Need Help - Full Page Ad Sizing

[narcisis]

Hey fellas, I need a bit of help.

You see I've been doing web/graphic design work for awhile but never really designed any ads for people, well.. I've done ads, just not this kind. My client needs a full page ad created which will displayed in a magazine. What size and resolution should I create the image at in photoshop? 8x10 resolution 72? Also is there anything else I should know about having an ad published in a mag?

Any help appreciated.

[Enterfaze]

You'll have to call the ad desk at the magazine for specs. All publishers are different, although there is an increasing trend to accepting PDF as the official advertising file type.

Any print mag will require a DPI of at least 300, and, because all magazines are different sizes, they'll let you know the size of the page, bleed area (how much larger than the actual size you'll need to make your file), and text limit (you usually can't put text within .15" of the edge of the page).

Welcome to the world of print advertising!

[narcisis]

Originally posted by Enterfaze
You'll have to call the ad desk at the magazine for specs. All publishers are different, although there is an increasing trend to accepting PDF as the official advertising file type.

Any print mag will require a DPI of at least 300, and, because all magazines are different sizes, they'll let you know the size of the page, bleed area (how much larger than the actual size you'll need to make your file), and text limit (you usually can't put text within .15" of the edge of the page).

Welcome to the world of print advertising!

PDF? Does Acrobat convert/import PSD to PDF? Also what do you mean by "how much larger than the actual size you'll need to make your file"?

[Enterfaze]

Oh yeah, also. All the major publishing houses are a hassle to work with, and the minor houses are even worse.

I've worked extensively with Cahners/Reed and many others. The people you will be dealing with will mainly be idiots.

[Enterfaze]

Originally posted by narcisis
PDF? Does Acrobat convert/import PSD to PDF? Also what do you mean by "how much larger than the actual size you'll need to make your file"?

What publishing house runs the magazine you're advertising in?

Photoshop can save out as PDF.

If you're doing a full page ad, and if the ad runs all the way to the edges of the paper, and say the ad is 8x10, you'll have to get them a file that is 8.5x10.5, giving them a .25 margin on each side so that in case the printer gets a bit offset, you won't see white lines on the sides. If this is a cheaper mag that doesn't run ads all the way to the edges, you won't need to worry about it. In any case, the publisher will let you know.

Remember also you'll have to convert to CMYK and make sure the text is a black of c100m100y100k100 and any large portions of black are a rich black of c30m20y10k100.

[narcisis]

I'm not sure of the publisher but the mag is Hightimes. And thanks for all of your help! One more thing though..

When you said the image had to upsized a bit for the bleed area, would that be the overall image size or the canvas size?

[dlowe93]

Originally posted by narcisis
Hey fellas, I need a bit of help.

You see I've been doing web/graphic design work for awhile but never really designed any ads for people, well.. I've done ads, just not this kind. My client needs a full page ad created which will displayed in a magazine. What size and resolution should I create the image at in photoshop? 8x10 resolution 72? Also is there anything else I should know about having an ad published in a mag?

Any help appreciated.

Wow. Welcome to the world of ad production. It's a whole new game, and when the client is spending up to tens of thousands of dollars for space, you'd better get it right. (no pressure, huh?)

Ok, here's where you should start:

1. Talk to your client and/or their media buyer and get the following information:

ad size (full page, jr. page, half-page, etc)?
color (4c, 2c, black, only, etc.)?
run dates (what issue/issues of the magazine will this run)?

You might already have an idea of what these answers are, but assume nothing. If the client doesn't know the answers to these questions, they'd better find out.

If possible, have them send you a copy of their placement contract and any information they have from the publication (hereafter referred to as "pub").

When the pub's rep was selling them space, he should have given your client an ad kit that has all sorts of information about the ad specs. Get that. It should have a lot of the information that you need in it.


2. Call the magazine and get ahold of somebody in their production department. DO NOT speak to a sales person. You must talk to somebody who is actually involved in putting the magazine together to get real answers. Trust me on this.

Find out from them:

What materials you need to deliver (film, digital files, proofs, etc.)?
By what date do you need to get them to the pub?
There are several important dates, the close date, which is the deadline the client must commit to buying the space, the materials date, which is when you need to have materials to the pub, the run date which is when it will be printed, and the street date, which is the actual issue date of the magazine. Usually, you only need to worry about the materials date, but sometimes, if you get into a bind, you can push that to a day or two before the run date. Avoid this if you can, it's very stressful.

Like i said, talk to a production person. A sales person deals with close dates, and doesn't always get things like materials and materials dates right.

Ok, now that you have all that, there are some things to know. There are a bunch of measurements that will come on the specs. They will probably be:

Bleed
Trim
Live

Bleed is the full size of the ad. Your file must be this large. Exactly.
Trims is the size that the magazine is trimmed to. It is usually 1/8" to 1/4" smaller all around that the Bleed size.
Live is the area where all text should live within. It's usually 1/4" to 1/2" smaller than the trim size. Images can (and should) go all the way out to the bleed size, but all of your copy must be within the Live area, or it might get cut off and/or be difficult to read. Look at a full page ad in any magazine. You will see that half an inch or more is lost in the gutter (the middle part of the magazine). This is why there is a Live area.

I would recommend doing your images in Photoshop and then placing them into Illustrator (or Quark if you must) and then doing the actual ad in Illustrator. Photoshop type gets hammered when it gets printed. You might be fine with it, but your client may not. Plus, you have a lot more control over sizing and placement in Illustrator when doing stuff for print.

Using your images at 300 dpi might be overkill. A good rule of thumb is to double the line screen that it will printed at. Thus, if it runs on a 120 lpi screen, you can get away with a 200 dpi image. A higher-res image will not give you better quality, in fact, too high of a resolution will cause problems. Again, use Illustrator for your type. Post-script type, good. Photoshop type, bad.

Finally, make sure you get your client's signature, in ink, on a final proof of the ad before you deliver. Like i said, ad space is not cheap. If the client is unhappy with the ad, it's coming back to you big time unless you cover your ass. When the client says "hey, in the ad our logo is PINK!", and the proof they signed off on has a pink logo, they're going to have a hard time getting you to pay for a new ad.

Long winded i know, but i used to do a lot of ad work. Cover your butt and be very, very thorough with your quality control. The web is easy to change if you make a mistake, print, not so easy.

Feel free to email me if you have any other questions or need more advice.

d.

[nocrapchurch]

Moved from the Boardroom.

-scott

[narcisis]

Thanks for all of your help fellas.

I don't really know if this is going to be a problem or not but I want to be absolutely sure. My bleed area is 8.375 x 11.125 but whenever I create this in photo the size always changes itself to 8.377 x 11.127. I tried correcting it but it just goes back, constrain is off as well. Any ideas? Or would this even matter?

[dlowe93]

Originally posted by narcisis
Thanks for all of your help fellas.

I don't really know if this is going to be a problem or not but I want to be absolutely sure. My bleed area is 8.375 x 11.125 but whenever I create this in photo the size always changes itself to 8.377 x 11.127. I tried correcting it but it just goes back, constrain is off as well. Any ideas? Or would this even matter?

It shouldn't matter if it's larger. Bleed is really a minimum dimension, it just guarantees that there is enough space around the trim to create a full bleed. An extra .02 inch won't screw things up.

Personally, i make the photo 10%–15% larger, and then crop it exactly in Illustrator with a clippping mask. If you want, email me and i'll send you my Handy Dandy Illustrator Ad Template™ that i've spent many years as an anal-retentive ad production guy perfecting.

d.

[Enterfaze]

I've never had any problems with Photoshop on text, so long as it's not rasterized and the font files are sent with the artwork. And, like I said, there's a big push in the publishing community to standardize on PDF for accepting ads.

dlowe93, I was afraid I was the only one in print on the boards

narcisis, would the magazine you're referring to be the famous High Times that we all know about? I know the boards are supposed to remain PG, but I assume you know what I mean. If so, please post your experience working with them; I've always wondered what that would be like.

[narcisis]

Hold up.. so.. I shouldn't rastersize my text when I send them the artwork? (they want a PSD). If not, then I should send them the font files?

This will be my first experience working them Enterfaze, and hopefully not the last one - god knows I'm a fan .

[dlowe93]

Originally posted by Enterfaze
I've never had any problems with Photoshop on text, so long as it's not rasterized and the font files are sent with the artwork. And, like I said, there's a big push in the publishing community to standardize on PDF for accepting ads.

From what i've heard, type in Photoshop 6+ is handled as Postscript, so it should be fine. I'm just used to using Illustrator for stuff like that since it's such a precision tool. If you've ever have to re-size an ad for 20 different pubs, all with different print specs, you'll appreciate building it in Illustrator.

PDF is a great technology. It's come a long way in recent years. My neighbor is a technical illustrator who does a lot of work for companies in Norway, and that's the only format he delivers files in these days. He says that they will take his PDF and go straght to press from that.

dlowe93, I was afraid I was the only one in print on the boards

Heh. Three years vendor side doing pre-press and production, six years agency side doing print and ad management. Haven't touched a print job in almost two years though.

I miss the smell of varnish in the morning…

d.

[dlowe93]

Originally posted by narcisis
Hold up.. so.. I shouldn't rastersize my text when I send them the artwork? (they want a PSD). If not, then I should send them the font files?

If they want a PSD, then that's what you should send. Don't rasterize the type and send Font files. If they need to rasterize the type, let them do it (that means, let them screw up the type).

My final suggestion: before you send the file, get two color accurate proofs (a high-quality color laser print will work). Have the cilent sign one, send the other with the files to the pub. That way the client will have seen and signed what you are sending, and the pub has a copy of what the client sigened off on. If there is any problem with plublication of the ad, you have a paper trail showing that the client approved it, and you sent the pub a copy of what it's supposed to look like.

Mistakes happen every now and then in ad publication, and you need to make sure that the pub owns any mistakes. If you have no proof, it will be very hard to get the publication to run a make-good. Ad space is expensive (as is printing), so covering your butt is super-deluxe important when it comes to print jobs.

Hope this helps,

d.