The 5 Deadly Design Sins: Sin #4

#4 Use the same image file on your web site and on your printed materials.

That was tricky to word, because using the same image on your different materials can be fine, especially if it’s a strong image. Using that 72 dpi RGB JPEG file for your brochure or catalog, though, will net you a blurry and pixelated mess.

There are different technical specifications for the screen and the printed page. Almost every time, a printed image needs to be high resolution (at least 300 dpi, or dots per inch) and CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow and black). “No problem,” you say, “I have Photoshop. I’ll just increase the resolution of my lovely 72 dpi picture there.” “Sorry,” I’ll answer, “you can’t do that. Photoshop can’t create detail in a picture that’s not there to start with.”

Conversely, when you post a print ready image on your web site, and size it down in the HTML, you’re wasting tons of bandwidth and your readers’ valuable time as they wait (and wait and wait) for it to download. Save the headache — size your images down before you post them on your web page.

This is really more of a technical issue than a strict design one, but since I run into this at least once a week, I thought it would be useful to list it here.