Common Things Graphic Designers Say and What They Mean
Does it feel like your designer speaks in another language sometimes?
I was asking my husband for things that I say that he had no idea what I was talking about, the list was much longer than 5. You would think after 10 years he would know exactly what all the “designer things” I say are? I guess it’s best not to assume 😅
Photography Credit: Mark J Waugh Photography
Eps File - “Can you send me the eps file.”
An eps file is a special file that is often used for logos, but can also be used for a whole range of artwork files from illustrations to icons and more.
Eps files can be scaled to be as big as the side of a multi-story building* and they will not lose any quality, whatsoever. Which makes them the best option for crisp-quality printing no matter what you’re printing on. *Provided the file has been set up correctly within Adobe.
Dpi - “The images need to be 300 dpi for print”
Dpi = Dots per image. There is probably a super complicated explication out there about dots and images. But all you really need to know is that if you’re setting up print ready files, to ensure the images print at highres you want them to be rendering at a minimum of 300dpi. Smaller than that and you risk a dodgy print job. I could go into detail about the dpi required for digital files, but it can get a bit complicated depending on screen sizes and devices.
Hot tip. The dpi of your image decreases as you scale the image larger. Your designer will be able to check all of the images for you when they set up your print-ready files.
Lorem Ipsum - There is some funny copy in the artwork, it’s not English, it’s not Italian, what is this?
Lorem ipsum is placeholder text commonly used in the graphic, print, and publishing industries for previewing layouts and visual mockups. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s!
It might look something like this: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vivamus tincidunt feugiat mauris a consectetur. Donec pretium, lorem vel lacinia luctus, dui lectus tincidunt tortor, sed maximus odio est sed leo.
Typography
Typography is the art of arranging letters and text in a way that makes the copy legible, clear, and visually appealing to the reader. Great typography enhances the reading experience and makes the overall content so easy to consume that it feels much shorter in length. Typography takes text that’s possibly pasted carelessly, floating in the middle of the page looking lonely – and turns into a design element that is part of the page design and compliments all of the designed imagery or illustrations to enhance and enrich the message.
Pagination - the process of separating print or digital content into discrete pages.
I like to plan and map out the Pagination of a project in the early stages. This helps plan for content, imagery or illustrations that need to be created. As well as give a firm indication of how many pages the publication will be in total. Minimising last-minute scrambling to create extra content or trying to decide what content to delete/condense as you allow for a total page count that’s divisible by 4, for printing.
If there is something else you’ve heard a graphic designer say that sounds like another language and you want some help translating feel free to send me an email heya@sproutjoy.com.au or a dm on Instagram @sproutjoydesign