How to submit quality graphics to your web designer

Submitting quality graphics to your web designer can have a big impact on your site's appearance - and the impression you make on the visitor. You can't always have your designer grab it off the web and have it turn out right. Read on below for some pointers on format and image quality.

The most important image on your site is your logo

Your logo is the most important first step in your site's visual impact. The better copy we have, the more professional you will appear online. If you have FLAT ART - or camera ready versions only, they can be Fed-Exed and scanned here. It will be returned the same day it is received in most cases. Please have return arrangements in advance with your choice of courrier.

Read "various file formats and their order of favorability" below for the file formats that are best suited for your images.

IF your company does not have a logo yet, one can be created as part of your web project. CLICK FOR EXAMPLES

Various graphic formats & their favoribility

Photoshop

(.psd) versions of your photos are best for our purposes.

Tiff

(.tif) are second best for pictures - less editability than PSD but same quality.

Illustrator

(.aic) or vector files will be seen commonly in logo and non-photo graphics. Very high quality - must be rasterized (converted to a dot pattern) for web use.

Ping

(.png) are like jpegs (compressed) but much higer quality and do not lose data when saved.

JPEG

is the most common - but degrades in image quality each time you edit and save it. Can hold more photographic detail when optimized. It is called a "lossy" format - it deletes detail when compressed

GIF

format is not a good choice for photos. Save the Gifs for graphs and line art - nothing with shadows or gradations is ideal for a gif. Gif is an end use format - not for an original art source. Gif is also called a "lossy" format - it deletes detail when compressed

BitMap

(.bmp) is an old scanner format, if that's all you have, send it.

There are 2 kinds of optimization used on the web

The first type deals with the file size of graphics, and affects the load time for a page. In other words this process optimizes transmission speed. This is done, as policy, by us at every stage of the project.
The second type optimizes a site's search engine performance. Very important with or without Yahoo Search Marketing (formerly Overture) or Google Ad Words to help you up the ladder.

Submitting Copy

Site Submission programs and SEO cons:

PHOTOSHOP (.psd - The source file for any web graphic) This high quality format can contain layers and live text. That means individual parts of of an image can be changed and then re-saved in any format below. It is a non-lossy format which means psd's can be saved over and over with no damage in image quality. It is the industry standard.

JPEG or .jpg - better than a gif for pictorial subjects. It is a compressed format for shorter load time. It is then uncompressed to full size for display. Unlike a Photoshop file it deletes pixels when compressed. If done right, this is unnoticeable to the eye. If you compress it to heavily we can not go backwards and replace the lost data. The amount of loss is determined by the 12 quality settings. If the setting is too low it distorts around areas of color change. A JPEG can display a full color spectrum and gradations like shadows, etc. You cannot have areas of transparency with a JPEG.

GIF or .gif - better for logos than a Jpeg or CompuServe GIF is optimumized for simple, solid colors or graphics. It renders vey clear text and sharp lines. It also deletes pixels but only displays 256 colors at the best quality setting. If you attempt to reproduce gradations with this format it will have an unnatural banding effect - not good. You can have areas of transparency with a GIF - unlike a JPEG.

PING or .png - a hybrid of jpegs and Gifs and better quality than either. It displays a full color range like a JPEG but it can also display areas of transparent pixels. Unlike jpegs and Gifs it does not delete pixels when compressed. It, unfortunately, does not display in some older browsers so it is rarely on the net. We would gladly accept this format and convert it to the appropriate format for use.

BITMAP or .bmp - is an older format utilized by older scanners. It is also used by Windows for icons and desktop backgrounds. Actually all the formats above are technically 'bitmaps' but are improvements on the original.