That time a client's logo print came out looking like a blurry mess

Honestly, I was at a print shop in Austin last Tuesday getting proofs for a big banner. The file looked fine on my screen but when it came off the press, the logo was pixelated and the text was smudged. I had to call the client and explain we needed to redo the artwork from scratch, which cost us an extra 4 hours and $150 in rush fees. It taught me to always double check the resolution before sending anything to production. Has anyone else had a print job go sideways because of a bad source file?

3 comments

3 Comments

charles44216d ago

Man that's rough. I feel your pain on the resolution thing, it's one of those lessons you learn the hard way and never forget. Had a similar issue with a business card run last spring where the vector looked perfect in Illustrator but the printer kept saying the file was corrupted. Ended up having to rebuild the whole thing from the original sketch file and pay for overnight shipping to hit the client's deadline. The worst part is explaining to the client that the mistake was on our end and watching them try to hide their frustration. Now I've got a little checklist I keep on my desk that includes checking DPI and color mode before I even think about hitting send. It's annoying but it beats the alternative of eating a rush fee and looking unprofessional.

grace60713d ago

That part about explaining the mistake to the client hits hard. Did you end up losing that client or did they stick with you after you owned up to it? I've always wondered how much goodwill you actually buy by being honest about stuff like that versus just eating the cost and saying it was a printer error. Your checklist sounds smart though, I've got a similar one taped to my monitor for export settings now because I learned that lesson with a brochure that came back looking like a pixelated mess. What else is on your checklist besides DPI and color mode?

chen.adam15d ago

Yeah @charles442 I think you might be mixing up DPI with PPI there. DPI is for print output, PPI is for screen stuff. Not trying to be that guy but it's a common mixup.