Acidflyers.com l University of Acidflyers: Design Basics

LESSON 1 - SETTING UP PHOTOSHOP FILES FOR SUBMISSION When you create an image in Photoshop it will open a dialog box asking you for the basic information about your new image. This is one of the most important parts of your design process. If you do not put this information in correctly you could waste hours of design time for a design we can't even use. Pay close attention the this guide and you will quickly become a master of art submission.
	The image on the left is a dialog box from Photoshop Version 7.0. Even if you have an older or more current version of Photoshop the layout may look different but the options will still remain the same. Other than the size specifications the areas you really need to pay attention to are the Resolution and the Mode (Color Mode). All artwork must be submitted at 300dpi. Be sure to change that to 300dpi and also be sure to check that it is pixels/inch and not pixels/cm (we're an American-based company)
The next thing you need to look out for is the Color mode. Photoshop, having its roots in web design has an automatic default of RGB (Red Green and Blue) color mode. Since we're a 4-color printer we need it in CMYK (Cyan Magenta Yellow and Black). Click on the drop down menu and select CMYK as your color mode. Before I receive any hate mails for this I will warn you. Having your image in CMYK color mode will disable a lot of your filters. Don't be alarmed! Layers styles still work. If you're hooked on filters then now is a great time to kick that habit. You can achieve very similar effects using layer styles instead of filters. Most of the addon retail filter programs work inclusively in RGB color mode. Two Important Things from this lesson are: 300dpi and Color Mode of CMYK.

	Once you create your new project a canvas will magically appear. It should look similar to the one on the left. The very first thing you want to do is set guides for yourself. This can easily be done by left-clicking on the ruler and dragging the guides out. Click on the left ruler to drag them out vertically or on the top ruler to drag them horizontally. If you don't have a ruler then you Can easily show them by pressing CTRL+R or if you want to take the slow boat to China you can go to VIEW>RULERS from your tool bar on top.
Once the rulers show up if they're not showing measurements in inches then you can right-click on the ruler. A menu will appear that will provide options. Select inches and you will notice the ruler change to inches. Once you've done that then you can drag out your guides by left clicking and holding as you drag out. Create a boundary by pulling guides to the 1/8th inch mark inside your canvas. Now you have visual guides to let you know how far to keep your text from the edges. As long as you keep your text within that 1/8th inch safe area you will never lose any text while printing with Acidflyers.com.
LESSON 2 - SETTING UP ART FOR A 3' x 5' BANNER I know the first thing that goes through your mind when you have to design a 3' x 5' foot banner is, "HOLY COW, THAT'S GOING TO BE ONE HUGE FILE!!!". When I was assigned my first banner design I actually did it at size and at 300dpi. Needless to say, I nearly chewed my fingernails off waiting for my system to process something as simple as a layer transformation! So let me be the one that saves your fingernails as well as a lot of time! First and foremost - WASH EVERYTHING I'VE EVER TOLD YOU ABOUT ART SUBMISSION OUT OF YOUR HEAD. Done? OK, I'll explain why. In all of our art submission and job specification pages we're explaining how we need art submitted to be printed on our 4-color presses so we need the art to be very specific. We print all of our banners and posters on large format printers rather than presses so the art has to be in a different format. We require the file for a 3' x 5' banner to be scaled down so that it's 25% of the original size.
25% of 36" x 60" (3' x 5') is 9" x 15" - Create the Image at that Size
So now you should have a new image that is 9" x 15" at 300dpi. You can design it in either CMYK color mode or RGB color mode. We will not convert it to CMYK so you can feel confident sending the art in RGB format. When designing large format jobs, VECTOR IS YOUR FRIEND. Raster images are resolution dependent and will distort when stretched. Vector is not resolution dependent therefore you can stretch it to the size of a football field (American Football, not soccer) and it will look the same. If you design the job in Photoshop do not rasterize your text layers (available in Photoshop 6 and above). Minimize the amount of images you have on your banner. You want to do this for two reasons. A) Images are primarily Raster and if you can't find an image that is the actual finished size it will look extremely blurry when printed, and B) Banners are meant to be seen from a distance and make an immediate impact. The more cluttered the banner is the more it will take away from the message you're attempting to convey.
	Now I don't know about you, but the second banner makes me want to go out and litter! Although it's more aesthetically pleasing as far as design goes, it just doesn't convey a message with impact. The first banner has minimal graphics and it can be read up close or far away. On most occassions people pick up flyers and read them closely. With banners they are viewed from a distance with minimal time to get your message across. Keep that in mind when you're designing your banner. Be careful because sometimes the best design isn't always the right one when it comes to banners. K.I.S.S. is the acronym that comes to mind when designing banners.
If you don't know what K.I.S.S. stands for it's Keep It Simple, Stupid. That is a great rule to live by in not only design but in life. Keep it simple. Short and Sweet. To the Point. OK, I'll stop, I think you get it. So that concludes today's lesson on how to submit and create art for a banner. Let's review what you've learned today. Art can be scaled down to 25% of it's final size. Art can be submitted as either RGB or CMYK. Don't clutter up your banner designs with sophisticated graphics that take away from your message. Retain all Vector properties if possible, vector is the best format for large print jobs.
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