Okay, I just played around on Vistaprint with your image and it is accounting for the bleed. The only way get the full image as laid out is to use the Scale to Fit option which will give you a white border all around your card. If the toes, ankles and flower to ‘bleed’ off the edge, extend the image so what you actually want to see is within the safety line (the dotted rectangle) on the template.Anything outside that is cut off. The only way around this is to use Scale to Fit and manually trim off the extra white area at home.
Fortunately, you’ve done a good job with the text layout keeping it ~1/4" away from the edge. If it was closer to the safety area it may get cut off.
Kerning is the spacing between letters. For your purposes you can ignore it and just accept the defaults for your installed fonts.
I don’t use Vistaprint but it sounds like it involves on-line manipulation of your image. I don’t work that way.
lingly and I both mentioned “bleed” and he/she gave you a more detailed description. Sounds like you and Vistaprint are working at cross purposes to achieve full bleed. The right way to do this is to create a new/modified version of your PSD file, with “canvass size” large enough to allow for trim. Printplace has downloadable templates for all common “final result” sizes. Manipulate your art and text within the “safe margins” of the template. That way there’s no white borders and nothing important will be trimmed off (like a word or part of one near an edge).
When you’re happy with the appearance of your card, SAVE it as a PSD so you can manipulate it further in the future if desired. Then also SAVE AS a PDF. Send the PDF not the PSD (nor a JPG either) to the print house for printing.
Publisher is bundled with some versions of MS Office.
We’ve used it at work for twenty years to produce flyers and pamphlets. It’s easy to learn and gives great results.
We have a professional print shop at work. IIRC Publisher can send a document directly to local print shops. I’m pretty sure Publisher links to Fed Ex Office for commercial printing.
Don’t worry about Publisher or any other page layout program. You’ve done a really good job with Photoshop other than accounting for the additional image info necessary for the bleed. Follow CannyDen’s instructions and change your canvas size to 5 1/8" x 8 1/8" or 5 1/4" x 8 1/4, then scale your background image(s) layer to fill the extra space. Leave your text layers alone and don’t scale, because sometimes scaled (i.e. not font size changes) get fuzzy because they’re treated as bitmap images, not actual fonts. Now when you use the VistaPrint or any other layout template, you’ll see the “full” image, less the 1/8’ to 1/4" sacrificed for the bleed.
If you’re really anal about keeping the exact image (i.e. the bottom petals of the flower and ends of the toes), you’ll have different images with an area you do don’t mind having cut off or clone the bottom and top of the images knowing they’ll get cut off. You have to be extremely careful to perfectly close the original image as when the cards, the edges may but as much as 1/8" too high or too low. Because the cards are cut from much larger sheets or rolls of cardstock.
I know Vistaprint can handle bleeds because I have printed many postcards using 6 original images, all bleeds. I believe they have a live tech help phone number during business hours; don’t overlook that.
Exactly as lingyi said. You’ve got a fine design in Photoshop, which can produce quality output. Use it.
I’m not going to bother investigating how Vistaprint interfaces. I’m already familiar with Printplace and it works extremely well.
Create your oversized image as above and save it as a pdf. Go to Printplace dot com. Select from the menus the type (card?) and size (5 x 8?) and quantity. And other options like gloss or matt, single or double sided, and turnaround time (quicker costs more). Upload your pdf and select an electronic proof (free). You’ll get your image superimposed onto the proper template showing the image, the theoretical cut lines, and the “safety zone” within which all important elements of your image should be contained. They will flag any errors in layout and any other problems noted (such as poor image quality overall or in specific elements). You can correct any issues on your original psd. Then upload your replacement pdf for review. When you’re happy with the proof you approve it. Then sit back and wait for the product to arrive.
You didn’t ask for copy editing, but that’s what I do, so here’s my edited version, which corrects a few punctuation problems, tightens up the text, and improves readability (IMNSHO).
=========
Professional foot care and below-the-knee assessment services for all age groups, with a focus on health education, infection control, and wound care.
[ul]
[li]Trimming and filing toenails [/li][li] Reducing thick toenails[/li][li] Reducing calluses and corns[/li][li] Specializing in elder foot care[/li][/ul]
Our care is limited to the treatment of toenails, corns, and calluses. We may recommend a visit to your podiatrist or medical doctor if we discover other problems.
Care is by appointment only, and in the comfort of your home.
=========
Finally, move the bullets a little closer to the text: about one em width.
NB: I want 5x7 cards, since that’s what they have.
I don’t see a Scale to Fit option. I was hoping there was one, but it’s not on the page. Vistaprint gave me this link for me to design my postcard.
As I said, I don’t know how to use Photoshop. I don’t see where I can add 'canvass size" to the image.
I tried Printplace, and it is also cropping the image, with no option to resize it to fit.
I agree with ‘tightening up the text’. Originally, it was ‘tightened up’; but Mrs. L.A. insisted upon the full text.
Vistaprint will be happy to ‘design’ the postcards – for a sawbuck. I don’t think I should have to pay them to design a card I’ve already designed. They should have the tools on their site so that people can fit the images.
I didn’t only cut, I also restructured for clarity, and improved consistency. E.g., the text referred to “we” or “our” in most places, but “I” at the end. I also fixed punctuation: commas changed, hyphens inserted, bullets moved, etc.
Sorry you’re not having success with Printplace. But as I said above, if your proof is unacceptable (you say it’s trimmed but I’m sure it’s actually just the wrong size - the proofing process doesn’t modify an image) you have to modify it in your original layout. You can’t do it in Printplace. And you seemed to say that the original layout is in Photoshop. So that’s where the modification must be made.
I’m not gonna thumb-type instructions for setting up or modifying a canvas size in Photoshop but google can be your friend. It’s not hard. I’ll be happy to offer tips and suggestions but I’m not gonna recreate a complete How To. There’s plenty of those on line.
But otherwise you’ll just have to pay someone to perform those services for you. That’s what ‘graphic designers’ do for a living. If someone will do it for a sawbuck you’re getting it really cheap.
1/8" of your your card will be cut off, but there’s nothing critical there.You may have to move your text to the right if it’s too close to the edge, doesn’t look like it though.
You shouldn’t need to have to resize the canvas, but if you do, here’s a tutorial. It’s for Photoshop Elements, but it’s the same for the full Photohop.
Someone on fiverr.com will likely do it of $5, but resizing the canvas is so easy (see my link above) and a critical part of using Photoshop, which as I think about it, you’re likely using Photoshop Elements instead of the full Photoshop?
Also, been thinking about this, but you may want to consider going down to 4’ x 6". The reasons are:
It can be mailed at the postcard rate, $0.35 vs $0.50 for a 5"x7"
You can fit two standing vertically in a a letter size brochure holder, making for a neater presentation. A stack o 5"x7" cards laid horizontally or vertically, will quickly become a mess as people take them.
5"x7" is kind a bastard size. Yes, you get more advertising space, but watch what people do with it. 99% of the time it’s folded in half because it’s too big to fit in a pocket or purse and once it’s folded, it far more likely to just be tossed since the info isn’t quickly visible. Out of sight, out of mind.
Edit: The 4" x 6" card has to 4.12" x 6.12 to allow for the bleed. Also, the link I gave you just takes you back to the design page. You have to click on the Product Specifications link and a new window will pop up, then you click on Product Specs and choose your card size.
The image linked is a flattened .jpg. The text has been rasterized. As Pork Rind stated, as long as it’s sitting on it’s own layer(s) as text (in a .psd or .pdf) it will be fine.
All true; it just concerns me slightly that if the process allowed aliased text rasterization at all, then there may be other problems in the process. But I don’t know anything about Johnny L.A.'s workflow. He mentioned that text was a separate layer, but I don’t know if it was confirmed that it remained as a text or vector layer as opposed to a raster layer.
AFAIK, the only way text is rasterized in Photoshop is if the layer is flattened to another raster layer or the entire image flattened. I used to do all my design work in Photoshop before I ever touched Illustrator and the print shops never had an issue with my submitting a layered .psd.
Also, an image on even an 8K monitor isn’t as sharp as a 300 dpi print. Any print shop worth considering will tell you that any digital proof they provide isn’t anywhere near the sharpness and clarity of the actual print. On the other hand, at least my eyes are far more forgiving of an onscreen image than a printed image. I once created a logo for a local politician and since I was working in Photoshop, a portion of the logo had a few extra pixels that shouldn’t have been there. Since I didn’t (and still don’t) know how to create a vector image, when the logo was changed to vector by the printer, there was this few pixel “thorn” sticking up. For the rest of the campaign, whenever I saw the logo on bumper stickers and signs, I cringed because that “thorn” (which no one else would ever notice) jumped out at me! To this day, I won’t admit that I created the logo.
