Custom artwork means you are uploading your own artwork to our website or emailing us with artwork to use on a printed product. An example of a custom image would be a corporate logo such as the Apple logo, Heinz logo, Geico logo, or any logo that you own or have authorization to use and would like to have on a printed product. Products with the option to have custom artwork will be noted as such in the product’s price table and/or product description. There also will be an upload tool on the product that allows you to upload the image you would like to have printed. Most products with the upload option will include an email proof that you will receive within a few days of placing the order. Please refer to the price table for the specific product to confirm if a proof is included, or contact us if you are not certain.

We also offer the option to personalize products using our standard designs and typestyles. Personalized products usually will have the word “personalized” in the product name and typically will be in a category of products separate from custom logo products. Also, the price will not be the same for a personalized product and a custom logo product. In most cases the custom logo products will be more expensive and the process for using custom art is more involved than when personalizing a product with standard fonts and clip art.

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The answer is a BIG YES. We can print on almost any promotional item you could think of. For example, we can print on USB storage devices, bags, footballs, rugs, t-shirts, etc. Please contact us for more information on items you do not see on our website and we will be happy to help you with a custom price quote.

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Set up fees are an additional charge above the cost of the actual product. This fee includes the cost for the screen (if applicable), custom plate (if applicable), and other administrative fees. On almost every product we offer with the option to upload art, there will be a set up fee. On certain items there is a set up fee per color and print location. On other products there may be only one set up fee, regardless of the number of colors being printed. On some products, by simply changing the imprint color or even the product color within a lot, you will incur a new set up fee. The fee structure varies depending on the specific item being ordered. Each product should include this information in the price table. As a general rule, set up fees are waived on reorders as long as the order is placed for the same item within one year of the most recent order. Reorders not within this time frame usually will incur a half-price set up fee. More information is available in the price section for the specific product being ordered.

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As a general rule, the logo should be a vector file. This is a special type of file that is typically created in a program such as Adobe Illustrator or Corel Draw. A vector file is scalable and highly editable. The file extension is most commonly .ai, .eps, .svg, or .pdf. Please note that just because the file was saved in this format and has this extension, it is not necessarily a vector file. If you are not sure whether the file is vector, please contact us and we will let you know whether or not the image is acceptable for printing.

All text in the vector file should be converted to outline (which essentially means the text is converted to art and our graphics software will not read the text as a font). Converting to outline is necessary because in most cases we do not have the font and thus the text will not appear correctly when opened by our art department. If you are not sure if the file is in outline format, please contact us.

If you do not have access to the vector version of the image or if you are having difficulty converting the text to outline, we offer the service to correct the file for you. See the link below for art correction services.

Click here for Art Correction Services

For some items we only require a high resolution image (usually at least 300 dpi). The file extension will usually be .jpg, .tiff, or .png. Items that typically do not require vector art are digitally printed items. Digital printing is discussed in more detail in the section below.

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There are certain products for which the artwork does not have to be a vector file. This is most often the case with digitally printed products. In some cases, if you have a high resolution image, we may be able to use the file without the need for vector art. To determine whether or not your art will work, please contact us at [email protected]tions.com and include your art along with the specific item you are interested in having printed.

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Digital Printing (also known as 4-color process) is when all colors are printed at the same time using CMYK colors. A digital printer is essentially a larger/industrial version of the ink jet printer you may have at home. Digital printing is useful when printing a full color photograph on a napkin, koozie, cup, coaster, etc. When printing digitally, we are able to print shadows, gradients, and halftones. Another benefit of digital printing is that it tends to be a less expensive print method when printing multiple colors on small print runs. For digital printing, the artwork should be a high resolution image (usually at least 300 dpi or even better 600 dpi). The file extensions usually will be .jpg, .tiff, or .png. Depending on the product, printing digitally will not be as crisp or defined as with our other printing methods. Below are two examples. The napkin on the left was printed digitally and the napkin on the right was printed via pad print. Notice how much more crisp the pad printed version is compared to the full color process version. This is especially noticeable in the peacock part of logo.

Digitally Printed Napkin/Full Color Process

Pad Printed Napkin

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Halftones are a percentage of a solid color. The napkin example below shows an image with a halftone paying homage to the television series Mad Men. Parts of the image are 100% black but certain parts are only a percentage of black. When a color is printed as a percentage (e.g., 20% or 40%, etc.), it will appear dottier. Sometimes this can work to great an effect as in the example below, but it is something to consider if you do not want this look. On certain products there is a minimum and maximum percentage we can print a color (e.g., min of 20% and max of 40%). This will depend on the item so please contact us if this is a concern with the item you are ordering. If you do not want the finished product to have this grainy appearance, the other option would be to print as a separate color and not as a percentage of black, or simply remove the halftone and leave the color of the item.

A gradient is when a color scales from dark to light or light to dark. Gradients can be very subtle or very dramatic. In most cases, we can only print gradients when printing digitally. Below is an example of a gradient.

Halftone on a napkin

Example of a gradient

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When you want your logo to look very bold or especially shiny, then hot stamp may be the ideal print method. Hot stamp does not use ink when printing. It is a heat and pressure method of printing, where a machine heats the foil paper and then stamps the product being printed. This is a great option if you do not need to match a specific PMS/Pantone color (PMS is a standard for matching colors). However, if you do need to match a PMS color, then foil may not be ideal as it cannot be matched to a specific color. Also, hot stamp printing is best when you have a simple logo without a lot of detail. If the logo has a lot of detail, hot stamping will not look good because the foil does not always lift cleanly and there could be a lot of remnant fill-in on the finished print job. Hot stamping is not only for shiny logos. Foils come in both matte finish and a shiny finish. Below is an example of a logo printed with hot stamp silver metallic foil compared to a logo that was screen printed with a metallic silver ink.

Hot Stamp – Metallic Silver Foil

Screen Print – Metallic Silver Ink 877

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On many of our products we do offer the option to have a metallic ink instead of a metallic foil. Metallic ink will not be as shiny as a foil but it is a much better option for a logo with a lot of detail. On many products we only offer the option to print with ink so in that case, a metallic ink will be the only option. Below is an example of our metallic ink on a cup and on a napkin.

PMS 874 - Metallic Antique Gold Ink on Napkin

PMS 871 – Metallic Gold Ink on Stadium Cup

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Foil/hot stamp printing involves an extremely hot lever pressing down on a foil paper, which then leaves an impression on the item being printed. Once the impression is made, the lever is lifted. The main issue with this printing method is that when the lever is lifted from the product, a logo with a lot of detail may be left with excess foil in the small spaces of the logo/design (i.e., there may be fill-in in the small white areas of a "B" or an "A" or any small white space in a logo or design). For this reason, we often recommend using ink instead of foil/hot stamp. Ink tends to print a lot better than foil and is an especially perfect solution if your artwork has a lot of fine details. Though a foil can be a matte color as well as metallic, often a customer will want or associate foil with that shiny/metallic look. However, on many products, we offer a metallic ink that is a great alternative to foil/hot stamp. Below is an example of how metallic ink printing compares to metallic foil/hot stamp printing.

Hot Stamp/Foil - Metallic Gold Foil on Napkin

PMS 871 – Metallic Gold Ink on Napkin

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A PMS color is the abbreviation for “Pantone Matching System.” In the simplest terms, it is a color standard used within the design/printing industry. For products that meet the requirements to be printed using PMS colors, we are able to come very close to the specific color. It may not be an exact match in every scenario, but as a general rule it will be very close. The material the PMS color is being printed on can sometimes affect the final color, thus the shade being slightly off.

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In many cases, we can print a logo as a multi-color imprint but ultimately this will depend on the product the logo is being printed on and the logo that is being printed. When printing digitally (the same concept as a home printer that prints all colors at once), we almost always can print a multi-color logo. However, many items cannot be printed digitally so there may be more limitations to the number of colors that can be printed. The main issue with printing multiple color logos on a product that is not being digitally printed is the registration between colors. Each color in the logo is printed separately, so depending on how close the colors are in proximity to each other, we may not be able to line up the colors properly. Also, because many products are printed by hand, registration of colors can vary within a lot from one item to the next. For example, if ordering a cup with a 2-color imprint, the logo could look perfectly printed on one cup and appear slightly off on another cup in the same lot. The printer typically will decline printing an item if they feel they cannot do a good job printing the product. That being said, proofs will include a disclaimer noting that colors can vary up, down, left, and right and this is not considered a defect. Below is an example of a logo on a cup and on a napkin that is not perfectly aligned.

To determine whether or not your logo can be printed as a multi-color logo please contact us with the art you would like printed and the item you would like the art printed on. We will let you know what options are available.

Notice the white showing between the red and black on the cup on the left. This registration may vary from cup to cup.

Notice the larger space of white between the black and the brown on the napkin on the left. This registration may vary from napkin to napkin.

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Yes, we can print production samples prior to an order. The price to do this will vary depending on the item being ordered. In most cases, the cost will be the set up fees for the item and a smaller fee for the printed sample. If everything stays the same for the production order, then the set up fees will be waived on the actual order. Typically, the lead time for production samples will be the same as an actual order so please plan accordingly if you want to see a sample in advance. If interested in a production sample, please contact us for more information.

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Production time for a logo order will vary depending on the item being ordered and when we receive proof approval. Each product has a production and shipping tab that provides this information. When placing the order, during the checkout process there is a field requesting an in-hands date. We will look at this date and get in touch with you if we see any issues meeting the in-hands date. We also offer different rush options, which vary depending on the product and quantity ordered. To confirm whether or not the in-hands date is realistic, please contact us with the order details and the artwork and we will let you know what options are available.

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