Web Images in Print Design

I can't stress enough the importance of good quality, high resolution photography for print design such as brochures and flyers and advertisements. It is such a common misconception that you can grab any old image off the internet and throw it into your design. 

For starters there is such as thing as copyright infringement, especially when you're mass producing your image to a large target audience, but that is only one of many problems that can occur.

Any image for print requires a much higher resolution than an image that is used only for a website. Websites, television and screen use a resolution of just 72dpi (dots per inch). Print requires a resolution of around 300dpi at actual size. The outcome of using a 72dpi screen image in print is pixelation and obvious poor quality. The examples above show the results in print when an image has been supplied at a high resolution of 300dpi, and the pixelated poor quality result in print of a 72dpi image, which is how your print brochure could look if you just take an image straight off the internet.

When you are supplying photography or images for your designer to use, another good tip is to always supply the original images in jpeg, tiff or eps format. If you embed your image into a program such as powerpoint or microsoft word, the designer will not be able to access the original high resolution image. Also when supplied with the raw image, your designer is often able to enhance your image with photoshop work with a great deal more skill than the average jo at home, producing a much better result in the finished product.

Ideally, for the best result you will use a professional photographer to best advertise your product. Believe me this can make a huge difference to your design if you have some really good quality images, but if you are taking the photos yourself with a digital camera, make sure to use the highest quality setting on your camera. Good lighting is also important. Your designer can help with enhancing the images, but you'll still never get the kind of result you'll get if you have good quality professional images to start with.

Another option is to use stock photography. If your photos do not need to show a particular product then this can be a great way to go. These days there are some quality cheap stock image websites and you can end up with some great images for low cost.