[Sigia-l] Fun with output - Who uses a plotter?

[Andres Sulleiro]

I find that with everything, it depends.

For initial stages and day-to-day use of artifacts I stick to 8.5x11. If
I need to, I break elements into pages (i.e. in sitemaps, I put main
sections in its own page). Sometimes it gets a little small, but in the
long run seems to be more efficient.

I go through a lot of iterations in my artifacts, and printing to
different outputs is a hassle. So I stick to 8.5x11 whenever possible
until the artifact is stable.

For presentations I do at times use a plotter, or 11x17 if the diagram
is not too large. This actually doesn't happen that often, since many
times people like to keep a copy and I wouldn't be making several large
copies.

So to answer your question a plotter is useful for some instances, if
you have one. If you don't have a plotter in hand, I wouldn't make the
investment for the very few times you would use it. Otherwise you can
get by with a regular printer complemented with 11x17 for certain
deliverables.

Compatibility with clients is an issue. I often times send some
artifacts and deliverables by e-mail or on a CD, and I never know what
type of printer the client has. If I format my documents for a plotter
they may not be able to print, or if I put all of my diagram on one page
it may come out too small. Colors also affect how it's printed. For
example I tend to color-code my sitemaps for phases of the project, but
if printed in black and white, they may all come out as the same shade
of gray. This are all considerations to keep in mind when making
deliverables.

So my recommendation is to use 8.5x11 for all purposes, and leave larger
formats for whenever you control the printing and when it is most
helpful.

Hope it helps,

-- Andres.





> -----Original Message-----
> From: sigia-l-admin at asis.org [mailto:sigia-l-admin at asis.org] 
> On Behalf Of Dave Robertson
> Sent: Tuesday, July 09, 2002 12:16 PM
> To: Sigia-l at asis.org
> Subject: [Sigia-l] Fun with output - Who uses a plotter?
> 
> 
> 
> Hi Folks
> 
> I've been looking at some deliverables this week and I've 
> noticed a tendancy
> to larger and larger output formats. We're limited to 11" X 
> 17" (given the
> printers we have here) and we try to make them so that 
> clients can output
> them on 8.5" X 11 and still read them.
> 
> But it's got me wondering - how many other IA's use large 
> format printing?
> Is it a worthwhile investment? What about client compatibility issues?
> 
> Dave
> 
> Dave Robertson
> Information Architecture
> Critical Mass
> 
> Phone: 403.206.4319
> E-mail: daver at criticalmass.com
> http://www.criticalmass.com
> 
> 
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