Just to add, as I'm sure you know, the more you compress your file the lower quality your images become but smaller the file size.

I would say as long as your portfolio is not over 4mb that should be fine. Before my website, I used to always send my PDF portfolio as an attachment. That way you don't have to worry about the file size and you know the person will definitely be able to view your work. It is just much easier and more convenient to send a link to your work. I say had/have because I haven't used/updated/edited it ever since I created my online portfolio. I had/have a 40 page PDF 'portfolio' compressed to under 4mb. Printing to PDF is not recommended if you intend to go the printers with this file - for this you'd need File Export and choose PDF (Print) It also won't include any hyperlinks or other things - it's a very vanilla pdf - very very basic.īut worth a try. Note printing to PDF will not allow transparencies in your document, so you may end up with a lot of screen only thin lines around transparent images. If the file is not for output - you might get a better Screen Only version by using the Old Fashioned 'File>Print' and choose PDF. This is a know method for backsaving to earlier versions of Indesign - but it's also a very good way to dejunkify your Indesign files with excess code.Īlso - make sure when you make the PDF you are exporting it to RGB colour space - not CMYK or a mixture of CMYK.įinally - transparencies can cause issues when viewing on screen. You can always check your document for overhead - in Acrobat 9 Advanced > PDF Optimizerįrom the opening dialog box here there's a button called 'Audit Space Usage'Īnother good way to reduce PDF overhead is to Export your Indesign file as an IDML file You'd need to make your vector artwork into Raster at the dimensions you've placed into InDesign placing them at a scale of 100%ĭrop 20 Pounds with InDesign | If you've placed Illustrations from Illustrator, that are vector - then these do not get downsampled on output. Make it as easy for them to do as possible. It's all subjective though, different people prefer different things, so whatever you do, I'd suggest you follow these rules.ĭon't ask people to take unnecessary steps to to view your work. More than that and you can start to bore people. With regards to pages, 12–15 pages of very good work is preferred. Nobody's going to waste their time and paper printing off your portfolio, they'll just view it on screen and decide whether they hit 'reply' or 'delete' on your email. I'd send a 72 dpi version, or more likely just a link to my online portfolio, they can view this anywhere then. You don't want to be hogging a designer's time or CPU with a massive opening time. Keeping it small ensures that it gets through, and that it opens quickly. Obviously, nowadays, bandwidth isn't as much of a concern but a lot of agencies, particularly larger ones, probably have a limit to the size of files that they can receive. I've been told by a few designers that they prefer to receive PDF attachments that are 4 to 5mb in total. So anyone know a great deal about this? Or just want to say what you do yourself for your PDFs would be great to know! But is file size in these units even a consideration these days? Do you prefer to email as an attachment or just link to an online location for your PDF?Īlso in terms of PDF portfolio structure, how many pages do you go for? I've seen some of the top illustrator PDFs at around 50 pages, but equally also at 12 pages. Going down to 'smallest file possible' in indesign makes a horrible quality but small file size PDF! In between I can get a 120dpi PDF at about 4mb. Sends out over email OK but is a little big I suppose. I have a 300dpi portfolio of illustration and design at 5-6mb with great quality. It's tricky because of the file size being too big but losing quality the smaller you go with file size. But also compression details and just the general standard for this? In terms of illustration, graphic design or whatever your area is would be interesting. I'm looking for information on what people do/recommend for sending out PDF portfolios by email. I searched the forum for this and all over the internet in fact, but there's nothing really clear cut.

Graphic designer pdf portfolio