I’ve been printing a few new pieces for my walls lately, so I thought I’d share some simple tips on how to make printables look more like “real” art for your home.
1. Make sure your printer has ink
Obvious, yes, but important. If your ink cartridge is dying, your print will look like it’s dying too.
2. Adjust your printer settings
Make sure your print quality is set to “Best” (or equivalent). If it’s a black-ink-only print, set it to “Grayscale” and “Black cartridge only.” In my experience, printing black with both the black and color cartridges doesn’t look as sharp.
3. Don’t enlarge the printable
Most printables are designed to print at a certain size. Enlarging them will turn them into a pixely mess. Stick to the size the printable is supposed to be and you won’t have any problems.
For PDF printables, it’s important to check a couple of settings in Adobe Acrobat to make sure you aren’t unintentionally scaling up. In the printer settings, make sure Page Scaling is set to “None” and Auto-Rotate and Center is unchecked.
4. Just say no to standard white office paper
Printing on anything other than plain white paper will elevate your artwork from printout to print. Your choices are endless: card stock, textured cardstock, patterned paper, colored or kraft paper, photo paper, etc. You can buy single sheets of fancy paper for well under a dollar at any craft store.
5. Send it out
One of the great things about printable artwork is that you don’t even need to leave the house to get something up on the walls. But if what your printing requires a lot of ink, or your printer doesn’t work well, it might be cheaper to send your prints to a copy shop and have them printed on a color laser printer. An 8.5″ x 11″ color laser print usually costs around $1. Something to consider.
6. Treat it like “real” art — frame it
Everything looks better behind glass. It’s a fact.
7. Make it the sidekick, not the star
Printables are a great way to get art on your walls for cheap or free. But if all you have on display are printables, well, that might look a little thin. You’ve got to mix them up. Pair a printable with other types of artwork, and let its neighbors give it more credence.
See my collection of printables >>
