URGENT: InDesign's width limit

[Josh Tong]

We've received a last-minute request for a banner. I'm designing it in InDesign, CS5.5, in the U.S. The banner will be printed in Rwanda. I'm trying to get the design out the door today.

The field office wants the banner to be 6 meters wide by 2.4 meters tall. InDesign says that it can't create a page that is wider than 548.64 cm.

Should I settle for 548.64 cm x 240 cm? Or would it be reasonable to expect that the printer could enlarge a 548.64 cm x 219.456 cm banner to 600 cm x 240 cm? I don't have the printer's contact information, and they're surely closed for the night.

Thanks in advance.

Josh

--

Josh Tong

Publications and Production Associate

Program Quality and Support Department

Catholic Relief Services | 228 W. Lexington St. | Baltimore, MD 21201 USA

410-951-7310 | joshu...@crs.org

www.crs.org | www.crsprogramquality.org

 

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[Bevi | PubCom]

Generally, wide format printing that you describe is designed at half-size but double the resolution.

Last time I checked, most wide format printers wanted 150 dpi/ppi in the files, but I believe there are newer printers that can take a 300 dpi/ppi file.

 

If you do design the project at half-size, be sure to clearly instruct the printer to enlarge the output @ 200%.

— Bevi Chagnon

 

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[Dick Margulis]

On 3/8/2012 3:18 PM, Josh Tong wrote:
> We've received a last-minute request for a banner. I'm designing it in
> InDesign, CS5.5, in the U.S. The banner will be printed in Rwanda. I'm
> trying to get the design out the door today.
>
> The field office wants the banner to be 6 meters wide by 2.4 meters
> tall. InDesign says that it can't create a page that is wider than
> 548.64 cm.

Make the design 3 m x 1.2 m (or 60 cm x 24 cm, if that seems easier. If
you have to include raster images, ensure that they are of sufficient
resolution to withstand the needed enlargement. Once the document is
complete in InDesign, do the enlargement on export to PDF. If you run
into a size limitation on the export, then include clear instructions
for the banner shop to enlarge it. They'll be able to if you can't.

[SP Clark]

!On Mar 8, 2012, at 2:18 PM, Josh Tong <tong...@gmail.com> wrote:

> We've received a last-minute request for a banner. I'm designing it in InDesign, CS5.5, in the U.S. The banner will be printed in Rwanda. I'm trying to get the design out the door today.

It's a typical scenario to design to some reduced-scale layout, then scale up at the time of output. Billboards get done this way, often to 1/2" : 12" (1:24) scale.

As already noted, make sure your placed bitmap files are appropriate res for the final reproduction scale and that the service bureau knows exactly what's expected of them when they set up your file to print on their equipment.