affinity Desiger or Photo question

[Marco Dude]

Hello everyone,

I am trying to export a logo redesign to a PDF in Designer but there is one part of the logo that has a ugly 1px black line around it.
I didt mark the box "Don't export layers hidden in persona" but both when the box is selected and when it is not I still see the border.
The only clue I do have is that that part was made in Affinity Photo.

Sorry for the bad english.

Thank you in advanced,
Marco

(Sorry to the mods if I acsedently dubble posted it seemed my post didn't got submitted)

[Marco Dude]

This topic can be locked 🙂

I saved the logo as a JPEG then opend it again and then saved it as a PDF.

Cheers,
Marco

[loukash]

2 hours ago, Marco Dude said:

I saved the logo as a JPEG then opend it again and then saved it as a PDF.

No offense, but if I were given such a logo to use in a layout or wherever, I'd get stomach cramps…
Logo design 101:
Do. Not. Export. As. JPEG.
Ever.

[Marco Dude]

No offense taken  

I appriciate you saying this I only have had designer for a week now. 
What format do you suggest I use?

Thank you in advanced.  

 

Edit: I tried the same thing as I didt with JPEG only with svg and then I get that ugly border again.  

[loukash]

1 hour ago, Marco Dude said:

What format do you suggest I use?

The points being:

• JPEG compression will always introduce pixel artifacts
• JPEG doesn't support transparencies
• JPEG (and any bitmap format for that matter) are not scalable, unlike vector

The end export format is always dependable on:

• source material (does it contain a halftone image? transparencies? solid fills only? text?)
• intended use (web? office? print? small? big? billboard-sized?)

There is no definite export format.
And PDF is just a container that can display other formats contained within, be it vector, bitmap, text, forms, video, audio, interactive. Hence the name: Portable Document Format.

Unless you export for web usage, and as long as there are no halftone images involved, you'd always want to stay in vector format to retain virtually infinite scalability. So, PDF as a container is usually a good choice, but the content should remain vector as only possible.

1 hour ago, Marco Dude said:

I only have had designer for a week now. 

This is not necessarily a matter of apps we're using. This is essential knowledge of how graphic design works in the digital domain, generally. That's what they learn in art schools these days. (So I hope, at least. Me being an "old school" designer, having attended art school in the 1980s, just before all the desktop publishing began to happen.)

Real life analogy: If you need a handkerchief, usually you don't use one made of wool, even though its size, form and color may match one made of cotton.
But in other context than cleaning your nose, a similar cloth made of wool can be more useful.
Material matters.

[loukash]

On 3/16/2021 at 2:28 PM, Marco Dude said:

there is one part of the logo that has a ugly 1px black line around it

Can you upload your original Designer document here?

[Marco Dude]

Thank you for taking the time to reply to my question.  I think for what I have to do PDF is the best option then.
I will try to educate myself more on this subject. I think I understand what you mean, what you use depends on the situation.

I re-made the logo as a favour for a friend, he wants it stitched into his boat seat. 
And bacause I wanted to try out Designer I tought might aswel buy it now.

Quote

Can you upload your original Designer document here?

I don't know if that would be a copyright violation because it is a real boat logo. 
Is there a way I can send the file true a private message?

[loukash]

24 minutes ago, Marco Dude said:

send the file true a private message

Thanks. I can't see nothing unusual on export, using the same default PDF preset as you did.
Except that the blue logotype is a low resolution pixel layer which means it will remain pixelated on export. And so, depending on which app you use to preview the PDF:

On 3/16/2021 at 2:28 PM, Marco Dude said:

I still see the border

On Mac, there's no border when viewing the PDF with the MacOS standard Preview app.
When inspecting the PDF with Adobe Acrobat, I can see a faint black line around the logo when zoomed out, sort of marking the pixel content border. When I zoom in like 2400%, the line disappears. Such artifacts are relatively common when previewing PDFs with partial pixel content. Usually they should remain invisible when printed.

Perhaps it would be a good excercise for you to learn how to use the pen tool, if you would try to redraw the logotype as vector objects. That will solve the issue for good.
Make use of the document grid and various snapping options. Note that your app interface will look slightly differently bacause I have modified many display options to my liking. Also, you don't need the white background rectangle: simply go to Document Setup > Color > disable Transparent Background.

 

36 minutes ago, Marco Dude said:

I re-made the logo as a favour for a friend, he wants it stitched into his boat seat.

So it will be printed on cloth and then stiched? Or directly stitched with a yarn into the seat by hand?

39 minutes ago, Marco Dude said:

Thank you for taking the time to reply to my question.

I'm in fact amid a transition from a two-decades old Adobe workflow to Affinity, so I'm primarily taking the time to study the apps for myself.
Real life examples from outside are good subjects to study, as I momentarily don't have that many design jobs which would cover all possible usability areas of the Affinity suite.
And since flawless PDF export is crucial for any designer's workflow, any such topic attracts my attention.

[Annabella_K]

When I had that black line around pixel elements, that black border printed, even though zooming in all the way it disappeared as loukash said. So you better try printing it before you hand out the finish project. I figured it is because of anti-aliasing, so adding a white background can work, because then it's white the anti-aliasing tries to blend the colours with instead of transparent, which is kinda interpreted as grey it seems. That's why jpg worked I guess, but as loukash said, it comes with artifacts. But a white background is not always an option, so yeah, it's best to keep things as vectors if you can. Then the elements will be vector in the pdf too, and won't have that black line around them.

[Marco Dude]

10 minutes ago, loukash said:

Thanks. I can't see nothing unusual on export, using the same default PDF preset as you did.
Except that the blue logotype is a low resolution pixel layer which means it will remain pixelated on export. And so, depending on which app you use to preview the PDF:

Thank you for checking  Then it is probably the browser I used chrome to previeuw the logo.
The blue logo type was indeed place where the border was. 

17 minutes ago, loukash said:

Such artifacts are relatively common when previewing PDFs with partial pixel content. Usually they should remain invisible when printed.

That's good to know in that case I will send my friend the logo and tell him to tell the company about the problem I had (just in case). 

 

19 minutes ago, loukash said:

Perhaps it would be a good excercise for you to learn how to use the pen tool, if you would try to redraw the logotype as vector objects. That will solve the issue for good.
Make use of the document grid and various snapping options.

Completely agree with you there, I am still a noob to the programm and the pen tool. I ididt try to redraw the blue logo part with the pen tool but it kinda looked like a mess the way I didt it. 
I am definitely going to practise using it and I think I also watch some youtube tutorials on how it works.  also the grids are a usefull tip, I will turn them on in the interface.

My friend said he wassn't shure but he believes it will be done with a machine, he has hired an upholsterer to do the seats. 

28 minutes ago, loukash said:

I'm in fact amid a transition from a two-decades old Adobe workflow to Affinity, so I'm primarily taking the time to study the apps for myself.
Real life examples from outside are good subjects to study, as I momentarily don't have that many design jobs which would cover all possible usability areas of the Affinity suite.
And since flawless PDF export is crucial for any designer's workflow, any such topic attracts my attention.

Ah I do understand why, every programm is diffrent  it takes some getting used to. 
I am starting to see why it is importand, if the export is not good the client wont get a good product. I think it will be best if I use youtube tutorials and other recources before I really start doing projects for other people.  

 

I do really appriciate the help, tips and feedback  
Thank you.

Cheers,
Marco

( Sorry for my bad english ).

[Marco Dude]

20 hours ago, Annabella_K said:

When I had that black line around pixel elements, that black border printed, even though zooming in all the way it disappeared as loukash said. So you better try printing it before you hand out the finish project. I figured it is because of anti-aliasing, so adding a white background can work, because then it's white the anti-aliasing tries to blend the colours with instead of transparent, which is kinda interpreted as grey it seems. That's why jpg worked I guess, but as loukash said, it comes with artifacts. But a white background is not always an option, so yeah, it's best to keep things as vectors if you can. Then the elements will be vector in the pdf too, and won't have that black line around them.

Thank you for your post  I really I hope it will work I decided to send him the logo and I told him about the problem in an e-mail.
I didt decide to look into the pen tool that way the next time I can remake the letters myself. I hope like you said the white background will help then.  

Cheers,
Marco

[Marco Dude]

LIL update.  

After watching youtube tutorials I managed to retrace the whole text in the logo and it worked!  
I send the whole logo to my friend and he was really happy.
Ad this point I am no longer worried about the 1px border ad all because it is gone. 

I would like to thank both of you for the help and suggestions.  

Cheers,
Marco
 

[Annabella_K]

Nice job @Marco Dude, you're welcome 😊

[Marco Dude]

A small update: 

Thanks to your tips and help the stitching on the boat seats have come out beautifully and my friend is really happy with me.

Thank you both so much! 😄