Importance Of Image Editing In Print Media

Images are very much important for any kinds of business. Why? Because we live in a visual world. Here content like images and videos attract people’s attention than text-based contents. It is obviously true on the web. Various statistics and other well-documented research show that images receive higher engagement rates on social networks. From media to e-commerce sites, images are the key player to boost up your business. 

 

Know about Print media

Traditional or printed magazines are laid out as 8.5” × 11”. Magazines for the websites come in a variety of sizes, but are usually smaller (6” × 8.5”) and offer more interactivity through image galleries and videos. The size mentioned above may vary based on different categories of magazines. It is a common size.

If your magazine needs some extraordinary and gorgeous image, you will have to consult with experienced image manipulation service providing company.  Image quality should be higher than it would be for a newsletter or newspaper. You can use a thick, glossy paper stock. Magazines are often folded and stapled, getting the images on the pages in the right order can be a complex task.

 

Purpose of your magazine

There are many magazines all over the world with various topics or subjects. Different types of magazines have different purposes. Some magazines are heavily informational. Some focus on entertainment.

When a graphic designer performs the image editing works for a magazine, s/he must know the goals of that magazine. This will help to give the best output for clients. 

To inform others—Articles and related images should add value to the reader. The text of the magazine should be accurate, thoroughly researched, and well-written. Images must be relevant and well-edited in an ethical way.

To entertain people—People want to buy and read print and digital magazines because they want to be entertained. A combination of photography, graphic design, and interesting plus helpful articles can make a great magazine.

To influence to buy—Magazines and catalogs are great showcases for goods and services. Audiences can be directed immediately to the point of sale if magazine/ brochure/ catalogs images are appealing or mouthwatering. 

To make a content viral—A magazine articles may go viral with the help of an image.

 

What Application can be used to Design and Create Images for Print?

Adobe Photoshop

The most common and most widely used image editing software for both print and the web is Adobe Photoshop. Photoshop uses the RGB color mode as default, but it has a lot of options for converting to CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) and shows a preview of design before preparing the final output.  However, Photoshop documents are usually created in a raster format. Such images can be printed on a small flyer or catalogues but they look unusual when printed on a large billboard.

 

Adobe Illustrator

Adobe Illustrator, another image oriented software can be a better alternative for design and print as it is a vector-based graphics software. Images created using this application will scale much better than raster images created by Photoshop. These images are termed as vector images. Billboards or other large-scale media use vector images. Vector images are pixilated from its raster form via Illustrator.  Adobe Illustrator defaults to the CMYK color mode, which means that any design created in the application will be perfect for sending to a professional printing company without any color correction at all.

So, Adobe Photoshop is often the application of choice for digital media, whereas Illustrator is often used in printed media. If you've created your designs in the RGB color mode, you need to remember to convert the design to CMYK before sending it off to print. You may also need to color correct the design manually by adjusting the cyan, magenta, yellow and key color variations.

If you like to design in CMYK and intend to use your design for large printed media (e.g. billboards), Adobe Illustrator or a similar vector-based application might be the best option.

 

Importance of image editing in print media

Every one of the readers, subscribers, buyers or those who take the magazine in their hands glance the magazine through the images. In that glancing moment to attract the reader, photos are very much helpful. If a photo is interesting and attractive enough, the reader will attach to it and read the caption. If they feel interested, they will read the title of the article. If the starting of the article is catching enough the reader will read all of it. Statistics show that only 5% of readers read an article, but almost all the photos get noticed.

The basic reasoning for the above situation is that people are busy and fundamentally they are not willing to hard work. We seek information via the way which is the most effortless. The photos are of primary importance when selling magazines. The photos play the most important role in magazine marketing.

One of the most common questions during photo editing magazines is how much image editing is considered as too much. Luckily the answer is easy-"it depends". Unfortunately, when we say "it depends", it means there is no bright line to help photographers and graphic designers answers the question.

But nothing to worry. The following general concepts should help you determine how much image editing is too much. Publications such as newspapers, text books, and magazines convey newsworthy information such as current events, travel, education, the arts, history, and entertainment. For different sectors, image editing strategies will be different. 

Most newspapers and some magazines do not accept images that have been changed in an extensive way and only allow minor adjustments like contrast and color correction. Adding or deleting anything from an image is strictly forbidden. An example of such magazine is National Geographic.

Some other magazines typically do not have restrictions on removing distracting objects from an image, drastically changing the image's color balance to create a special look, or even adding elements to enhance a picture's visual appeal. 

When a graphic designer or graphic designer company works for such printing companies, they have to work according to the guideline of their client’s i.e. magazine authority.