Design handoffs PNG→TIFF: color and grid drift across Figma, Photoshop, Illustrator, and prepress hurts more than occasional decode failures
`design-png-tiff` bridges UI and brand print: PNG keeps review friction low, TIFF feeds trapping and screening. Risks include non-integer exports, missing profiles, or double color management that shifts brand reds toward orange. Maintain separate presets for icons, illustrations, and photography; never derive final plates from chat-compressed PNG previews; document ΔE tolerances and viewing illuminants.
Design workflow: align document pixel grids and export scales, embed ICC consistently, then double-check hairlines and brand solids between PDF proofs and raster masters
- Keep editable masters versioned; treat PNG as commentary-friendly previews only; derive TIFF using the same color decision table prepress signed off on.
- Export at integer 1x/2x/3x scales so subpixel icons are not resampled; verify dielines and safety guides land on whole pixels.
- Bundle swatch measurement points and font outline status; major refreshes require signed proofs; move retired TIFFs to immutable archives.
PNG to TIFF (cross-tool design) FAQ: scale factors, pixel snapping, brand ΔE budgets, non-integer resizes, and fragile type weights
Clients only ship Figma PNG exports—who owns blurry hairlines on press?
Contracts should state “no vector source, no hairline guarantee”; offer paid redrawing or require AI/PDF sources—raster conversion cannot invent vectors.
Brand color matches on screen but fails ΔE on proof—monitor profile issue or a broken ICC chain?
Verify with spectrophotometers or calibrated soft proofing; hunt for duplicate profile applications; standardize on one color engine end-to-end.
Illustrator gradients band after TIFF export—compression or insufficient bit depth?
Test 16-bit containers for demanding ramps; adjust separation strategy; never JPEG-ish hacks inside print gradients.
Multilingual packs share one dieline but PNGs mix different bleed pixels—how to auto-flag?
Bind language, bleed, and cutter revision inside manifests; validate canvas sizes against template JSON; route mismatches to tooling teams.
Marketing reuses compressed social PNGs as TIFF heroes—how do we block that technically?
Enforce minimum resolution, profile presence, and size floors at ingest; auto-reject suspiciously small files and log responsible editors.