I tend to keep an open mind about images from a large stock library. They can be very helpful if you are on a smaller budget but they do lack that personal touch and obviously will be used by other people. I saw a classic example of this the other day.

I was choosing a book to read and nearly passed one by thinking I had already read it, however on closer inspection it was a totally different book, just the same stock image!

The book Sand in My Shoes, is a transcript of Sir Tim Rice’s mother’s diaries during World War 2, in my opinion an original photograph of her would have been better.

What is your thoughts on this? I would love to hear what you think.

We had a visit from Gill Thomas from Fenner Paper the other day, telling us all about some of their lovely paper range, and boy there are some super paper about nowadays.

I could write reams about the samples she has left with us, but here are some highlights

• Matt black paper — fantastic with silver ink, good green credentials
• Environmentally friendly paper made from Algae, Bamboo and Cotton fibres
• Pearlescent, metallic, iridescent and shimmering paper — for a real luxurious finish
• Bible paper stock starting at just 40gsm with a high quality finish

but the one I really love is

• Flock paper — a superb textured paper with a flock surface that you can print on.

These samples need to be seen to be believed and would make any printed brochure or report really stand out and look different. So give me a call if you are interested.

Do you get confused about your logo? Do you have a jpeg version of it, but when you send something to be professionally printed they ask for an .eps version? I shall endeavour to explain.

Any logo should be created using Illustrator, this can then be saved as an .ai or .eps.

Illustrator is used because it creates a Vector file. A Vector file can be enlarged ad infinitum, so can be used for signage, as well as for business cards.

This is different to Photographs, which if enlarged above 100% of its actual size will degrade, and look pixelated. This is why digital cameras have now improved to allow for high resolution images. This is where jpegs and tiffs come into their own.

It is further complicated because anything printed offset litho needs to be 300dpi (dots per inch), in order to produce anything of reasonable quality, whilst anything on screen needs only to be 72dpi, and most laser or inkjet printers can produce reasonable quality at 150dpi. An Illustrator or Vector file (.ai or .eps) does not cause any of these problems.

However the problems have occurred over the years since Microsoft Word has been used more and more, and that won’t accept Illustrator files!!! It likes jpeg’s or png’s.

And lets not even start talking about CMYK (that offset litho uses) and RGB (that everything else uses!)

Ideally whenever a logo is created by a Designer, two sets of files should be supplied. One set for offset litho printing, these will be either .ai or .eps; and a second set for use in Microsoft and Digital (web etc), these are usually jpegs.

Hope this helps, it is very complicated and doesn’t help that people can’t actually see what a .ai or .eps file looks like, unless they have the right software!

If you are still confused give me a call and I will try and explain further.

I have just returned from a lovely holiday in Lake Garda and it just made me ponder how relevant it is to still have brochures. Personally I won’t book a holiday without looking at one.

That might seem a very old fashioned view, with websites like Trip Advisor, Expedia, Last Minute etc etc or Travel Agents websites, that can be very informative with loads of photographs that are not contained in the brochure. I would totally agree, when booking a holiday I look at all those, and find out as much information as I can. However I do like to sit down and pour over different brochures first to get my ideas of where I might fancy, then I go online and do my research.

I have yet to be disappointed, and my recent trip to Lake Garda confirmed that, incidentally I also took my Inghams brochure on holiday with me, so I could confirm it was as I expected!

But what about you? I am asking this question on Hooper Graphics Facebook Page and so please vote, or leave a comment I would love to know what you have to say.