How to work with 2pt (0.7 mm?) line so it scales right for larger print. (1:10 scale rule?)

Question

Hello everyone,I would like to ask, a company I work for, recently had brand manual made for them. In the manual there is one graphical element - curved line, they specify that whenever using the line as a graphic element, it is a simple line with 2pt thickness.I am now designing a banner that will be on a tradeshow, size is roughly 2m x 1m (2000 mm x 1000 mm document size) and I would like to use the above mentioned line element. If I set the line thickness to 2pt in my project, how will it print? Will the resulting line thickness be adjusted somehow for print or it will have a real thickness after print of just 0.7mm, that will be just invisible on a larger print, or am I missing something?I asked the company that made the brand manual how to work with such line so it scales right, and they replied, that for example for a billboard of say 5m x 2m I should work in 1:10 scale - (so 500 mm x 200 mm document size) and in that scale, the 2pt line will work fine. If I had the document set for 5000 mm x 2000 mm they said I would need to x10 the line thickness so making it 20pt at that point.How does that work? Does it not mean that 2pt line is always 0.7 mm thick?Could anyone who is experienced in this field please provide me some insight on how it works?Thank you in advance for your time to reply.

Monika Gause · Accepted Answer

@Zower schrieb:

they specify that whenever using the line as a graphic element, it is a simple line with 2pt thickness.

I asked the company that made the brand manual how to work with such line so it scales right, and they replied, that for example for a billboard of say 5m x 2m I should work in 1:10 scale - (so 500 mm x 200 mm document size) and in that scale, the 2pt line will work fine. If I had the document set for 5000 mm x 2000 mm they said I would need to x10 the line thickness so making it 20pt at that point.

That looks like the straight way into desaster.

What would work is to specify that line thickness to always be a certain fraction of the width of the artwork. Or to always be the same thickness as some elment in the logo or some fraction of the text size. But that definition looks like they want to be asked every time you create something.

Jacob Bugge · Answer

Zower,

The specification of 2pt thickness is completely meaningless unless it is tied to a specific size of the artwork in question.

Therefore the manual is wanting:

Either the 2 pt thickness must be specified in connexion with a specific size of the artwork, then scaled with it just as everything else.

Or the thickness must be specified as a proportion of some (overall) measure contained in the artwork at whichever current size.

The former will give everyone something to work with in an accurate way by simply scaling, the latter will lead to some strange values and inaccuracies, and especially at the default size it was defined by, the thickness will probably be some decimal number close to 2 pt, which is exactly what the company wishes to avoid.

Further, I am afraid the 1:10 scale example will lead directly to errors, unless the 2 pt thickness is actually established/defined/specified for the 500 mm x 200 mm document size and must be different to 2 pt at any other size.

This seems all the more likely since the instruction starts with the 5000 mm x 2000 mm billboard size rather than the 500 mm x 200 mm.

If the latter is the size that the 2 pt thickness has been specified for, the simple and clear instruction could just have been to scale to whichever size is needed (with Scale Strokes & Effects ticked).

Sign up

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Sign in to Adobe Community

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Scanning file for viruses.

This file cannot be downloaded