Recently I was approached by a friend who asked me what is the best way to make the final delivery, and I thought this information could be something that a lot of my fellow designers who are starting up onto their freelance journey can use for themselves.
The one thing that creates the distinction between an amateur designer and a professional one is also the way he or she delivers. I know in the beginning you have no idea how to do things and what is the right way. It was the same for me when I started my journey as a freelance graphic designer. And it took me years to figure out the better way to make the final delivery. The way you make your final delivery can make your clients experience even better because the better the delivery is the less will be the confusion. It also makes the experience of your client good even after you are not interacting, which will help you to retain your clients more.
I send a few files to the client, One will be a 150 dpi JPEG format in the high resolution for him to see the logo (works well when he want to zoom in to see the details)and probably even use it if he wants, second is transparent PNG format 150 dpi (72 dpi if he want it for his website and size in pixels can be different according to the logo) that he can use, the third file will be a vector format that can be used to print the file in any size. And you can choose any file format like SVG, EPS, AI or PDF. I personally use PDF and AI format to send to my client. These files can be scaled to any size without losing any quality of the graphic, the reason I send a pdf file along with the AI file is because sometimes clients might face a little problem handling the AI file in that case they can use pdf file otherwise a lot of times when the client was acting like the world is going to end when he couldn’t open the AI file and he thought how will he be able to manage without a source file, pdf file came to the rescue.
JPEG Files
I just googled JPEG and result sounds hilarious to me, Joints Photographic Experts group. I am trying to imagine the look on my client’s face when I would ask him I am going to mail you Joints Photographic Experts Group file, I am sure he would think that I am a designer who has come from the future and he would be expecting something that he had never seen in the world ever. I am sure that I have learnt it in my design college but I erased that information right after that examination was over LOL.
Basically in layman’s language (Which I am, totally, cuz I don’t get into such advance details and retain it because it is kind of useless to me) It is a compressed image format. For me, the main purpose of the file for me is giving a file format to the client that he can open anytime and see what I have delivered. PDF might take time to open and AI we can only assume. I have got texts from my clients a lot of times asking what the heck should I do with AI and how do I open it, after which I explain that this file is for printing purposes which can be scaled to any size, from as little as a small sticker to a huge hoarding.
PNG Files
It stands for Portable Network Graphic (scoff* Googled), you must be thinking Even I can google what it stands for, I am just trying to save up your time from all the effort from opening a new tab to writing it and then waiting for the result to show up for a second.
It is important because this file format is lossless compression, and It is best for the online use of the graphics and image but makes sure that it is a 72 dpi RGB format if you intend to do so. You can use this format if you want the background to be transparent. The client can use that png format easily to place over the images which can come handy for the clients is they do not know how to handle the open file and they want to place the image over somewhere quickly.
AI & PDF Files
I send AI and PDF file formats to make sure that the client can use these files in case he or she wants to print their logo on the large size. No matter what the size is the graphic would never lose any quality or look disrupted. I don’t send a pdf format when the client himself has asked for AI and I know he would know how to see it and open it, I had a lot of clients asking me I cannot open the AI file even after I saved it to be compatible to be opened in pdf readers. But still, they faced the issue (my guess is they do not even have any pdf reader in the computer but HOW…????? (*ahem..ahem not ranting just wondering*). So the pdf file is just to save them from the stress of not being able to open an AI format. It saves me from headache too, later when I am working on another project my client doesn’t come knocking on the door asking for the vector file, and I would have to ask what was the logo that I designed for you and all the effort in finding it from a folder filled with 100’s of folders of my previous projects, literally 100’s from past few years of my freelancing. *LIGHT BULB I should probably reorder my files and put them in different folders named by the year they were created in and I would suggest you should start doing it from now. See I just saved you from a lot of trouble of digging through files to find the right one. Otherwise, it would have come to you at some point in the future when you would be writing about some informative blog for your audience. So, you’re welcome! 😛
One more thing if there is something that you might want to add to this, or you think something that there are some files that can be better do suggest in the comments and help our community to get better.
If you have some other question in your mind just leave it in the comment section and I would love to answer it for you if that is something I can help you out with.
