Your Screen Graphic Is Not a Print File

Someone needs invite cards for the fall event or Christmas Eve. The series graphic already looks great on the screen, so they download it, send the JPEG to the print shop, and hope.

What comes back: blurry type, a logo cut off at the edge, a thin white line on one side, and a picture squished to fit a card shape it was never made for.

The fix: don't send the screen graphic. Make a print file at the actual print size, with the extra room the printer needs.

Why the screen file prints badly

A screen graphic is built for a screen. Three things work against it on paper.

The shape is wrong. A screen slide is wide (16:9). A 4×6 card, a 5×7 card, and a letter-size flyer are all different shapes. Squeezing one into the other crops important stuff or stretches everything.

The resolution is too low for the size. A graphic that looks sharp on a TV can look soft when it's printed and held a foot from your face. Print shops commonly ask for 300 DPI at the final printed size. That means a 4×6 card needs a file about 1200×1800 pixels just for the card itself, before any extra edge.

There's no room for the cut. Printers don't cut perfectly on the line every time. If your design stops exactly at the edge, a tiny shift leaves a white sliver.

The three words your print shop is going to use

You don't need to be a designer. You just need to know what these mean.

Trim. The final size of the card after it's cut. For a 4×6 card, the trim is 4×6 inches.

Bleed. Extra artwork past the trim on every side, so the cut never shows white. Most print shops ask for 1/8 inch (0.125") on each side. So a 4×6 card file is actually 4.25×6.25 inches.

Safe area. The zone inside the trim where all the important stuff lives: words, logo, QR code, service times. Keep those at least 1/8 inch inside the trim. Some printers ask for more, so check their spec sheet.

If the background color or photo goes all the way to the bleed edge, and the words stay inside the safe area, the card comes out clean.

Start from the print size, not the screen size

The best fix is to make the print version on purpose, not convert the screen one later.

When you start a series or event graphic, decide up front if you'll need anything printed this season: invite cards, a bulletin insert, a poster, a banner. Then choose that size in the same project as the screen and social sizes.

In Church Graphics, you can choose up to five sizes per project, and print formats are one of the options. You approve the look once, and the print size is laid out for its own shape instead of being a cropped copy of the slide. That's the difference between a card that looks designed and a card that looks like a screenshot.

Before you send it to the printer

Every print shop has its own spec sheet. Find it on their website or ask for it, and check these:

• Size with bleed. Does the file match what they asked for (for example, 4.25×6.25" for a 4×6 card)?
• Resolution. Is it at least what they ask for, usually 300 DPI at the printed size?
• File type. Most prefer a PDF. Many also take a high-resolution JPG or PNG.
• Color. Some shops want CMYK files. Others take RGB and convert it themselves. If they don't say, ask. Bright screen colors, especially neon greens and electric blues, often print a little duller.
• Words in the safe area. Nothing important within 1/8" of the edge.
• QR code. Print a test, then scan it with two different phones from about arm's length. Make sure it goes to the right page.

Order a proof if you can

If the shop offers a printed proof or a small test run, take it, especially for something like Christmas Eve invites where you're printing hundreds.

Hold the card at arm's length. Can you read the date and time? Is the address right? Does the QR code scan? Are the colors close enough to what's on screen?

It's a lot cheaper to fix one proof than a box of 500 cards.

Give yourself time

Print takes longer than posting. Between design, a proof, the print run, and shipping, a week or more is normal. If you're planning Christmas Eve invite cards, start well before Thanksgiving so you're not paying rush fees in December.

Do this on your next print job

1. Ask the print shop for their spec sheet first.
2. Make the print size in the same project as your screen and social graphics.
3. Check size with bleed, resolution, and the safe area.
4. Scan the QR code from a printed test.
5. Get a proof before the big run.

Your screen graphic is doing its job on Sunday. Let the card be made for the card.