Nicholas J DeSciose

I have had this problem. A lot of people are stuck in traditional sizes. 8 x 10. Their minds just don’t seem to understandThe new format, even though it’s probably 10 years old maybe 20 years I would like to give you an interesting example. A young lady print rep Looking at a beautiful reproduction of a soft focus image. Said you count possibly use this because it’s out of focus Keep in mind she’s looking at a reproduction

jrm21

It's entirely possible the printer is not printing at exactly 8.5 x 11" - which would really be at least 8.75 x 11.25 when bleed (i.e. "edge-to-edge") is included.

Letter size is not a very efficient size for most commercial printers, whether working sheetfed or web presses. Someone not involved in the industry will often refer to jobs as 8-1/2 x 11 or letter-sized (many of my clients do), when the actual piece is a little smaller. Printers will always indicate the actual job size on quotes and material specs, but that doesn't stop people from making the letter size reference for simplicity.

drucker Loc: Oregon

I fully retired about a year ago after 60+ years in the printing industry, most of it in prepress where dealing with photographs was a daily occurrence.

First let's deal with a couple of statements -- "enlarge the 8 by 10" OR "reduce the 8 by 12". Unless the rules of math and ratios are suspended, not allowing for bleeds, the 8" dimension of BOTH will require an enlargement of 106.25% with the 8x10 needing 110% to achieve the 11" finished size.

As to "why," my best guess is that 8x10 is more closely proportional to an 8½x11 than the 8x12 allowing the photographer to easily visualize the finished cropping. Not considering the bleed trim requirements, after enlargement the 8x10 would only require .3" of vertical cropping compared to the 8x12 requiring 1.75" horizontal cropping after enlargement to achieve the 8½x11 finished size.

Things have changed greatly over the years with digital providing its own set of communication challenges. Earlier for high quality publications we required b/w prints to be within 75% of final reproduction size or larger and transparencies for color work to be accompanied by a print of approximately final print size. Today the requirement is usually stated in minimum pixels (usually 300) per lineal inch of final reproduction size. e.g. 2400x3000 minimum pixels for a 8x10 image.

One of the challenges is that our label products usually need the customer's company logo. Often the logo arrives as a photocopy or screen print or a low resolution JPG screenshot. That results in our request for original art, digital vector art, or if appropriate, a high resolution TIFF file with a 300 dpi or greater resolution. More than once what came back was the JPG screenshot converted to TIFF and the dpi upped to 300 dpi in some photo editing program with the customer not having a clue why the new file was no better than the first one!

Dennis833 Loc: Australia

I have been selling two calendars commercially for the past 22 years. With my A4 calendar 210x297mm the page images have to be cropped to measure 213x 303mm. All of the calendar pages are placed in the page layout program to allow for a 3mm trim off both the left and right sides as well as the top of each image. But the front and back covers are placed in the page layout so that 3mm is cut off the bottom and each side. These settings are standard for all full bleed printing on a cmyk press world wide.

jrm21

Except the US. Here we have a 1/8" standard bleed. :) <jk>

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

They could put the spiral binding in that 3/8" border... That would avoid cropping the image, although realistically, they have to leave a little bleed on the other edges.

There is not much difference in aspect ratio between 8x10 and 8.5x11, so if the composition is a little loose, it should be okay.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Boris77

Who said a calendar is 8.5 x 11 inches?
I have over a dozen free 2021 calendars as premiums from my donations.
EVERY one of them is 10.5 inches wide! The panel height varies from 8 to 8.5 inches.
8x10 inches is a very good proportion to fit the standard cut, as well as a simple figure to measure.
The KISS principle.
Boris

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Might be the one he is getting??????

weedhook

My guess is that the customer does not understand that.

weedhook

Thanks for the response. When I measure the calendar with a ruler, a page measures 8 1/2 x 11.

weedhook

Thanks for the response. I see your points.

weedhook

Thanks for your response.

weedhook

Thanks for your response. By the way, I really enjoy most of your posts. Very informative.

weedhook

Thanks for the response. By the way, the calendar is 8 1/2 x 11. I measured last years, but perhaps they are going to change it for 2021.