Getting Your Artwork Right

Artwork problems delay more orders than anything else in this industry, and they are almost always found late. Here is what actually matters, in order.

Vector beats everything

A vector file describes shapes with math, so it scales to any size with no loss. AI, EPS, PDF and SVG are usually vector. If you have one of these from whoever designed your logo, send it and stop reading — you are fine at any size, on any product.

A raster file is a grid of pixels. PNG, JPG, GIF. Fine for a lot of work, but the pixel count is fixed, so how big you can print it depends entirely on how many pixels you started with.

The resolution question, answered properly

People ask "is 300 DPI enough?" but DPI on its own means nothing — it only matters relative to print size. What counts is pixels divided by inches. A 1,200 pixel wide logo is 300 DPI at 4 inches and 100 DPI at 12.

Roughly what you need:

Things that quietly ruin a file

• Pulling a logo off a website. Web images are deliberately small. A logo lifted from a homepage is usually 200 pixels wide and will not survive being printed at four inches.
• Screenshots. A screenshot of a vector logo is a raster image at whatever your monitor happened to be. You have thrown away the good version.
• Live text in an SVG or PDF. If the fonts are not converted to outlines and we do not own that font, your text reflows or substitutes. Export with text outlined.
• A white box behind the logo. A JPG cannot be transparent, so the print gets a visible rectangle around it. Send a PNG with transparency, or vector.
• Re-saving a JPG repeatedly. Every save degrades it. Edges get fuzzy halos that show up badly in print.

Color, honestly

Your screen emits light; ink and thread reflect it. They will never match exactly, and any printer who promises otherwise is managing your expectations rather than your color.

The way to control it is a Pantone number. Give us one and we mix to it. If you do not have one, upload your artwork in the apparel builder and we will read the colors out of the file and show you the closest Pantone matches — then confirm against a physical book before anything is printed.

If your artwork is not good enough

This is common and it is fixable. Two options:

• Vector redraw — we rebuild your existing logo properly, usually $35–$75 depending on complexity. One-off, and you keep the file for everything you ever order again, from us or anyone else.
• Design service — $50 on banners, signs and stickers, $65 elsewhere, for something created from scratch.

Either way you approve a proof before production. Nobody is guessing on your behalf.