An Insider's Graphic Design Tips
for the Creation of Production Ready Artwork for Promotional Products.

Imprinting on promotional products is a specialty and requires some care and skill when setting up your production file. With nearly a million different products and dozens of imprinting methods the production process can get confusing.

K.I.S.S. Keep it Simple-Sweetie! In most cases promotional products have a very limited amount of imprinting space. Make sure you use highly readable fonts and your text conveys the basics of your message. Keep it short and simple!

Whose got your number? Promotional products are usually printed with ink colors referenced by a numerical system known as Pantone Matching System (PMS). When submitting your artwork you should supply a PMS Spot Color number for each submitted color. If you are printing in CMYK process color make sure you submit the color formula for your graphic. Please keep in mind that exact matches to PMS Spot colors and CMYK formulas in most cases cannot be 100% guaranteed. Don’t know your PMS color? The printer of your business cards does.

Tip 1:
Make sure you’re your publishing software is set up and the file is compiled in the proper color gambit for the imprint method. A production file for promotional products should never be submitted in RGB color formulation. 99.9% of all promotional products are printed in PMS Spot Colors or in CMYK Process color.

Make the Call: Promotional products hare manufactured in a variety of environments with different imprint methods. Consider calling your promotional products representative and confirm the method that your project is likely to utilize. Once your imprint method is determined you the file set up is a breeze! This would be a great time to to get on the first name basies and establish a relationship in with a promotional product professional. A good rep can save you a lot of cash and a great deal of hassle. Don’t waste too much time surfing the web looking for product assistance. Most of the call centers that support web based promotional products companies don’t know the difference between coffee mug and a fleece vest and don’t have a clue about graphics.

Artwork Tips:

Beware of screens, halftones, shadows, and gradients of any kind. In most imprinting applications associated with promotional products, writing instruments, ceramics, engraving, and screen-printed items gradients are not recommended or not possible.

Adding Weight? Promotional products are special in that there are a huge number of imprinting possibilities. Be aware that with each imprinting method there are limitations to minimum line thickness and font size that can be reproduced. This is very important when printing in “Reverse.” Make sure you know what the minimum limitations for fonts and line weight for your imprint method. Big, bold, and simple are the rules of thumb.

Know the difference! 99.9% of promotional products are printed from Vector Art Files. Vector Art, the preferred format, can be enlarged and reduced without affecting the quality of the imprint and is resolution independent. Common Vector formats include Adobe Illustrator .EPS files. The redheaded stepchild of graphics world is Raster based files and this file type is resolution dependent. When you change the size of an imprint you also change the quality of the image. This means that the resolution of the file is critical and must be at least 600 dpi for most promotional product applications. Common raster files are: JPEG, GIF, PIC. Sending or nesting a in a low-resolution raster image; (“web images”, JPEGs) within an .EPS file will not magically increase the resolution. It just moves the problem to someone else’s workstation. Sending in a raster file when a vector file is required will almost always incur additoanl charages.

Insider Tip 2:
When you crank up the ol’ computer to create your file please resist the urge to save the file in the latest version of the software. For example, assume Adobe just released CS2 today and you bought the first retail copy. It would be inadvisable to create and save the artwork and the .EPS file in CS2 because the factory that produces the order may have CS1 and would be unable to open a CS2 file. It would be better to save the file in an older version and would reduce the possibility for an unforeseen delay.

Fonts! Make sure that you convert all fonts to curves/outlines when creating your file. We can go into the technical explanation on why this is so important but the short hand is this: Failure to convert the fonts to outlines will cause delays in your project and could produce “undesirable results.” (Most image setters really like Courier and like to insert it for missing fonts…)

Are You Registered? Color registration is a little tricky and when you peel back the onion it gets down to this little detail: The registration between colors is not absolute on every promotional product. Make sure you know the limitations of the process for the selected product. Hairline registration may not be possible for some items and especially true on ceramic products. Registration can become an issue when multi-colors are printed in close proximity to each other. This is a great time to review the K. I. S.S. rule. There are special imprint processes and techniques to assist with tight registration issues and they very by product. This is a great time to ask your promotional products representative to explain the available options for your product.

Have questions: webhelperone@bantapromo.com, www.bantapromo.com