5 Types Of Bad Images That Should Not Go In Your Postcards

Whether they are being printed for business or personal reasons, each kind of printing deserves to have good images on its cover. In this special article, I will talk about five types of bad images to put into your card. Hopefully, this should help you avoid those bad images habits and make sure you choose the right ones that are appropriate for production.

1. Web images – Web images are one of the worst decisions to put into your card printing. Not only are web images typically fuzzy and in a low resolution, they of course are not originally your own and can sometimes have complicated licenses for use. That is why it is never a good idea to use images from the internet. You can use them for inspiration or you can use them as accents, but it is still better to use your own scanned or digital images for printing.

2. Phone camera images – Another bad choice for images are images from your camera phone. I know many amateurs are now using their phones as their cameras. When creating a personal custom postcard, they tend to use images from their phone thinking that their 3-6 megapixel camera phones can take it. Well, while sometimes it does pan out, camera phone images are still typically bad for printing. Most are rendered in very low resolution, which is not right. Moreover, the color values as well as the pixel details are not as accurate, clean and clear, as one would like for mass-producing prints. So never ever, use images from your phone.

3. Picture collages with no integration – Some people also think that a collage of pictures is good. Now, sometimes this can work, but most if the time, if you just laid out your images in a grid format with no special integration, your color postcards can really look bad. Not only will they look overly constructed, people will also actually not look good enough for each image in that collage. So try to avoid grid pattern picture collages with no integration. Always try to merge your different design elements seamlessly for the best results.

4. Clip-arts and cheap graphics – Also of course, never try to use clip-arts and cheap graphics. I know that there are tons of great - looking clip-arts, but you should know that in most cases, these are not as good when they are printed. They make your outputs look amateurish and cheap, and they will actually look like other cheap postcards out there that use the same built in clip-arts and cheap graphics. So never ever, use these types of graphics. It is best to create your own.

You should avoid these types of images. Believe me. You will be doing yourself a favor if you avoid all these. You will be on your way to better and more impressive as long as you choose the right high quality, highly optimized and high impact images. So remember all the tips above and be aware of them.