be as small as possible without losing so much image quality that it looks blurry on a 17″ computer monitor.

3 – Check your file on a large screen and on a phone for image quality and to make sure your colors appear correctly.

The last post was about what a client can do to make the client/designer relationship run more smoothly. This post is for the diva designer (yes, YOU!). These are my tips for what you can do to make your relationship with your clients better and not act like such a diva.

1. Take a deep breath and move on. When you design, put all you have into it. You have to design for greatness, but after you send it off to the client, let it go. No project is going to look exactly how you want it to. Changes are going to be made. End of story, now let’s move on.

2. Client projects are what keep you employed. If it weren’t for the clients, you wouldn’t have a job right now. They need you and you need them. Be grateful they’re there.

3. Don’t get caught up in the complaining. A lot of design firms have a big, open office space that make it easy to have conversations about the annoying things clients do. Don’t get pulled into these conversations. This is possibly the most difficult thing to do, but an absolute must. As soon as you get pulled in, it will be difficult to get out. Negative thoughts breed more negative thoughts.

4. Call the client. If a client requests something that is so ridiculous you want to scream, call them. Take this opportunity to get to know them and find out what the ultimate goal of their request is. Together, you might be able to come up with a better solution. Even if they still want their request made, I have always found that talking to a person is very calming. It reminds you that the person is just a person.

5. The client is not trying to make you crazy. Clients have other concerns when viewing a design other than making it look amazing. For instance, they might have a sponsor whose name has to be prominent on the page no matter how ugly the logo might be. Again, refer to #1 and get over it.

6. Like where you work and who your clients are. When the majority of your time is spent designing for companies you love, the occasional client project that’s a headache is a lot easier to deal with. When I worked for a company who I had ethical issues with, I found myself always finding fault with client feedback.

7. Charge what you think a project is worth. When I hear a designer complain about a client request or hear a company complaining that a designer took “forever getting back to us”, often times the project was done pro bono or for very little. Your service and quality should never decrease no matter the project cost. If the client is trying to get you to charge less, let them know that the decrease in cost means you will spend a fraction of your time on it and it will be low on your priority list. Otherwise, charge what a project is worth and do your best every time.