Why 300 DPI matters, and how to check yours

The arithmetic

Effective DPI is pixels divided by printed size in inches. A 1052-pixel-wide image across an 89 mm card is 1052 ÷ (89 ÷ 25.4) = 300 DPI. Place that same image across a 297 mm poster and it drops to 90 DPI, which will look obviously soft.

This is why "high resolution" on its own means nothing. Always ask: how many pixels, at what printed width?

What each range actually looks like

Standards vary by viewing distance, which is why a billboard can get away with figures that would be unusable on a card.

• 300 DPI — the standard for anything held in the hand: cards, flyers, brochures, letterheads.
• 200 DPI — acceptable for posters viewed from a metre or more.
• 100 DPI — fine for banners and standees seen from several metres.
• Below 150 DPI on a card — visibly blurred, and we will flag it before printing.

Where low-resolution files come from

Almost always the same three places: a logo pulled from a website, an image sent over WhatsApp, or a screenshot. All three compress heavily and discard pixels.

Ask your designer for the original vector file. A logo saved as PDF, AI, EPS or SVG has no resolution at all — it is drawn from instructions rather than pixels, and prints perfectly at any size from a stamp to a hoarding.

The specifications this applies to

For reference, here is how it works out on the products this comes up on most often.

• Standard Visiting Cards — 89 × 51 mm finished, 3 mm bleed, 300 DPI minimum, from ₹2 per unit with a minimum of 100.
• Posters — 297 × 420 mm finished, 3 mm bleed, 200 DPI minimum, from ₹45 per unit with a minimum of 10.
• Flyers — 148 × 210 mm finished, 3 mm bleed, 300 DPI minimum, from ₹2.5 per unit with a minimum of 250.

Ordering

Every file is checked automatically before printing, so a mistake in any of this is caught while it can still be corrected rather than after a run is on paper.

Standard delivery is free to every PIN code in India — two working days to a metro, up to twelve to the islands — and prices include GST, so the figure on the product page is the figure charged. Add a GSTIN at checkout and the invoice carries it for input credit.

If something still looks wrong

Preflight catches size, resolution, colour mode and page count automatically, and it errs toward warning rather than refusing — a file that would print acceptably is never blocked just because it is not perfect.

What it cannot judge is whether the design says the right thing. Proofread names, phone numbers and dates with a second pair of eyes before approving, because approval is the point at which the file goes to a press and the cost of a change stops being zero.

Common questions