I hope yall been doing good. I am an amateur in Graphic Designing started a while ago. I have been doing a few projects for my clients and I encountered an issue while doing so.
I had this issue where I designed an 8x11in sheet for my client in Canva from an existing template which was 8x11in. I sent it to him to check it if he wanted any changes or anything. He really liked everything except for when he printed the design it was 7.5x6 in on paper.
How is this even possible? When I selected the right width and height in Canva. I am so confused and came here to ask if anybody has an idea what is going on. I am going crazy because I couldn’t find the answer to it on the Internet.
I hope you guys don’t hate my silly question but I am noob
Canva.com is one of the reasons why I would not recommend young people enter this field unless they’re extremely passionate about it and exceptionally talented.
Canva is a do-it-yourself, drop-in-drag website that claims to eliminate the need for hiring graphic designers. It’s an exaggerated claim, but not far off the mark if one’s needs are modest.
Using Canva involves selecting one of their tens of thousands of templates, adding various pre-made elements to that template, selecting one of their typefaces, then adding whatever words you want.
It’s very easy, requires few design skills or the usual software. The results still depend on the user having at least a smidgen of taste and common sense, but are probably good enough for most low-end needs that people run across.
I’ve said this before, but unless new design students intend to specialize in high-end custom work or a hard-to-automate specialty of some sort, the medium- to low-end stuff for small clients will soon be replaced by things like Canva or whatever else will undoubtedly come along over the next few years…
As for the original poster’s question about why the Canva project is printing out at the wrong size, I honestly don’t have a clue. Sorry.
Yes, I looked it up when I had a moment. It’s a “design” and print portal. Doesn’t even look like you can send your stuff elsewhere to be printed, but hard to tell.
Now I’m really curious what was sent to the client for approval.
A screenshot? Some sort of mini jpg? Doesn’t sound like a PDF.
The website was annoyingly atrocious and did not tell me the answers, I’m guessing mostly because the people that would use Canva wouldn’t ask the questions.
It appears they convert everything to raster at 300 PPI, including text. Ugghh. Definitely not “professional print quality” or, for that matter, accurate terminology.
Thank you for the replies, everyone. I sent every single file such as JPEG, JPG, PDF, PDF Printable. I don’t know which file he printed that caused this error.
Is it because of printing the wrong file? or is there any other issue?
Canva downloads all designs using the RGB color profile. Most online print services should support printing in this format however if you need to convert your file to CMYK, download a PDF – Print file, convert it toJPG (select the “Excellent” JPG Quality option) and upload it here: Convert RGB to CMYK.
As to the answer for the OP,
Assuming the site downloads at-size artwork to all those formats, it’s probably more what setting the client has for their output program and device. It could be anything from an incompatible viewing program to improper page setup for the printer being used.
Roxor, have you tried printing any of them?
I have not tried. I haven’t got a printer at home but if you are sure that due to a wrong format it is causing the error then I will simply ask client to do print it from PDF format.
I have asked him to check it if this is the issue. Waiting for his reply. I will keep you guys updated.
How Canva handles these things is something of a mystery to me since I’ve never had a need for Canva. From what I understand, Canva converts everything to a 300ppi raster format and bundles it up in a PDF before delivering it to their customers for printing. Is this right? Do you have this PDF? Is this the PDF you sent to the person who is printing it out and getting the weird size?
If so, I’d be totally willing to take a look at it to see what the problem might be. At the very least, I could likely tell you whether or not it was the right resolution/dimensions/proportions, which would narrow the problem down to either your client or something going on with Canva.
Thank you for replying, really appreciate it. He has yet to answer to my message. Once he does, I will tell you guys if it was problem with printing a wrong format.
I am really thankful for your help, everyone. Means a lot. I sent him all different formats including the PDF printable. I didn’t know that this could be a problem if someone prints a wrong format. I am new to this but I would keep this in mind next time.
The fun thing with some PDF readers is they auto-default to “Fit to paper.”
And some desktop printers, the default is to “remember last paper setting.”
If the last thing he printed with the PDF reader was a smaller piece, like a photo maybe, the size of the next print will default to that.
The part where your client’s printout does not hold its proportions, several things could have gone wrong. He may have imported it as a .jpg into Word and inadvertently squashed it. It could have come in at some crazy pixel dimensions output by Canva. He could have opened it in Photoshop and the pixel dimensions are set to something other than square (that happens more often than it should amongst my clients…)
It’s really hard to tell without you being able to print one.
But please do let us know what the answer is. It may help others.
Just an aside, hiring a designer without at least a desktop inkjet is like hiring a carpenter without a hammer… Some tools are required for the trade.
My HP does this.If you are printing from a flash as apposed to the PC and it defaults and resizes to print from the photo paper tray which only holds smaller size paper regardless of the file format. It is a pain in the ()^&)^&^&*^ to switch without moving the file to the PC.
I am really grateful for your replies and help! It means a lot! You guys were right. He printed a wrong format which was causing the error. He printed the PDF format and it didn’t reduce the file size.
Again, it means a lot! Thank you so much. Without you guys I would have been still searching for answers!
