What do you request from customers when give artwork?

[Phill Fenton]

I always ask for a vector drawn .eps file with any fonts used converted to curves.

But 9 times out of 10 they haven’t a clue what I’m saying 😕

[John Childs]

The usual scenario here is that they tell you that they have artwork and then, when it arrives, it is unusable, except as a template to digitise from.

I just tell them that there are three options:-

1. Good cuttable vector artwork = no charge.
2. Vector files that need a bit of work to make them cuttable = minimal charge.
3. Bitmaps, or anything that needs digitising from scratch = priced on a time basis.

The bottom line though is that doesn’t matter what you ask for. If they haven’t got a cuttable vector file, then they haven’t got it. There’s not much you can do about it and the only option is to start from scratch and charge accordingly.

[David Rogers]

Like the others – request VECTOR artwork….and watch for the puzzled looks.

I’ve made the rookie mistake of asking for EPS format before – only to get an EPS…that’s just a giant embedded bitmap (GRRRR).

The alternative is just ask for the biggest, best, clearest file they have..and a hard copy at A4 size.
Most logos can be kocked oops – I mean knocked up in under 20mins if you can mentally break them down into a series of geometric shapes and get busy with the weld tool…how the original designer probably did it.

The difficulties arise when all they send is their website gifs and expect miracles…then it’s time to start charging a proper hourly rate.

Dave

[John Wilson]

Yeah it’s mostly Photoshop EPS’s that I get….. I also get alot of people telling me that they created a pdf that I can use only to find that it’s a jpeg saved as a pdf 😮

[Simon Strom]

We run into this all the time as well. We even get really bad art a lot of times from large companies "Graphics Department" where it seems they don’t have any clue either. Anyway I digress. Here is a link to a site that sums it up pretty well. I usually have our sales people forward this link to a customer when they just don’t seem to be getting it.

http://www.eastbywest.com/pub/vectorbitmap/

I agree with John. Make them pay if they can’t send good line art.

P.S. I hate people that use stroked lines for most of their logo instead of taking the time to make fully closed paths.

[Lee Ballard]

Ooo website gif’s.

My pet hate. ‘I have the artwork’ you hear but actually they have a 72dpi gif that is their web banner and no use whatsoever for me.

A few time recently when I have told people the requirements for printing I have heard screams of "but that’ll make the file massive"!!!

Graphic designers I find do one of two things;
a. Willing to listen and try and accomodate
or
b. Pretending to listen and then just sending you a web banner.

[Hugh Potter]

quote Simon Strom:

We run into this all the time as well. We even get really bad art a lot of times from large companies “Graphics Department” where it seems they don’t have any clue either. Anyway I digress. Here is a link to a site that sums it up pretty well. I usually have our sales people forward this link to a customer when they just don’t seem to be getting it.

http://www.eastbywest.com/pub/vectorbitmap/

I agree with John. Make them pay if they can’t send good line art.

P.S. I hate people that use stroked lines for most of their logo instead of taking the time to make fully closed paths.

great link. thanks!

i can think of at least one regular customer who needs to be sent that the next time he asks how to send me artwork!

Hugh

[John Childs]

quote Lee Ballard:

A few time recently when I have told people the requirements for printing I have heard screams of “but that’ll make the file massive”!!!

*rofl*

My usual rejoinder is, "if you can email it – it isn’t big enough!"

[Karl Williams]

I received some artwork about 4months ago from a graphic designer. 👿 😕 The print was 1m square at 300dpi with a file size of 722mb. I rang himand somehow he just couldn’t understand what I was trying to tell him. 😮

[David Rowland]

quote Karl Williams:

I received some artwork about 4months ago from a graphic designer. 👿 😕 The print was 1m square at 300dpi with a file size of 722mb. I rang himand somehow he just couldn’t understand what I was trying to tell him. 😮

quite common that with us 😉

[Peter Normington]

quote John Childs:

quote Lee Ballard:

A few time recently when I have told people the requirements for printing I have heard screams of “but that’ll make the file massive”!!!

*rofl*

My usual rejoinder is, “if you can email it – it isn’t big enough!”

I must disagree there John,
vector drawings need not, and should not be massive, and even bitmaps when converted to pdfs properly, can give very good results without massive file sizes.
I have been sent massive files, but the requirement was only for a 6′ x 2′ print, and no matter the file size, it is dependent on the resolution of the printer and the viewing distance of the end product.
I’m no expert, but from experience, not many people notice the difference in quality from a 500dpi image down to about 120 dpi on 300mm square image.

So big is not always better, it quite often down to technique.

Ps no news on shipment yet

Peter

[John Childs]

You’re right Peter, vector files aren’t massive. But I think that the point of this thread is that we so very rarely get vector files from customers.

It’s not just nephew art either. Even the largest companies send us image files that are inadequate for blowing up to the sizes they require for the side of a van. When we ask for something higher resolution we are usually told that the images were prepared to print brochures and that what we are asking for doesn’t exist.

We are doing work for one end user now. The image they gave us looks fine on their VW Caddys, but then they bought half a dozen Crafter LWBs and it is horribly pixellated when blown up to that size. Fair enough, it looks reasonable from a distance, but it’s not the sort of work we like to turn out. Yes, it’s dependent on the resolution of the printer, but this image is making our JV3 look bad.

I would never complain about an image being too big. It’s the work of seconds to rasterise it down to something appropriate for the job in hand, but one that’s too small I can do nothing with. A big one also leaves me with the ability to print something larger from the original file if the next job calls for it.