Category Archives: Printing

Printing Terminology

Although a growing number of communications are published electronically these days, you’ll occasionally need to have pieces printed. If you only have a few hundred employees, you may choose to print them yourself in your office. For a larger number, though, you’ll probably need to outsource to a professional printer. That process will go much more smoothly if you understand a few print-related terms.

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Image Resolution

I can’t count the number of times someone has said to me, “I found this photo on the Web and want to use it in my document, but I can’t get it to print clearly. How do I fix it?”

I hate that question, because no matter how much I want to help, I always have to give the same answer: “You can’t.”

Why not?

Computer screens are low resolution devices. Printers are high resolution devices. If you take a file designed for a low resolution device and send it to a high resolution device, the result is going to be blurry or grainy.

To understand why, you have to understand image resolution.

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Printing Quantity vs. Price

Whenever you send something out for professional printing, you have to decide how many copies you need. Many people try to save money by figuring out EXACTLY how many they think they need and only ordering that many. That seems logical, but it often ends up costing them more money in the long run.

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