Do you really need to print at 300dpi?

The short answer is no, according to Doug Downey [The Image Factory, Stratford, Ontario, Canada]. Doug says that many sign designers are working with files that are much larger than they need. Printing at 150dpi will deliver an image that is hard to tell from a 300dpi version—and the file sizes are smaller.

“At 150dpi your files are much smaller,” says Doug, “and they tend to print much more smoothly. File size is the big benefit for us. The output looks almost identical to 300dpi and keeping the file sizes manageable makes it worthwhile.

“I’ve never had a client mention the resolution of our prints. To the naked eye, there’s no difference between a 300dpi print and a 150dpi version. We did a test once, printing the same file at 300dpi, then 150, 100, 80 and 72. At 100dpi, you could see the loss of resolution. The image got a little fuzzy. Below 100dpi it was even more obvious.