Hi. I'm creating a cover for my school's annual magazine, and I'm a little unsure as to what resolution I need to make it. Is 300dpi sufficient, or will I need to go Higher? The image needs to be 2xA4 size, so if I make the dpi too high, I get massive file sizes. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks Jimmi Slim

A lot depends on what you are outputting the file to. If you are outputting to a postscript printer, then image resolution should be 1.5 to 2.0 times the screen frequency. Screen frequency is measured in LPI (lines per inch). For a typical 4 colour magazine you would use 133 lpi and for typical high end output (anual reports, etc) you would use 177 lpi. To futher confuse the issue, image resolution has to be looked at in ppi (pixels per inch), not dpi (dots per inch), but dpi is usually close enough. You need to talk to your printer (the person to whom you will give the .eps files for printing) and ask them what screen frequency they will be using, then you can calculate the image resolution you will need. Bear in mind, however, that this isn't simply a matter of changing the resolution in your art program! This would be the resolution you would use to scan your artwork at. There is no simple answer to your question -- talk to your printer -- they can give you the best advice!

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I'm used to design flyers and i work in 600dpi (flyers are not A3). The most important for this kind of projetcs is 1/ CMJN 2/ a marging for the printer 3/ use a good color profile for u're monitor as to be able to control what will be printed in real time: the result is never what u see on u're screen! 4/ Be sure of the format (EPS, TIF, PSD etc...) needed I would advise u to work in 400dpi to be secure with the printer.

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Hi there, Ive been in the digital prepress for a while, and IMHO you dont need resolutions as high as 600 ppi for most of the regular printing needs. In Mexico the common numbers are 150 lpi (lines per inch) for a magazine, so we use 266 to 300 ppi (pixels per inch) or dpi (dots per inch) for the artwork. Using a dpi resolution above this will only take more time and effort for the RIP (Raster Image Processor) to process your file. Just make sure youre working in CMYK mode (if you need a color output) or grayscale (just plain black&white) in a format without compression. TIFF is the most supported format and the easiest to rasterize. EPS is used when you need clipping paths or special spot colors, but only useful with a PostScript printer or imagesetter. Hope this helps... and yes, ask your printer. :)