Checklist

What you will need?

Digital images are the most effective way of transferring what you want to convey into a widely distributable format.

To start using digital images you will get them from either a:

• Digital image obtained from a digital camera or mobile, or a shared online source, or
• Printed image or transperancy (slide) to be scanned or photographed

You should think about your position on copyright issues here. If the image is not yours, you should ask permission to use it or try to find a copyright free image (see more on this in the section on sharable images).

Once you have an image on your computer using one of the above methods, you will need the following:

• Photo editing software such as GIMP to process the images
• Desktop publishing tools such as Scribus or Inkscape or web-design software such as NvU, Kompozer or Wordpress to incorporate the images into your media project
• People with basic computer skills to help with the above
• Internet access to download, share and upload graphics
• A printer, or access to suitable printers for a fee

Printing graphics

• When printing graphics, you need to pay attention to your resolution (“dots-per-inch” or DPI), photo size, and whether you are using an RGB (red-green-blue) image or a CMYK (cyan-magenta-yellow-black) image, this may greatly effect the quality of the image.
• CMYK and RGB are two different systems of working with colour.
• Cyan-Magenta-Yellow-Black are the four colours used to print a colour image. Each one absorbs part of the light reflected from the page, using what is called as a “subtractive process.”. This is really important to know about as if you are printing an image with a professional printer, they may ask for the images in this format.
• Red-Green-Blue, on the other hand, is used for computer monitors or TVs. RGB adds red, green and blue light to a black background and so is called an “additive process.” * Don’t assume your image will look the same in print: There is almost always a difference between what you can produce on a computer screen and how it is actually printed.
• Get the paper size accurately if you’re planning to get the publication done at the printers. This helps to ensure that the display of graphics work out as intended. For books, make sure you get the spine-size accurately. (A hardcover or hard-bound book has rigid covers and the place where the stitching meets the cover is called the spine.

To figure out where images will be the most effective you must seek
feedback on how people respond to your printed work: Do they read it?
If not, what do they find unattractive about it? Do they read some of
it but skip over other parts?

Whether to use graphics or not also depends on what graphics are
available, and if they are available in the format you plan to publish
in. You must consider the following:

• Size
• Colour
• Paper to be used
• Printer’s equipment
• Will adding graphics cause delays?
• Will adding graphics hike up costs?