The AER has professional graphic designers on staff. You can reach them by emailing Design.Services@aer.ca.
When submitting documents with figures, the individual figures must also be submitted. We cannot extract images of sufficient quality from the Word document itself.
If the figure was created in special software (like Visio), please also include the source file. Even if we cannot open the file ourselves, we can ensure that the version of record of that figure is archived so that it can be updated even many years later.
If the submitted figures do not meet minimum corporate standards, they will be sent to the graphic design team to be redone. This can introduce unexpected delays. If you are unsure about your figures, it is best to engage the graphic designers early instead of waiting until the editing stage.
There are three preferred file formats:
PDF: Preferred when producing output from vector-based software like Adobe Illustrator and mapping software. You’ll know it’s vector based because you can zoom in as much as you want but all the lines and text stay crystal clear and smooth.
PNG: Preferred for line drawings and other vector-based images that for whatever reason aren’t available in PDF. This can include maps, flowcharts, and the like.
JPG/JPEG: Preferred for photographs and other realistic images. It has many different compression options. Be sure that the resulting file is at least 300 dpi. It’s better to err on the side of a larger file size. We can always reduce a file, but we can’t blow it back up again.
Figures created using text boxes or Word features like Shapes and SmartArt cannot be accepted. They will be sent to the graphic designers to be redone.
Charts generated by Excel are only acceptable in technical reports. For all other documents (including directives), these charts will be sent to the graphic designers to be redone.
The resolution of submitted figures must be at least 300 dpi. (Does not apply to vector-based PDF files.)
Where possible, make the figure 6.5 inches wide (the width of a standard document page with 1 inch margins).
Use sentence case for all text strings and labels except for the title.
As a general rule, most text should be no smaller than 10 point. Footnotes and disclaimers could conceivably be as small as Arial 8 point.
Colour choice is very important. We need to consider contrast (for when things are printed in black and white) and colour blindness. See the Tableau style guide for an approved palette of colours for charts and figures. You can also check how your image will look to various colour-blind readers by using tools like Coblis.
Once you have put your figure into Word, print that page both in colour and black and white. Check that all text is easily legible and that the lines and colours are readable and clear, even in the black and white version. Contact the graphic designers if you need assistance making your figure readable in black and white.
If the figure data come from a particular source, that information should appear somewhere in the figure. It usually appears in small print in one of the bottom corners.
Source: Petrinex, 2019
If this is not possible, then it can also appear in the caption:
Figure 1. Water disposal volumes (Source: Petrinex, 2019)