Life with Microsoft Word
Ok, a designer's nightmare:
I just designed letterhead for my client and now she has informed me that she wants to utilize the letterhead in only a digital format. She has insisted that she wants me to make the letterhead into Jpegs so she can insert them into Microsoft Word. She them makes PDFS of her contracts and letters and emails them out. However, I am sure that some of her clients print them out on the other end.
Seeing as this is how she does things, I want to make it work for her. I have experimented with dropping the header and footer Jpegs into Word, but when I print them out, the resolution is horrible. My native file is an illustrator file, of which I am exporting the Jpegs from. I have tried making the letterhead a "watermark," but the resolution is still bad.
Does anyone have any thoughts on how to do this the right way?
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memories..
I had this problem some few years back. trying to remember the solution, but i'm curious, does MSWord still not yet accept PNG? if so, i find those far better then JPEG.
With that said, my client was an environmentally friendly architect who HATED printing stuff other then production drawings. His portfolio was printed on REALLY recycled paper (you could see the grain in the paper from the paper pulp).. anyways.. I had made him a shit quality JPG to use in word, he'd then export to PDF where he'd merge ontop a PDF version of the letter head that had some transparency to it. the shitty JPG was just used as a sort of placeholder. It wasn't easy, but it worked and he just got used to that being one step in the process.
I will give them credit though, they would barely even have manufacturers binders in the office, there was SOO little waste there, ALOT of good recycling, and some REALLY interesting projects. too bad when it came to their logo and letterhead they were so dead set on ugly ass designs and that i was in need of paying some bills and couldn't argue. lol...
let us know if you find a solution better then this one. (which after 5 years, i HOPE there is one)
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Architectural Technician - Multimedia Designer
www.ArchMedia.us
Not sure which version of
Not sure which version of Illustrator you are using, but in CS2 when you save there is an option "save for Microsoft Office" (at least in the Windows version there is, I haven't looked for it on my Mac). I don't know if this is any different than saving it as PNG but perhaps that option will help.
Just tried displaying PNG in Word
I have Word 2007 on a Vista machine, and it does accept PNG files.
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Yes, the PNG worked
But when I print it out or make a PDF from that Word Doc... the resolution is horrible. Thoughts?
studio shanda
Have you tried placing
Have you tried placing 300dpi jpgs?
Another option, if she has Acrobat Pro on her pc, is to create an editable pdf template. She'd just need to save out web ready files from that hi res acrobat/pdf file.
This article might help you. It links to a full description of how to make word letterhead templates.
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Powerpoint is not a design application
Thanks for the link. I will read
I tried placing 300 dpi Jpegs (that was my first solution.) But if I try and place anything larger that 72 dpi into Word, it shows up as a black box. I read in
"Word Help" that means that your images are too big for wimpy old Word to handle.
Another question to you natabasso:
I have never made an editable PDF. If I do this, how easy will this be for her to drop her Word docs into. What is the process?
studio shanda
PS. That link would not open.
studio shanda
I fixed the link, or you can
I fixed the link, or you can just click this one:
http://www.creativetechs.com/iq/create_letterhead_templates_in_ms_word.html
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Powerpoint is not a design application
Depends on the docs she's
Depends on the docs she's trying to create. It'd be easy with a letterhead, just create a template with a textbox in the middle and you're done. I can't speak to more complex documents, though. Don't want to stick my foot in my mouth. :)
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Powerpoint is not a design application
Do what the client asks
I had arguments over this exact issue and no matter how much you try to drill it in to someone's head unless they understand branding and professional business working then they'll not be persuaded.
The client is always right.
Even when they're so wrong you want a cartoon anvil to drop on them from a great height and end both your suffering.
She's making a pretty
She's making a pretty concerted effort to do so...
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Powerpoint is not a design application
Plugz...did you even read all of the posts in this thread?
Thanks natabasso....
That was the WHOLE point of this thread.... to figure out HOW to do what my client wanted. Not bitch about having to do what my client wanted.
But anyway, I was miraculously able to plug a 300 DPI Jpeg into Word, which helped, but it is still not ideal. Thanks for all your help.
studio shanda
Vector EPS
Why not convert your type to outline and save a vector EPS file in an Illustrator 8 format? Word allows you to place an EPS and produces prestine printed results.
That along with the placement trick referenced in this great tutorial did the trick.
http://creativebits.org/create_letterhead_template_ms_word