Welcome back to the Printing Series where I recount a stressful situation with one of my designs. Typically, when speaking with clients about their projects. I have a tendency to picture the look of a design immediately upon receiving the details. We spoke about general details and background on the project. Following some mutual agreements, we plan to meet at a later time when a draft is ready. After getting the design out of my head and onto the digital document, I realize that some data is missing from my project.

Overexcited about the design itself, I failed to ask crucial questions. I didn’t know important details such as size, end use, presentation of documents, or even minor deadlines. I had one detail: the date of an event the document was going to be needed. 

Begin gathering document dimensions, colors and usage. Speaking a printer’s language is based on facts and proportions. Setting up a document with details such as color and size are a significant part of a design. Therefore, asking specific questions regarding printing hard copy versions in an initial client conversation is highly recommended. 

The information needed when designing a printed piece of material is quite specific.

Dimensions: This information involves the document as well as the amount of pixels. A document can be printed based on the print machine’s capabilities. Printing a business card, for example, involves a document setup to print several designs on one piece of paper the printer sized to that particular printer. Then those designs are cut down. A large scale print such as a billboard must include an image with high resolution dimensions.