Goin' it on our own: Print Quality Images

I've now learned the difference between a web quality image and a print quality image. I learned it in a very frustrating way that made me want to reach through my email and choke the heck out of someone, anyone, at a print place even though it really wasn't their fault at all that I'm a novice at a lot of this design crap and that I thought I knew what I was doing when I really didn't.

After going through the design process for our business cards (initial design, feedback, changes, more feedback, changes, etc) I was happy to finally be ordering the damn things. I was also excited that I had found a vendor who looked like they had good quality products at a great price and who would let me handle the whole thing online without having to talk to a person (always a bonus for me).

So I uploaded the files. A few hours went by and I got an email stating that the images did not meet their specs for print products. I spent some time figuring out how to make the needed changes in the png files and then I uploaded the files again. A few more hours went by and I got a second email that said, "Your images are very pixelated. Please provide a better quality image. If you cannot provide a higher quality image we will cancel your order and you will not be billed".

WTF? I emailed customer support because I was annoyed and said, "Can you explain exactly what the hell is wrong with the damn images? Are you referring to the first friggin' set or the second set I uploaded? Should I just start over and create new files to replace the shitty ones?". The last line was dripping with sarcasm, but sometimes that's easy to miss in an email (at least I hope they missed it). Oh, and I did remember to remove all of the expletives before I hit send.

Then I read their FAQ section and found some great information about why the images needed to be better, what horrors would occur if they printed from a pixelated image, etc. So I started from scratch and made clean, brand new images that met their specs (which only took about 20 minutes). I uploaded the files...again. Lo & behold, they were good to go.

Later, just before I received an email saying that the files were good, I received a response to my email in which they confirmed that it would probably be best if I created new images. To their credit they didn't add "moron" onto that sentence.

Lesson: Pay attention to what your vendors tell you. It's their business to know what works best in their world. And it can save you a lot of time and frustration.

PS: spellcheck suggests replacing 'png' with 'pong'. Not ping-pong. Just pong. I didn't know that was a real word on it's own, so I looked it up. Most common definition found: a distinctive odor that is offensively unpleasant. Just in case you didn't know about it either.