Glowing effects and gradients for trade show print

Printing and Prepress
1

Hi, I’m working on a trade show project with an L-shaped fabric media wall, 3m wide and 2.5m tall each. My design includes a glowing light effect around the product (a tech lifestyle product), created in Photoshop, saved as PSD, then imported into Illustrator for final layout. The background also includes gradients.

Years ago gradients were tricky to print due to banding risk — has that improved with modern large format printing?

Also considering a frosted glass effect with blurred background — will that translate well to fabric print?

What should I be cautious of for this kind of printing?

Thanks!

2

You’d want to check with who is printing it if they have modern large format printing.
Outline your concerns.
Show them your plans.
And work with them.

3

I’m guessing this is a pop-up type tradeshow thing? Depends on where you are getting it, like Smurf said.

I do these all the time but usually not with online vendors. I have a dedicated local guy who does this stuff. We never have issues with photoshop gradients or effects printing…with the following caveats:

  • make sure your Photoshop image is at the recommended resolution. We shoot for 100ppi on small things like this. You might go as low as 75. Over 150 is overkill.
  • make sure you follow the kit instruction template as far as bleed and safeties. Depending on what kind of fabric wall you are doing (ie how it attaches to the frame,) the stitching on the edges can be irksome if it goes through your messaging.
  • In Illustrator, be sure your Document Raster Effects Settings are set appropriately - 150ppi minimum, (or if you are working in scale for some reason, use the custom setting and do the math) This will keep your transparency effects in Illustrator at the proper resolution. Yes, Illustrator does have resolution-dependent effects (even drop shadow are rez dependent)
  • Beware of spot colors mixed with transparency effects. There are some online printers that still don’t get this right, and when it goes wrong it REALLY goes wrong. GET A PROOF. Even if it’s a soft proof (a PDF.) That way you have recourse if they mess it up.
  • While most large format vendors want native files, not PDFs, if your print source requires PDFs and you are creating this PDF yourself, Check if the vendor has job options (I’ve not found this common with online kit vendors) If not, use Press Quality and check the PDF in Acrobat. If you have transparency weirdness, try using PDF/X-1a.
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