Expert: Kevin Stohlmeyer - 7/25/2009

Question
I'm artworking a master logo in Illustrator CS3 which will be supplied to various users. The logo uses a Drop Shadow Effect. That drop shadow needs to multiply over whatever colour or image it's placed on top of - both in Illustrator and other programs. As this logo will be used mainly in offset print work, I want to create the most safe and foolproof file as possible. My current thinking is this:

With the Document Raster Effects Settings at 300dpi, I'll Expand the Appearance of the drop shadow so that no one will be able to mess up that drop shadow in any way (e.g. resizing it without 'Scale Stoke & Effects' selected), then save the logo as a native .AI file.

If someone then placed that .AI file into Indesign and scaled it up it, is it right to presume that the effective PPI would be reduced? Do you foresee any other problems with supplying a master logo in this way? Or have any better solutions for dummy-proofing it?!

FYI: The logo is CMYK + 1 spot. Drop shadow is 50% black.

Many thanks.

Answer
Hi Keren,

Illustrator CS3 Drop Shadow was notorious for creating transparency issues in other application, especially if it was placed near text (it would bold the text closest to the shadow). Changing the shadow to a raster effect via Expand will keep people from changing the look of the shadow, but you are correct that the resolution will reduce as it is enlarged. Normally I would save this out as an .eps so that everyone can access this, some apps or other users may not have access to the .ai file.

Thanks

Kevin