Letter head text

I want ultra ultra sharp...

[collymellon]

Hope all is well;

I am creating letter head for my company and designing the logo etc in CS2. No matter what I do with the text the printed page never looks as good as some letter heads sent from companies on my desk.

I have tried sharpening etc but I still cant get the razor-edge like sharpness I see on others..

Any suggestions? Thanks guys

[PCInk]

Maybe it is the resolution of your printer?

[travelin cat]

The problem is that you are creating a print document using a photographic image, even at higher rez, it is going to be fuzzy. If you want it to be razor sharp, you need to use a layout program such as Quark.

[monkeythumpa]

Don't get her confused. Stay away from Quark like the plague. You don't need it in this instance. Illustrator or InDesign will be better if you have them, but you can do it with Photoshop. Here is how you do it:

Open a new document. In the box that pops up make the size 8.5 inches wide, 11 inches tall, resolution 300 pixels/inch and color mode should be CMYK.

Now lay out your letterhead and it should print sharply. If you have the space, make the document 1200 pixels/inch. The eyes will not notice and most of the resolution will be thrown away but that will make it as sharp as it can get out of the printer.

[schwartz]

You are trying to use raster images for print work which is a no-no. You need to create graphics in vector format which will give you the sharpness and resolution you want at any size.

[lZakl]

Don't get her confused. Stay away from Quark like the plague

monkeythumpa, That's great! HAHA!

You are trying to use raster images for print work which is a no-no. You need to create graphics in vector format

Which is best done IMHO in InDesign or Illustrator. But schwartz is right. If you don't have the $$ to fork out for a layout program, MS Word or like programs would work just fine as they use fonts rendered as vectors during print. For basic letterhead, it might suit you, again if you don't have a "better" layout program.

-- Zak

[travelin cat]

I agree about Quark, however, I did say "such as" meaning use a page layout program, not an image manipulation program....

[MikeBenson]

It may simply come down to resolution. You need to be using 300dpi graphics at 100%. if you enlarge something in PS or in another program, you are diminishing the quality of the graphic.

You can create a header in PS, and then import it into MS Word if you just want to create a template for letters or proposals which you want to print on your own printer. Now, the quality if the image depends on the quality if your printer.

If you want to send a file to a print house and get say, thousands of copies of blank letterhead printed for you to run through your printer as needed, then your best bet is to stick to PS, Illustrator, or something like Quark for production, making sure all graphics are 300dpi at 100%.

[collymellon]

Don't get her confused. Stay away from Quark like the plague

Im actually a Him :)

As far as Quark goes it makes my ears bleed when I hear the name..

I will trying the suggested tips when I get home, Ive got a feeling i'll end up doing the text in word and the logo with a vector based program - illustrator possibly,

Benson thanks for the printing tips. These will be going in to practice.

Thanks again

[katana_one]

When printing a logo or other line artwork from Photoshop, I like to go with 600 dpi, not 300. Just my 2 cents.

Otherwise, use Illustrator to create the artwork, and save it as an EPS file. You should then be able to port it to any layout program you want and keep the image sharp.