Question on color degradation after exporting.... use on Vistaprint and Facebook

[kevalb]

Hi all. My first post here, and I'm really a pretty big rookie to Xara.

I'm using an older version it appears (Xara Xtreme Pro 4).

At any rate, I created a logo for my facebook page and website and well, it's hard to describe, but I see pixelation on the solid color area when I view the images on Vistaprint (trying to make business cards) and Facebook.

On the original graphic, the color is uniformly red or green, solid and consistent over the entire "9". Once I upload to facebook or vistaprint, it becomes blurry and blotchy.

I've exported in bmp, jpeg, and png formats and all look terrible. Any suggestions on what I'm doing wrong?

Facebook page: www.facebook.com/Element9Images
Website: www.element9images.com

Below are images I've inserted for comparison.... (to the facebook page "9")





Even upon previewing the post, I see degradation. What is the issue? I need these to be high quality and look flawless. Any help would be greatly appreciated. If you look at the "9" in the facebook logo, it looks..... crappy.... lol. Help?

Thanks for looking.

[gwpriester]

Welcome to TalkGraphics

Facebook converts everything to JPEG and the color and sharpness is degraded. I use my avatar on FB and the quality is embarrassing.

So, I think the answer to your question is the problem is not yours and it is not uncommon.

[kevalb]

Welcome to TalkGraphics

Facebook converts everything to JPEG and the color and sharpness is degraded. I use my avatar on FB and the quality is embarrassing.

So, I think the answer to your question is the problem is not yours and it is not uncommon.

Thanks for the reply. Yeah, I guess I'll have to figure something out.... there's got to be a way..... if anyone has any ideas to try at least, please let me know.

[steve.ledger]

No way that I am aware of, FB ruins any attempt at a decent profile image even if you start off with a high IQ jpeg. They just re-encode whatever you submit..

[angelize]

Hi kevalb, Welcome to Talkgraphics!

As has already been said Facebook is the problem here. There are a couple of things though to keep in mind to help minimize the damage.

1. Design at the exact size Facebook uses (851 pixels wide by 315 pixels tall for a cover photo and 180 x180 pix for an avatar) if your image is smaller or larger Facebook will resize it and the quality will be even worse!
2. Avoid large areas of bright colours especially red and green to minimize the jpeg artifacts.
3. Export from Xara as a jpeg (any other format will just be re-encoded)