Quick, Basic Question

[justwilliam]

I have a couple of long weekends coming up and plan to spend some bits of time in Designer creating a couple of new backgrounds for my screen. I have a 27" riMac which is running in the 'Best for Display' (or, 'Default') resolution which is 5120 X 2880.

 

Which document size should I use when creating these backgrounds; 5120 X 2880 or 2560 X 1440? I want to have the best result for running at the 'best for display' setting? If I use a document size of 5120 X 2880 would it look worse than one of 2560 X 1440 with these settings? Should I export the backgrounds as .jpeg? Or some other option?

 

Thanks.

[MEB]

Hi justwilliam,

You have to create your image at 5120 X 2880 - the resolution of your screen. If you create it with just 2560 X 1440 you will lose quality at the native resolution because the image must be upsampled to fill the screen. Regarding file format, it's preferable to choose a lossless format if you want to keep the maximum quality. JPG will compress the image, so it's not the best choice. PNG, TIFF are better options.

[justwilliam]

Thank you, MEB; you always come through with the answer.  :)  I wasn't sure whether or not using the higher resolution would cause it to need to be 'downsampled' (if that is a word) when displayed on my machine set to the lower resolution.