What's a good size for a presentation that will be emailed?

[MarieMeyer]

I'm about to start work on a presentation that will be distributed via email as a PDF. It consists of 12 pages/slides. It is assumed that most of the recipients will read it on a desktop or laptop, not a mobile device. Would 720px x 540px be a good size for the artboards?

[Monika Gause]

Will they also print it?

Will it be projected?

What will be in it? Raster images or purely vector shapes?

Most laptop screens have a huge resolution nowadays. Not to mention the large monitors attached to desktop. Compared to that 720 px is tiny.

The real issue might be distributing it via mail. Depending on peoples' connections and depending on the filesize it might still put their inbox to a standstill.

[MarieMeyer]

It is intended for reading and for forwarding on to colleagues, not for printing or distribution. The vector/raster question has been decided yet. How does that impact the answer? 

[Monika Gause]

If you have raster images in it, that will affect how people can enlarge it, but if it doesn't get printed or people don't use it in projection, it doesn't matter.

It's just difficult to tell anything about an optimal size without knowing:

- what kind of people will get it

- what will be in it

- how will it be used

- is it rather formal or informal

[Test Screen Name]

PDFs don’t have a size in pixels, they have a size in inches/mm. look at PDF files whose size you find natural . illustrator converts “pixels” to points immediately. Of more interest in file size; keep it under 5MB for emailing. Far better to mail a link. Also... for a multi page newsletter use InDesign or even Word, not Illustrator. 

[Braelen]

If it's being emailed and viewed digitally, not printed, then really any size would work. Most of our clients size it for 8.5 x 11 and build it like a word document so that whoever they're sending it to can print it out if they wanted to. Techincally, any standard paper size would work in the regard (5.5 x 8.5, 8.5 x 14, 11 x17, etc).

You can use InDesign or Illustrator, but InDesign gives you more control of how the information flows. Be sure to export it as a PDF so that:

1) they can open the file regardless of their web browser or viewing software.

2) the document you create retains lossless compression and will be crisp and unpixelated.

Hope this helps. Take care.