📝 Week 12 — Differences Between Designing for Screen and Print
For your final project, you have the choice of creating a digital-first PDF or a printed booklet. While the requirements are similar for both, the way you set the files up will be a little different. Let’s review the differences in the assets you’ll need for both.
Overview
Digital PDF
Booklet dimensions
8.5 x 11 inches or 1920 x 1080 px(widescreen digital format)
Color Mode
RGB
Special Features
Links
Gradients, more saturated colors(This can be achieved through offset printing, too, but not as vibrantly with digital printing)
Can be single pages or spreads
Printed Booklet
These instructions are generally for working in print. Special printers, including the one you’ll use at Addams, have slightly different settings, as more printers are able to print RGB now.
Page count needs to be a multiple of 4(8, 16, 24…)
Need to accommodate for bleed, crop marks, creep
Proofing and Setting Up Workspace
Checking the Color Mode
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Transparency Blend Space for the Document
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Color Mode for Individual Colors
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Converting Color Modes in Photoshop
For photos and external assets, you’d need to convert them in Photoshop. For our school printer, we don’t need to use CMYK, but I’ll show you how to do this anyway.
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Links Panel
The links panel shows you where all of your assets are, and if any are missing(indicated by a red question mark). Before you print/export all of your images should be correctly linked together without any errors.
Your links should be high quality image assets. TIFFs and JPGS are preferred. If you’re planning to print — do not use a png unless you really have to. You can also link PSD files, which in certain contexts is necessary, but will make your file much larger and clunkier so best to avoid if possible.
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Demonstrate workflow for saving and linking assets
Overview
Digital PDF
Printed Booklet
Proofing and Setting Up Workspace
Checking the Color Mode
Converting Color Modes in Photoshop
Links Panel