10 Feb

Tips for trouble free ordering of your custom T-shirts printing

Posted By: admin  //  Category: t-shirts printing

 Follow these simple tips when ordering your custom screen printed t-shirts for a quicker and more trouble free experience.

The first thing to be discussed is the difference between screen printing and digital garment printing.  In general screen printing is a more labor intensive process than digital printing and requires color separations and individual screens to be made for each color in the design. Digital garment printing on the other hand is simply a shirt printed in a printer much like the paper printer that most of us use everyday to print photos or documents.

The subject of a different article, but for now suffice it to say that digital garment prints work better on white or light colored shirts and are better suited to short run orders.

Artwork is a prime factor in getting your shirts printed in a timely manner. The better the artwork, the better the finished product. I’m sure you have heard the old adage “Junk in, Junk out”, well, this is truly the case when it comes to screenprinting. Artwork falls into two basic groups depending on what software program produced it or where it came from.The first group I will talk about are Raster images. Raster images will have file extensions such as .bmp, .jpg ,.tif, or .psd and are pixel maps which are dependent on resolution (dots per inch ) to maintain clarity. The higher the dpi, the clearer the image will be. While Raster images are great for digital printing, they can be problematic for screen printing in that file sizes are typically large and color separations can be more difficult, not to mention the pix-elation that occurs when up sizing images. If a Raster image is the only option that you have, be sure that it is sized appropriately for screen printing and in a high resolution (at least 300 dpi original resolution) before sending to avoid additional art charges or unnecessary delays.

The second group is called vector images. Vector images are preferred by screen printers due to their flexibility in resizing without degradation, smaller file sizes and ease of color separations. Typical file extensions for vector images are .ai, .eps and .cdr. Vector images use point coordinates and mathematical equations to define elements in an image as opposed to pixels and can therefore be re-sized without discrimination. Vector images are your best bet for getting a fast turnaround and avoiding additional art charges when ordering your custom t-shirts printing.

Color selection is also something to be considered ahead of time to help expedite your order. Your printer will need to know the pantone colors that you would like to be used in your t-shirts printing.

Shirt Selection can be confusing, but basically there are two main fabric weight classes to select from, 5.6 oz or 6.1 oz. Beyond that style will need to be decided, Ladies or Men’s, short sleeve or long sleeve, pockets or not, scoop neck v-neck or regular, as well as shirt color. It will save much time if all of this is decided ahead of time, and whether you purchase your shirts from our company or not, please feel free to shop and make selections with our online Catalog If your custom t-shirts printing order includes any individualization such as names or numbers prepare a list displaying properly spelled names, numbers, and sizes to help avoid confusion.

We hope that this article has been helpful in making a custom screen printing order a little less daunting. Artistic Apparel has been in the decorated apparel business for 6 years and is a supplier of quality apparel, Screen Printing, and promotional products. Please visit our web page here, Artistic Apparel

 

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24 Feb

What makes a good logo?

Posted By: admin  //  Category: Uncategorized
Very Well said, I think this is right on the mark.

via Just Creative Design by Jacob Cass on 7/26/09


Principles of Effective Logo Design

What makes a good logo? A good logo is distinctive, appropriate, practical, graphic, simple in form and conveys an intended message.

There are five principles that you should follow to ensure that this is so…

An effective logo is (in no particular order):

  • Simple
  • Memorable
  • Timeless
  • Versatile
  • Appropriate

1. Simple

London Underground Logo

A simple logo design allows for easy recognition and allows the logo to be versatile & memorable. Good logos feature something unique without being overdrawn.

While in college in the mid-70’s an instructor introduced me to the K.I.S.S. Principle of design; which translates to: Keep It Simple, Stupid. It does convey a very important design consideration. Simple logos are often easily recognized, incredibly memorable and the most effective in conveying the requirements of the client. A refined and distilled identity will also catch the attention of a viewer zipping by signage at 70 miles per hour, on packaging on the crowded shelves of a store, or in any other vehicle used for advertising, marketing and promotion. Remember, the basis of the hugely effective international branding for the world’s largest shoe manufacturer is a very simple graphic swoosh.

~ Jeff Fisher

2. Memorable

McDonalds Logo Design

Following closely behind the principle of simplicity, is that of memorability. An effective logo design should be memorable and this is achieved by having a simple, yet, appropriate logo.

You may be interested to see some examples of bad logo designs.

Surprising to many, the subject matter of a logo is of relatively little importance, and even appropriateness of content does not always play a significant role.

This does not imply that appropriateness is undesirable. It merely indicates that a one-to-one relationship between a symbol and what it symbolized is very often impossible to achieve and, under certain conditions, objectionable. Ultimately, the only mandate in the design of logos, it seems, is that they be distinctive, memorable, and clear.

~ Paul Rand

3. Timeless

coca-cola-logo

An effective logo should be timeless – that is, it will stand the test of time. Will the logo still be effective in 10, 20, 50 years?

Leave trends to the fashion industry – Trends come and go, and when you’re talking about changing a pair of jeans, or buying a new dress, that’s fine, but where your brand identity is concerned, longevity is key. Don’t follow the pack. Stand out.

~ David Airey

Probably the best example of a timeless logo is the Coca-Cola logo… if you compare it to the Pepsi logo below, you can see just how effective creating a timeless logo can be. Notice how the Coca Cola logo has barely changed since 1885? That is timeless design.

Update: 8/08/09 – Underconsideration has posted an updated timeline of the Pepsi vs CocaCola logo. Thanks for the tip off Jon.

Timeless Logo Design

4. Versatile

WWF Logo

An effective logo should be able to work across a variety of mediums and applications. For this reason a logo should be designed in vector format, to ensure that it can be scaled to any size. The logo should be able to work both in horizontal and vertical formats.

Ask yourself; is a logo still effective if:

  • Printed in one colour?
  • Printed on the something the size of a postage stamp?
  • Printed on something as large as a billboard?
  • Printed in reverse (ie. light logo on dark background)

One way around creating a versatile logo is to begin designing in black and white only. This allows one to focus on the concept and shape, rather than the subjective nature of colour. One must also remember printing costs – the more colors used, the more expensive it will be for the business over the long term.

I like to work first in black and white to ensure that the logo will look good in its simplest form. Color is very subjective and emotional. This can distract from the overall design – say if you saw your logo in all red, that color may be the first thing that you respond to and not the composition of the design elements. I will not even consider submitting color suggestions to a client for review until they have signed off on a final black and white logo.

~ Patrick Winfield

One should also familiarise themself with the commercial printing process so as not to come into printing problems further down the track. Learn to know the difference between the CMYK, Pantone and RGB color systems. When designing logos, the Pantone colour system is recommended.

5. Appropriate

ToysRUs Logo

How you position the logo should be appropriate for its intended purpose. For example, if you are designing a logo for children’s toys store, it would be appropriate to use a childish font & colour scheme. This would not be so appropriate for a law firm.

It is also important to state that that a logo doesn’t need to show what a business sells or offers as a service. ie. Car logos don’t need to show cars, computer logos don’t need to show computers. The Harley Davidson logo isn’t a motorcycle, nor is the Nokia logo a mobile phone. A logo is purely for identification.

For further evidence of this, take the top 50 brands of the world – 94% of the logos do not describe what the company does.

Paul Rand also has a say on this topic:

Should a logo be self-explanatory? It is only by association with a product, a service, a business, or a corporation that a logo takes on any real meaning. A logo derives its meaning and usefulness from the quality of that which it symbolizes. If a company is second rate, the logo will eventually be perceived as second rate. It is foolhardy to believe that a logo will do its job immediately, before an audience has been properly conditioned.

~ Paul Rand

What makes a great logo in your opinion?

Recommended logo design resources:

This is a taste of an article “Vital Tips for Effective Logo Design” that will be appearing on Smashing Magazine quite soon. Ensure you are subscribed to Smashing Magazine so you don’t miss out.

Posted via email from artisticapparel’s posterous

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19 Feb

Tips For Designing a Logo for T-Shirts Printing or Embroidery

Posted By: admin  //  Category: silkscreen shirts, t shirt prints, t-shirts printing

Designing a Logo for t-shirts printing or embroidery is not difficult, but their are a few things to keep in mind during the design process. First let me say here that I am sure that their are a multitude of Graphic Designers out there that are very good at what they do, and are knowledgeable in their craft to a level far beyond what we do on a day to day basis. Having said that, however, with all due respect, I am convinced that many of them are not educated on the details of Screen Print or embroidery. I say this because we get logos in our operation on a regular basis that just are not screen print or embroidery friendly.  Unfortunately, most of these folks have paid a lot of money to have their logo designed, and they look absolutely brilliant, only problem is, some of those details that look excellent on a computer screen or on paper simply will not work and have to go away.  That’s too bad, because didn’t these people pay for a logo that would stay consistent throughout all applications?  Here are a few tips to keep in mind when you have your logo designed so that it will work well for t-shirts printing or embroidery as well as all the other applications.

Make sure your logo will look good in a black and white version as well as full color.

It is easy to forget that you may want to put your logo in places that more than one color either is not possible or is cost prohibitive. One example of this is for Promotional Products like pens where full color logos are just not practical. Think ahead here, and have your logo designed so that a single color version still looks good.

Watch the Fine Detail.

Fine detail is pretty in a picture, but it becomes very problematic especially for embroidery. Screen printing is better suited to handle this, but is not without it’s challenges.  The bottom line is that there are many elements that look great on a computer screen but absolutely cannot be embroidered and are difficult for screen printing.  Very small text, or very fine lines are the culprit here, and of course will cause the most trouble when used for a left chest logo. The goal is to keep the columns or fine lines in your design at least 1 mm in thickness.  As for text, while smaller than 1/4 inch in height can many times be accomplished that is a good goal to shoot for and at the same time, for left chest purposes, no more than 17 to 20 characters including spaces in a single row.  Avoid outlines on lettering less than 1 inch in height, particularily with embroidery as they generally do not look or work the best.  One final note is that gradients are more difficult for embroidery and are more expensive to have digitized. 

Recommendations

Our Recommendations are that if you can’t keep your design within these guidelines Have two different versions created that you can be happy with, one with all the bells and whistles, and one specifically for embroidery and or screen printing. Aside from that be sure that you get all of your artwork on disc from your designer saved in a number of formats to include both raster and vector images. Even though you may not be able to open some of these formats they will be extremely useful to your supplier, and you will have them ready to go when the need arises.

Follow these tips for logo design and your t-shirts printing or Embroidery will be much more productive and you will be more pleased with the result.

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