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:
| Viewed from | Aim for | Example |
|---|---|---|
| In the hand | 300 DPI | Business cards, name tags, left-chest prints |
| A few feet | 150 DPI | Yard signs, posters |
| Across a parking lot | 100 DPI | Banners, building signs |
What is bleed?
We don't print to the very edge of a card, a flyer or a sign. We print on a bigger sheet and cut it down to size, and the blade can land a hair to either side of the line. So any color or photo that is meant to reach the edge has to run a little past it. That extra is the bleed: 1/16" past the cut on every side for cards, flyers and other paper printing, and 1/8" on signs.
So a 3.5" × 2" business card is set up at 3.625" × 2.125", with the background running all the way out, and the words kept at least 1/8" inside the cut (more on signs, where we allow for mounting holes and rounded corners). If nothing in your design touches the edge, you don't need bleed at all.
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 to $75 depending on complexity. One-off, and we keep it on file for every reorder.
- 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.
Ready to price it?
Everything in this guide is built into the builders. They will do the math for you and show a real number.
Upload and check a file