Design Portfolios: HIGH Quality Exports with Small File Sizes

[@FredWhitten]

Another really important thing to take into consideration is whether your images are JPEG or PNG (or others). PNG images can be scaled down but can't be compressed. Any images which don't need alpha transparency should be converted to JPEGs first so that they can be both scaled and compressed when you export. I've seen this catch many people out.

[@SamDoesDesign]

That’s a great point! I don’t often work with PNGs so this slipped my mind

[@CatraValentine]

But wait... InDesign in it's compression setting let's you choose which method to use. So if you choose JPEG (which is the default as well) you can throw in any image format ID can handle and the export will munch through them and spill out JPEG's in your PDF. Isn't this just some oldschool advice, back in the day when ID wasn't as good in handling different image formats? I recently was tasked with producing a HQ pdf at a low file size and it seemed to make no difference (size & quality wise) if I converted the images to JPG beforehand, or threw in some PNG. // and an addition: if your PDF/portfolio will be viewed solely on screen than PPI or DPI has no effect on the image quality whatsoever. The 72dpi is stuff from the 80's and only effects PRINTS anyways. a 1920x1080 image will appear on _ANY_ screen as 1920x1080, regardless what it's PPI/DPI setting is, _ONLY_ when it's printed the size will vary (the higher the DPI the smaller the image because more dots per inch)!

[@aldemar9830]

When using PDF, can these also be compressed ?

[@RobWaterman]

I came here because of this PNG issue. Thank you

[@FluenceEnergy]

@@SamDoesDesign It would be so great to have a tutorial on exporting to PNG/JPG -- I use InDesign for web ads and social share images, and I have the hardest time figuring out how to export and have a good quality image that isnt too big. There aren't a lot of resources on this either. Help would be greatly appreciated!

[@peanutz23]

I was going to sell my soul to reduce my file size...but now that I've seen this I don't have to! Thank you!

[@laparmoron]

Dammit, I've already sold mine

[@DeyaSmith]

😂😂😂😂😂

[@ghazalslm8233]

🤣🤣🤣

[@leothaking3007]

lapar_minded 😂😂

[@reviveproject]

:D same

[@Eternaloptimist5141]

Sam, you simply gave me the solution to one of the biggest problems of my life ! Thank you so much brother, God bless you !

[@allisonbaker3385]

I never ever comment on youtube videos but thank you so much! This saved me

[@francescak9576]

I can’t explain how happy am since finding this video!!

[@SamDoesDesign]

I’m so glad I could help!

[@MLSSmithy]

Is it possible you could do a video on making a portfolio on InDesign software?

[@SamDoesDesign]

Great idea for an episode!

[@crearam]

Dear sir, thanks for the tutorial which is very good. I have a suggestion. 1. While saving the native .tiff images in photoshop, first try to flatten the layers where tranperacy is not intented. 2. Go for LZW compression in PS. 3. In indesign export section opt for pdfx1a-2001 which would further reduce file size with quality and color intact. Its just my opinion. Ramalingam.

[@SamDoesDesign]

Thanks for the tips!

[@natalia_tx]

Hi Sam, what if I want to export an Interactive PDF (I have links on my portfolio) - what options do I have in this case?

[@VaishaliPancholi-qm5rr]

Such a great video with helpful tips. Thank you for explaining each individual aspect

[@NaomiBenatar]

Thank you so so so so so so so so much! You are literally such a hero for making this video. Life altering! THANK YOU SO MUCH!

[@mollybauerdowling3493]

Thank you, this was so helpful. It is often little things like this that can catch you out.

[@SamDoesDesign]

I'm so glad I could help!

[@emmymcgowan1781]

That was soooo helpful! Thank you! I feel confident that my online portfolio will look good for my client!

[@sjessick]

Thank you so much for this!! I'm currently applying for jobs and completely blanked on how to make my portfolio smaller. Nice, easy-to-follow, tutorial 👍

[@SamDoesDesign]

Thank you! Good luck with the job search!

[@jeremy112898]

Hache R team... got it! lol Thanks for the video!

[@manojmistry8302]

Great tips Sam! I've always been frustrated by compromising on imagine quality to get a small file size. Thanx so much :)

[@SamDoesDesign]

You are so welcome!

[@TURST67]

Hey, I'm trying to follow this tutorial, I've made a book that is supposed to be printed, BUT I want to make a digital version of it too, which is quite big, and I think this is because it is designed as a 21x21cm, and that's probably way too big, and when I reduce the pages, the layout of my multiple images changes, but I don't want that, I woul like the image to be smaller as well… But when I make the pages smaller, only the pages shrink, the images stay at the same size, which is very annoying considering I have 270 pages and 1500 pictures, I'm not going to resize each of them… Is there a way to make the document dimensions smaller without messing with the design?

[@tonymercado12]

This video is so helpful, and clear to understand. Thanks a lot!!!

[@SamDoesDesign]

Thank you! I’m so glad I could help

[@noamanalhemyary3014]

To be upfront I have seen some videos about reducing PDF files but non of the videos that i have watched helped me in saving my portfolio with small file instead some ways made the file bigger. Thankfully your method saved me a lot of time that i was about to spend on searching Thanks in advance. My file was 100 MB 💔 With your way 5 MB 🤩🤩🤩

[@reviveproject]

I fucking hate companies that expect 10mb or even 5mb portfolios in the field of architecture

[@jamesstevenson9692]

Great video. You've saved me hours of agony. Thank you.

[@mwiyeriaesther2156]

This was really helpful... Thanks!

[@keziafrederick8262]

I must say a fantastic video!! I had a portfolio which was 40mb and was stressing, this is honestly such a great video! Helped so much thanks! It’s now 4.7mb

[@shynnsup8383]

Hi Sam! Thank you! What about when you vectorial PDFs inside Indesign instead of jpgs? Should these be converted to jpg first?

[@JaiSequoia]

I’d love to know the answer to this too.

[@zaychikhead]

You're spectacular at explaining. Please continue to do more Indesign videos! This was helpful. I would like to know how you would configure the settings for a file that is an Interactive PDF, with the same goals as you had here. So, high quality but small file size. Thank you so much!

[@SamDoesDesign]

Thank you so much! I can look into interactive PDFs but I do know that they’re usually larger than PDFs for print

[@katiagalanteart]

Thank you so much for this tutorial I have learned so much! I'm not quite ready to finalize my portfolio yet but I was already wondering how on hearth I could send such a big file to art directors, this video solves that problem!!

[@SamDoesDesign]

Glad it was helpful! Good luck!

[@MariCatherinee]

This is so helpful for my architecture portfolio! thankss

[@SamDoesDesign]

I’m so glad I could help!

[@philmourelle]

this was not helpfull at ALL, all my images look like shit if I zoom even the slightest bit

[@utkarshmahajan4153]

Thanks. Most critical thing to do. And I think you should properly monetize your videos. Because this video is going to be ....Most viewed video for your channel. 😊👍👍

[@SamDoesDesign]

I hope this video is helpful for everyone!

[@shafarahmanifaza]

You just saved my life!😭 thank you so much!!

[@SamDoesDesign]

I’m glad I could help!

[@mafaldamagro7839]

SAMEEEEE 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼 THANKS A LOT!

[@KaraKellerDesigns]

This helped me so much, thanks Sam!

[@paulmolina3335]

OMG Thank you so much! It worked excellently *is relieved for Grad application portfolios*

[@samk5236]

I did all the steps yet my file size differnce turned out only 2-3 mb. Any suggestions to compress it more?

[@eugeniocappuccio3204]

This is great thanks! What if my portfolio has a lot of vector linework (e.g. Architectural plans) that cannot be rasterized? They are the ones that always seem to keep my pdf size heavy!

[@jeronimachraubert2371]

SAME PROBLEM FUCK

[@adrianparafianowicz802]

Hey, thank you for an informative video. Is there a way to set a fixed quality for some images before exporting if their quality tend to be way off compared to others once exported?

[@alumelike9964]

Thank you so much!!! You're save my life.

[@htutkhaungmyat]

Thank you very much! It was very helpful.

[@johnson0nline]

I still opt for interactive pdf... it retains the RGB values for on screen viewing but you can still export images at high resolution (I usually keep max quality and drop the resolution to 144-200 ppi). Something to take into consideration is the source image (aka if your render is large, your pres is usually large too)

[@SamDoesDesign]

Great point! Thanks for sharing

[@spiltstudios]

Loved this video! Thank you so much for the help x

[@reneestrada1148]

Super useful! Thanks Sam. 🍻

[@0h0h0h0]

Help please! I have a lot of vector images in my portfolio and I can't get it down to less than 24MB (I started at 50MB lol) with this method. Any tips? I already reduced the individual files that are in the InDesign file. However, it still won't work. Thanks in advance!

[@nokia6630videos]

Reason why companies put a limit on the file size is that pdf files with many pages and images can easy jump over 40/60/150 MB and it turns into a bit of a hassle trying to download or send or move around a hundred of these ginormous files.

[@westfield90]

Thank you

[@arashi1ryoma1]

This was super helpful thank you!

[@kmadkma]

tHANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!

[@BenWindsorTV2]

Thanks so much for this, really helped with a job application I just put in :) !!

[@anemix3000]

Hey Sam! At what resolution do you usually render at for a large image?? (like the size of the polaroid image) Thanks!

[@hayaalshahel]

very helpful and pedagogical! thanx!

[@sashasomczynska2263]

Thank you for that it helped just have to tweak some settings

[@thomassoltis]

This was no help in my export. The file size could not get under 50MB. I had to export as a Jpg and then save out as a PDF in order to make this file size under 5MB.

[@tsepangmalephane5427]

Than ly ou so much man. This is exactly what I was looking for.

[@mariaestefaniapenagarcia6113]

Thank you for your videos! but I will need a bit of extra help as my document is not getting any smaller, I have tried everything and is not smaller than 9MB with horrible image quality 😭😭😭 I dont know what to do😥😥😥😥

[@JonathanPryorAndrew]

Thanks! This was super helpful.

[@suhasprasad5071]

Hey could you tell me what font have you used in the video :)

[@christinaceniceros5159]

Thank you so much Sam for this video! I do have a question tho. I followed the steps and made sure that my settings were the same as yours, but my export continues to have a cut on certain pages with white space at the left margin of the page, and I wanted to ask how I can avoid or correct my file to make sure that these pages are full bleed? The dimensions of my portfolio are 16.5" X 11.7

[@emrhneren]

Super helpful, thank you!

[@JasonBelcik]

Thank you, you're awesome!

[@akshay_creates]

Hey thank you so much Sam! Couldn't have found this video at a better time, working on my portfolio to send out and last I checked it was at 50 mb and I'd have to embarrassingly send over a G Drive link :P But surely this should streamline things! Great informative content you have going on!

[@samuelelijas9002]

Excellent video, great tutorial! Well done!!

[@jessicahearne]

Yesss this is so useful! I’m definitely going to use these tips to keep my portfolio email-able 💌

[@SamDoesDesign]

I’m so glad I could help!

[@MariaEduarda-ng8rn]

Thank you so much for this video!!!!

[@just_lusungu75]

Thanks for this it has helped

[@Pandachii]

Thanks a lot for sharing! 😁

[@letmetryit]

Thank you! You really helped me!

[@ritikkhare465]

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! THIS WAS VERY HELPFUL

[@JaiSequoia]

Great visual explanation thank you. I wonder if you realize that keeping your files on your desktop is using up a lot of your computer’s resources? Best to use finder with fav folders on the side and keep things off your desktop. Hope that’s helpful for someone. One question… I haven’t used InDesign for a while (cc) and I had made an illustration in illustrator, the file was cymk, I copied and pasted the graphic into InDesign and it converted it to rgb. Anyway idea why this would happen?

[@braziliandesigner]

Does it also work on Photoshop? I think InDesign may keep text output vectorial.

[@tsepangmalephane5427]

Do you have videos or a video about the image format most suitable for uploading to one's websites by any chance..?

[@lubainabhori8651]

What should be the max number set on the pixels to compress? I went on to 100 yet I need to compress more.

[@pepejrrz4566]

gracias

[@zsteele11]

You are so helpful! Thank you so much

[@alexandrebouffard1267]

This is excellent thank you so much

[@johncitizen8828]

Why not do the folio at dimensions 1920 x 1080px?

[@tomthegoose5429]

need to know what font this is !!!!

[@cassidystraub4509]

Life Saver 🙏 thank you

[@dullbatarang165]

Boston Beer Company's online application machine only allows files of less than 1024 MG. What am I supposed to do with that???

[@hebalatief9097]

Thank you sooooo much Sam :)

[@dmoiten491]

Thanks for the tutorial. Unfortunately for me it only reduced it from 20+mb to 17+mb..I need it to be 10mb

[@yafitoster9371]

can you do this in photoshop?

[@kristinamasyte2966]

thanks!

[@keerthanapriyap8914]

Thanks bro, you are the best!!!😍

[@AmirArCy]

i try this method by my 50 page with logos and other stuff dosent go lower than 10 mg

[@Ar.Gajanan]

Helpful tutorial thanks🤟🏽

[@milalud0]

I want to ask,to be sure you use photos saved in photoshop in jpg format for web, or jpg format with 2000px resolution or pdf format?

[@Armagancn]

Hello Sam, İ would like to say DPI(dens Per Inch) And PPI(Pixel Per Inch) is a same thing. There is no need DPI and PPI if we are work in digital space. you cant measure ınchies in digital space. ındesign is a printing base app. so whats happening is when you 300dpı=300ppı 1 İnch square there are 300 pıxels if you say 150DPI=150ppı there will be 150pixel inside that square. (but its only matters if you are in real world) if you prepare digital portfolio DPI and PPI is means nothing (you should be worry about screen size) 6 meters tall poster are not 300 or 150DPI(PPI) they are only 15DPI - 20DPI

[@valentinakurtz2682]

great, thank you! very clear

[@mitchlowbridge3979]

Brilliant tips sam!

[@SamDoesDesign]

I’m so glad I could help!

[@whatevor]

Thank you!

[@WolofTMContent]

my problem: so i put in illustrator data in my indesign portfolio.. i have really thinn lines and when i export in any format (doesnt matter), the lines start to molde together and look like they are all the same thickness... any ideas?

[@kingaragorn123]

Hey Sam, my portfolio is currently in A4 landscape format, what do you think about this size for electronic viewing purposes? I noticed that in the video you used 1280X800, is it better? My portfolio if for Product Design. Thanks for the awesome content

[@CatraValentine]

just use 16:9 or 16:10 as landscape format, no one use the old blocky format anymore and 1900/1920 as your longest side (taken from full HD 1080p, which is sorta the minimum res any screen in 2019 has)

[@rachael6823]

i dont know if youre still checking comments on this video but i have a question that maybe you could help me with? so im setting up a pdf portfolio, primarily to send out while applying to jobs, but ALSO i wanted to print it. So, when im setting it up, im wondering if i should set it up as a for print doc, with 300 dpi and cymk, or 72 ppi and rgb? ideally i want it to be 11x17. so basically is there a way to set it up for print, and then when im done change settings or export it to be viewed on screens? (im primarily working in illustrator but i will probably move to indeisgn for the final steps esp if its easier to do what i need there ) thanks in advance if you have annny advice

[@PrinceWesterburg]

As Britain's only Corel Draw user I'm stuck trying to use PDF creation software. Anyone know of a good one?

[@hakimbrahimi1015]

Hi , how do I set up adobe acrobat PDF compressor for Pages app? thank you

[@wittyfleek3323]

This is awesome! These are type of video i like watching

[@SamDoesDesign]

Thank you! I’m glad I could help

[@matthenryphoto]

Ppi has no effect whatsoever on image quality unless you are printing an image. A graphics card will resize images on the fly to suit the monitor - what counts is pixel size and compression only.

[@laurachva]

thank you so much!

[@jackierosales3697]

Hi, quick question does it affect if you have pdfs rather than jpgs because I have tried this however the size of my portfolio doesn't go down.

[@johnmorton4795]

You've literally saved my life thanks

[@SamDoesDesign]

I’m glad I could help!

[@ajeesh3485]

which is the best tool to create portfolio? indesign or figma?

[@shaktivelio3553]

Hey Sam! Thanks for your video it is great! I wanted to ask something too tho I am an architect and when I export a pdf plan to my portfolio it becomes super super slow because of the amount of detail I think because the file is 1.8MB max, but I have several images this size and nothing happens. I do not know what is wrong! if you have some kind of answer I would appreciate it!

[@nandinibk1371]

Why is the photoshop file in indesign BLURRY, even after the display setting is done right! I have been using crack version (indesign)