Techniques for setting Illustrator and Photoshop files for sharp prints with sufficient resolution for printing. How large can pixel images of various sizes be printed without breaking? Be more confident when printing large posters, printing stickers, and adjusting images for sharpness in Illustrator for high-resolution print jobs.
If it's small, click to open the image in a new Tab, please.
The question is, do we really need to be serious about finding high-quality images with pixel sizes according to the table to adjust images for sharpness in Illustrator? It's not always fixed; it can be 20-30% smaller than the table and still print posters and stickers well. But please, don't use small images downloaded from the internet. We might see them clearly on screen, but they will definitely pixelate when printed as large posters. Be prepared for that, and it's not good for image copyright issues if we use them incorrectly. The best advice is to use royalty-free images. Use the "Filter" command to search for high image sizes on Google, or if you want peace of mind and don't have high-quality photos taken with your own camera, buying images is an inexpensive option, such as shutterstock.com
However, the pixel table above is best suited for the closest viewing distance to achieve the highest quality. We can use the following table as a reference when the media is used for longer viewing distances, which is often for large print jobs or large billboards where viewers are not looking at close range. It will show that the image can still be clearly seen without needing to compress the resolution as much as for close distances. You can refer to the resolution values for each viewing distance in this table.
| Viewing Distance | Resolution |
| 0.6 meters / 2 feet | 300 ppi |
| 1 meter / 3.3 feet | 180 ppi |
| 1.5 meters / 5 feet | 120 ppi |
| 2 meters / 6.5 feet | 90 ppi |
| 3 meters / 10 feet | 60 ppi |
| 5 meters / 16 feet | 35 ppi |
| 10 meters / 33 feet | 18 ppi |
| 15 meters / 50 feet | 12 ppi |
| 50 meters / 160 feet | 4 ppi |
| 60 meters / 200 feet | 3 ppi |
| 200 meters / 650 feet | 1 ppi |
The advantages of using Illustrator for graphic design and editing AI files for print media instead of Photoshop are numerous. It's recommended to use Illustrator because creating various graphic lines is based on the Vector system. You have complete freedom to scale print jobs later without worrying about file corruption, and the file size is significantly smaller than using Photoshop.
Highly recommended for new graphic designers learning to master Illustrator for designing various advertising media. You should only use Photoshop for image editing, and then import high-quality images, as suggested in the table above, to arrange the presentation components in Illustrator instead. This will result in better, more efficient work!
How Photoshop differs from Illustrator
✅ If you've designed beautiful graphics and need to print them, we recommend using inkjet printing, large poster printing, or high-quality sticker printing with genuine 6-color inks. This provides a wider color gamut+++, ensuring beautiful, realistic, and satisfying results.
