Clean up lo-rez Bitmap images in Photoshop

This is a trick I've used many times over the years to clean up bitmapped lineart for use in simple, small print items like stationery or business cards. It's a quick-fix to be used only on images that are one-color lineart. If the image is going to be used for anything larger than a business card I usually invest the time in redrawing the logo in Illustrator. But time is money, so here's my shortcut:

You're probably starting with a crappy bitmapped piece of lineart that's been scanned too many times and your customer has lost their original.

Open the image in Photoshop.

Change the image mode to grayscale (assuming the image started at Bitmap).

Up the resolution to something silly like 1200 dpi

Using your menus go to - Filter: Blur: Gaussian Blur.

What your'e doing here is blurring the image until all of the rough edges are gone. Don't be afraid to go crazy and push the blur rather high -- 40 or 45 sometimes -- depending on how rough your original Bitmap was. This is why we upped the resolution to that silly 1200 dpi. Hi rez is much more forgiving.

Is your image blurry? Like looking at it through glasses covered in vaseline? Excellent.

Now, using your menus go to - Image: Adjust: Levels.

There are little triangles along the slider that represent your highlights and your shadows with a third triangle in the middle representing midtones. Grab the outside triangles and bring them both to the middle. Move them up and down a little to get the best result. At this point your image should be solid blacks and whites with no gray.

At this point -- assuming you've obtained the contrast we're looking for and are satisfied with the cleaner, less bitmapped version of your image -- you can change the image mode to Bitmap and save your file. I prefer .TIFF formats for these kinds of images.