exporting for print

[Michal S.]

I was designing a banner for print  (2x1m)... when I want to export the final jpg or pdf the file size is huge.

Is there a way to make it smaller ?

Why are similar exports from Illustrator or InDesign 10% of the size than in Photoshop ?

[c.pfaffenbichler]

Why are similar exports from Illustrator or InDesign 10% of the size than in Photoshop ?

A fairly meaningless question as we don’t know what kind of layouts you are talking about for example.

Is there a way to make it smaller ?

Again it would matter to know what are you talking about – pixel dimensions, resolution, content, …

But in general size decreases don’t come for free, so you will likely have to sacrifice quality and/or resolution to achieve them.

[Derek Cross]

For banners and posters that are being viewed from a distance (unlike an image in a book or magazine), you can reduce the resolution. If you have a resolution of say 300PPI in you artwork try reducing it to, for example, to 150PPI and see if that reduces the size to suit you and that it still looks good.

[D Fosse]

As Derek says.

It's a common misunderstanding that large prints need more pixels. They usually don't - any high quality file from a modern decent-resolution camera will work at any physical print size. Magazine spread or wall sized banner - the very same file can be used.

The bigger it is, the farther away you'll stand. Optical resolution remains the same.

However - if you're creating vector art in Ai, those files are naturally smaller. They don't contain individual pixels, only mathematical formulas.

[c.pfaffenbichler]

any high quality file from a modern decent-resolution camera will work at any physical print size.

With the caveat that choosing a small part of an image and enlarging that beyond reasonable measure might still result in lower-than-called-for resolution/detail.

But that is as true for analogue photographs as it is for digital.

However - if you're creating vector art in Ai, those files are naturally smaller.

And here screenshots of the layouts the OP talked about might have told us so much …

[Michal S.]

okey thanks.

Well, I took the comparison to Illustrator or InDesign, as I did plenty of designs for large-scale printing there... and never had problems with unusually large sizes.

This time, it is a 1x2m (meters) 300 ppi file, 93mb filesize.

[Dynamic Office]

Again, 300ppi is unnecessary - You know those big huge (usually) car advert banners you see on the side of motorways? those are about 10ppi

See here;

What print resolution works for what viewing distance?