Image specs for A5 & A6 postcards (and social sharing)

Warning: 70% of designers miss some specs

This page has some specific requirements which will be checked. If they aren't followed it may cause the printed postcard images be different than designed. So double check for each type:

1. Web images: RGB colours, smaller size, web image format
2. Print images: CMYK colours, larger size, jpg format only + 3mm 'bleed' around the image (areas of the image that will be cut off)
3. Social sharing image: open graph dimensions (not postcard dimensions), web optimised

Web image specifications

Web images are used on the action web pages: landing, selection, completion. They are also be used when sharing on social media. They need to be web optimised quality (few hundred KB) so the page load time is fast. Technically this means:

1. Size: 500 pixels wide x 352 pixels high (or a ratio of 1.4187 like 1000 x 704 or 1200 x 845)
2. Colour model: RGB colours
3. Resolution: 72 dpi and in any web friendly format (webp/png/jpg).

A5/A6 Print image specifications

The print version of the image(s) will appear on the image side of the printed postcard. It can be slightly different from the web version.

The message side of the postcard is standard and custom designs are not yet possible. They needs to be high quality (2-8 MB) so the print quality is good. Technically this means:

1. Size: 2480 pixels wide x 1748 pixels high (= 210mm wide x 148mm) at 300 dpi or flip that for tall postcards
2. Crop & bleed area: Images are cropped/cut 5mm (60 pixels at 300 dpi) on each side so the postcard is borderless/edge-to-edge. Size (1 above) includes this crop area. The cut is often off by 1 mm in any direction. So the 5mm crop/bleed gives allowance for variation. Make sure there is no critical content in this 5mm edge: it will be cut off. If you want a border on the final result, make it extend past the 5mm crop edges.
3. Margin: A further 5mm (60 pixels at 300 dpi) margin 'unsafe' area (on top of the crop area) with no crucial design elements as the cutting may drift into this space.
4. No white border/crop marks unless you want this printed.
5. Resolution: 300 dpi - note a lower DPI value will mean a lower print quality and different pixel-to-mm conversion than above
6. Colour model: CMYK for print
7. File format: JPEG only (not PDF nor png/tiff/webp as these don't support CMYK colours)
8. Avoid: tiny white text on a colour background - it may not print clearly

Social sharing specifications

To automatically include a properly sized image when sharing to Facebook, Twitter/X, WhatsApp, Slack and much more, provide an image with the following specifications (open-graph image spec):

1. 1200 x 630 pixels max
2. Under 300kb in size (max 500kb but test it)
3. It can be any web supported format: jpeg, png, webp, svg, etc.