Everything You Need to Know About Print Design

The market is full of digital designs, whenever you open your phone, laptop, or any website, all you see are digital designs. Today, when digital graphic designs have earned the spotlight, it is not true that print designs have become totally obsolete. 

There are many areas, and fields where print designs are still a necessary part of. Print designs are still one of the most powerful, and tangible ways to advertise, and narrate one’s thoughts. Be it your business card, college brochure, flyers, posters, magazines, etc. 

In this blog, we will discuss everything you need to know about print designs. This guide will cover everything from the basics to technical considerations, helping you master print design.

So, without wasting anymore time, 

Let’s get started!

What are print designs?

It is quite obvious from the question itself. Print designs are not very different from digital designs, the only difference lies between them in the ‘Output’. 

Where digital graphic designs are generated for digital distribution like- websites, and apps. Print designs refer to creating visual designs that are generated for physical printing rather than digital screening. 

Print designs are a bit more difficult than digital screen designs. Where digital graphic designs can easily adapt to any digital screen type and website requirements. 

Print designs need to be created with a strong focus on certain areas- their size, shape, layouts, color requirements, etc. Only if you don’t want your print output to look blurry, and unprofessional. 

Here is a list of some of the most common printing materials:

• Business cards

• Flyers, and company brochures

• Posters

• Magazines, and newspapers

• Packaging designs

• Product designs

• Letterheads, and stationeries

• Book covers, reports, etc. 

These are the common print materials you will find, the cover of a book you read, and the banner you see while driving on the highway. These are all a part of what we call print designs. 

Each of these print materials differs and has specific design requirements- typography, layout, size, shape, etc. The motive of print design is quite simple. Brands opt for these to ensure that they not only cover the online market but make a strong presence online. But also offline via a tangible, interactive way.  

If you are hesitant about getting into size issues and don’t want to ruin your print. Don’t be, the digital print design agency, Frisco, is here to help!

What to keep in mind while designing for prints?

1. Typography matters:

You can’t just wake up one morning, remember you have a task to print banners, or pamphlets, and start printing anything. You need structure, the typography in your print design speaks a lot and adds value to your words. 

The typography you use should be easy to read, and understand, well-structured, and appropriate for your target audience. 

Let’s get to know more about what you should consider in order to create the perfect typography for your print design.

A. Serif fonts: Serif Fonts are one of the great fonts you can use for your print designs. They provide proper readability of texts in large bodies like- pamphlets, and banners.

B. Sans-Serif Fonts: If you plan on making something minimalistic, and modern print designs, you can’t miss sans-serif fonts, they work best. (E.g. Helvetica)

C. Font Hierarchy: Similar to the way different fonts are used in a hierarchy in this blog, to help you read well. You need to use this method in your print design as well. This enhances the readability, and guides the reader’s eye, via different font sizes, weights, and styles.

D. Kerning, and tracking adjustments: Kerning and tracking adjustments provide a visual balance to the readers, which in turn enhances the reading experience. 

E. Line spacing: Line spacing is quite important when it comes to print designs. Line spacing improves the text flow, and provides ease to readers when reading long paragraphs.

2. Color theory, and CMYK:

Color theory plays a major role in making any print design attractive. Where digital screen designs use the color palette- RGB (Red, Green, Blue). Print designs use the palette- CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black). 

Now the question is why?

Digital screens start off with a black color, which is why to create images using pixels, designers use an RGB color palette. Whereas, when it comes to print designs, the paper starts off with a white color. That is why the CMYK palette is used here to approach black and create images. 

So, make sure you always design your prints in CMYK to ensure you have an accurate color reproduction. 

What more to know?

• For consistent branding, make sure you use Pantone colors.

• Use color contrasts precisely to enhance the readability and aesthetics of the prints.

• Research the psychology of colors to evoke the desired emotions within the audience.

• Make sure to use overprint, and knockout techniques to manage ink interaction in multi-layered print designs.

3. Resolution and image quality:

Have you noticed that when you print out a picture it looks blurry and pixelated, the colors are scattered, and not even properly visible? This is all because your picture was low on resolution. So, how to get rid of such pixelation, and how to avoid it?

Use high-resolution images, images with higher quality. Now, you must be wondering, what do you mean by high-quality, how do I make sure my picture is high-quality? 

The answer is simple, just follow the following points, and make sure you don’t miss any points.

• Always use 300 DPI (dots per inch) so that your print is not compromised, and is of high quality. 

• Never use images from the web, for instance, the pictures you see on Google. As they are typically of around 72 DPI, so make sure you use images from trusted websites. Where you know the images are of high quality. 

• Save your preferred image for your print in TIFF, EPS, or in high-quality PNG formats. This ensures you get better print output.

• Convert text to outlines in vector files to prevent font substitution errors.

4. Design with your end product in mind:

In the end, all you need is your print design to be perfect. And every print material is different with different specifications. Designing for a business card will be a whole new thing than designing a book, banner, or poster. 

So, how do you design perfectly?

At first, start by making a rough sketch of what, and how you want your print to look- do doodles! Make sure you account for everything, potential cuts, folds, creases- everything that your print needs, to ensure your content flows properly. 

In the next step, draft dummies, dummies of your print product, and see if it is perfect, similar to how you wanted it to turn out or not. Measure if the cuts, folds, and creases are on point or not. If it is mistaken, address and correct them.

5. Start with the correct document size and spacing:

Look, every print material is unique in its own way, it has a specific size, shape, and space. The size of a banner is never the same as the size of a book, so the size of the print must be based on its application. 

Let me give you some examples of prints and their sizes.

A. Business cards: (3.5*2) inches, perfect to fit in a wallet.

B. Postcards: (4*6) inches, in order to qualify for various postage discount rates.

C. Posters: Typically around (11*17) inches, or maybe larger to attract audience attention.

D. Letter: (8.5*11) inches.

E. Legal: (8.5*14) inches.

F. Tabloid: (11*17) inches.

 Each of these prints requires a little extra space, to ensure none of the important elements is cut off.  

• Bleed area: make sure you extend the design to 3-5mm beyond the trim line, in order to prevent a white edge.

• Margins: keep all the important texts and visuals at least 5 mm inside the trim line.

• Safe zone: make sure none of the elements is close to the edges.

 Conclusion:

Today, when digital designs have stirred the market, print designs are still quite important. Print designs are a crucial aspect of visual communication despite the digital boom. A clear understanding of these designs is quite important to drafting business cards, posters, postcards, and any other physical print form. 

In this blog, we have discussed every detail you need to know before you print designs. If you still have confusion and are hesitant about the idea of printing designs. Don’t be, we got you! AI designs is one of the best digital print design agencies in Frisco.