Artwork 101 (Part 2): Begin with the End in Mind

Now that we have explored raster and vector images in Part 1 (Artwork 101 (Part 1): Rascally Rasters & Vectors, let’s look at setting up your art file to get the best results.  While some of this information will certainly translate from one program to another, it is the purpose of this article to help our customers understand where to start so that the finished artwork will result in a file we can easily work with, and a beautiful print you will love.  Most individuals don’t work with digital graphics on a professional basis and do not have much familiarity with more advanced programs such as Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, or CorelDraw.  This is the reason novice friendly programs such as Canva have become so popular.  In this article, we will use Canva as our example for setting up artwork, and especially larger prints such as banners and bulletin boards.

When you first begin your project in Canva, you will select Create and choose Custom Size.  You will need to know the finished size for the banner or bulletin board.  However, if it is too large, Canva will not allow you to enter the actual finished dimensions since the maximum size in inches allowed by Canva is approximately 83”(W)x33”(H). Therefore, you may need to scale the size down proportionally to maintain the proper aspect ratio.

Let’s look at a simple example, if I need a 4 ft x 8 ft banner (48” x 96”), I will not be able to enter these exact dimensions in Canva, but since I know that my banner is twice as wide as it is high, I can scale my design area down in Canva by a ratio of 1:2 to get a size that will work.  I still want to keep my design area as large as possible, but as long as the width is twice as long as the height, it will work fine when resized for printing.  Therefore, for my 48” x 96” banner I might create a design area in Canva that is 30” x 60” or even 35” x 70”.   Either of these dimensions will work since the ratio is 1:2, and they are still large enough to provide a high resolution when resized for printing.   Just remember, you will need to change the units to inches (in) before entering the dimensions since the default unit in Canva is pixels (px).

If you end up with a more complicated ratio than the one in our example, you might choose to use a ratio calculator like this one on calculator.net (Ratio Calculator). The calculator is simple to use - just enter any three dimensions and it will calculate the last one for you.  If I needed a 40” x 70” banner, I might enter the following information into the ratio calculator:

When I enter Calculate it will provide me with the dimension for the width:

Now, I can simply go in and enter the scaled dimensions (30” x 52.5”) into the proper fields in Canva.  Once the design is finished, Canva allows us to increase the image resolution when the file is downloaded to compensate for any degradation due to enlarging the image for print. 

Another convenience about using Canva is that you can simply share your finished design with us and we can easily do the rest to bring it to life in a beautifully printed banner, bulletin board or other project of your choice.  We’re excited to work with you on your next project!