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how to send your artwork securely…how do you do it?
Hi there…
im interested….
if you want to send a visual to a customer via email…how do you do yours?…
do you have pdf with password or one of these addons to pdf which gives you control of how many views and control of print capabilities…?
wondered what was out there which you could send decent image without it being ‘stolen’
thanks v much..Cheryl
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20 Replies
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Hi Cheryl,
This is how I do it. Its slightly unusual but it seems to work.
I have made my own website using software that allows me to have "invisible" pages and to lock the images so they cant be copy/pasted. I give the image a watermark and then upload the image to this invisible page. I then send the page address to the customer and he can see it.
Of coarse it can be printed by the customer by printing the web page, but that can also be done no matter which way you send it.
Earl. -
password protected pdf with my logo plus copyright statement and logo 😀
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Passwords on protected PDFs are very easy to unlock if you have the know how. One of
the simplest is to send a low res JPG (no more than 72dpi). It will look OK on screen,
but obviously will contain no vectors, so if anyone wants to copy the design, they will
have to go to the trouble of re-creating it. Also put a copyright mark on the image, and date, maybe a watermark across the design, and try and make it smaller than
actual size.Not much else you can do if someone is determined to nick your ideas.
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quote Jamie Wood:Not much else you can do if someone is determined to nick your ideas.burn their eyes out!!
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Would I need to buy a professional version of PDF to use these functions John?..I thought the same route as you, sometimes the artwork is just real pants as a screenshot…but it gives the idea i suppose…id carry on with that if it was going to cost megga…
Cheryl -
Cheryl you have corel I think so can use that, also signlab and illustrator do similar
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Easily done.
Get payment before sending anything.
Weeds out people very fast.
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We are using password pdfs a lot more out of corel
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In reality anybody can steal artwork / concepts or ideas whether you password protect or not.
For trusted clients, they get a jpg render with a couple of logo watermarks on it to ‘spoil’ it.
Anybody else..they can look at in the shop, or pay a £50 deposit to take it away with them…that way I’m paid for it.
Granted, I’ve lost several customers doing that as they take the huff citing that I obviously don’t trust them etc. etc. I state that it’s not a trust issue – it’s just the way I’ve got to operate my business as design accounts for part of the work – not just the actual ‘doing the job’…they wouldn’t paint my door before I agreed for them to paint all the house without wanting paid…or let me take one bag of crisps out of a multi-pack to see if my wife liked the flavour before I bought the rest.
Most see my point…
However – trusted can soon become ‘ex-customer’ when you spot them posting your artwork or portions thereof on their websites / facebook and you don’t get the jobs.
I’ve tried secure weblinks / anti image saving…but anybody with half a brain can just do a screen grab and voila! Free artwork to hawk round.
Dave
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ooo..ill investigate the pdf part of my corel and illustrator…
it is to show a professional approach to my business in my mind to show you are interested in your artwork security…that with the copyright wording and watermarks..
Ive been stolen from before, and more than likely again.. but its another bow to my quiver if it comes to pursuing copyright breaching… -
Hi Cheryl, in Corel under File, scroll down to Publish to PDF. Look at the setting buttons when you do, 2nd tab gives you a slider to know the resolution down. 5th tab gives you the option to password. If they do mange to break into the document at least it will be low res
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I know Illustrator still sends the PDF as a vector, even with the resolution set low.
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if in doubt one click and convert all to bitmap then PDF
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cool, thanks Chris 😀
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quote Chris Windebank:if in doubt one click and convert all to bitmap then PDF
You could just send out a low res, watermarked jpg and save all the bother of converting, password protecting etc. Same result.
I’m still all for "view it in the shop until it’s paid for" if it’s artwork you value.
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In Corel I convert to a 200dpi jpeg then publish to pdf. This gives a good enough resolution to view in good detail and the recipient cant pass it on as a working vector. As has been said if they gonna steal it it least they will have to work at recreating the job. Dont forget to revert your artwork back to vector by "undoing" the last step incase you save your vector as a jpeg. (don’t ask me how I know! 😳 ) And I always watermark every element if more than one sign is on it.
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Trouble I have is e-mailing jpg’s off a mac. Windows doesn’t see it as an attachment.
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David,
If your saving as a jpeg from illustrator. then save for web – this makes it windows
friendly. -
Will look into that tomorrow, and have a play in illustrator.
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Low(ish) res to pdf or jpg. But in I think more importantly it’s the design concept that you need to protect (a bit like an invention concept) as the actual artwork can be reproduced by anybody worth their salt with their design tools. Design concept is quite another thing and unique to you/your business, and may be the reason they came to you in the first place.
Neil
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I personally use 7-Zip and then send the password in a seperate email.
Edit. I skim read and then realised from a deeper look that it’s theft of artwork by the customer that is the problem 😳
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