Logo Designs

Effective logos are very important to establishing a brand’s identity. It is the point of reference your customers will use to determine who you are, and what you do.

Whatever you decide a logo has to have meaning and has to tell the story of your company in a visual way. It needs to be simple enough that it can be easily recognized, unique enough to stand out and versatile enough to be applied to different mediums, applications and situations. It has to be memorable and be relevant to your business. That said, the Starbucks's logo is all these but has nothing to do with coffee and yet is a successful, instantly recognizable logo due to it’s uniqueness. Originality counts!

Designing Logos

A logo is the introduction to your brand and as with all first impressions, people will have a gut, emotional response. You have to think what you want that to be and how you can represent that visually. Who are you targeting, what are their likes and dislikes, what would they expect from a company like yours? What mood do you want to create, emotion to provoke, action to take, ideology to aspire to? What does that look like. Remember logo design is not about how well you can draw but how well you can communicate visually.

Raster vs Vector

Raster vs Vector Art



Raster

A raster file is an image composed of a finite set of dots called pixels. The word “pixel” comes from combining the “pix” in picture, and the “el” in element. So, essentially a pixel is a picture element.
Every pixel is square in shape and assigned a specific color. If you imagine a multi-colored chess board as being a close-up of a raster image, it can help paint a mental picture of what I’m describing.
Unlike a vector file, a raster file is dependent on the resolution of the file. The number of pixels that fit into a square inch determines the resolution. A 72 ppi (pixels per inch) file means that the image is only composed of 72 pixels in that square inch. A 300 ppi file means there are 300.
Smaller pixels means the image looks better on a computer monitor, phone or even your television.
What you need is to strike a balance based on your intention with the file.
More pixels = better quality.
Fewer pixels = faster download speed.
For files, the pixels per inch is the resolution of the actual file. Dots per inch, or dpi, refers to the capabilities of the printer used. Dpi is the density of the inkjet dot placement. It aligns with the pixels per square inch rule too, so the higher the number the better print quality.
For resolution, especially for production, you always want a bigger number.

Low Resolution = Bad

A low-resolution image is usually what someone “borrows” off of some website somewhere to use as the basis for their artwork.
An easy way to tell if the image will have reproduction challenges is to just look at the edges. If they are “stair-stepped” or look jagged, it’s going to be tough to get that to reproduce cleanly without a lot of work to that file. Just look at the image we chose for this article. See the choppy look at the background image has? That’s the indication of poor resolution.
When you ask for a higher resolution file and your customer just changes the resolution from 72 to 300 and sends it back to you, that isn’t solving the problem. When that file was transformed, the software program had to basically guess how it should look and filled in areas with pixels to make the change.
What’s added might not be a good solution.
While you can always make resolution lower, bumping things up to a higher resolution usually has unwanted consequences. Added in are artifacts, pixelation, and weird chunks of color fun.
Resampling doesn’t always work.

High Resolution = Good

For raster images, always try to get at least a 300 dpi file at the actual size it will be reproduced.
For these file types, the larger the physical dimensions of the file get, the more megabytes the file may be in size. A 300 dpi file at 12″ x 12″ in size could be a 37MB+ file, and even larger if there are unflattened layers. That’s usually not something that can be emailed. I recommend either setting up an FTP portal on your website or getting a Dropbox account.
Raster image file size can be a good indicator for image quality.
So when a customer shoots you a raster image that is 112K is file size, you may be in trouble.
Raster images are best for photographs, complex illustrations, banner ads, web graphics, and content for social media. Adobe Photoshop is the recognized best industry platform for manipulating these photographic images, but other software programs can be used as well. In addition, many designers have switched to Affinity Photo as an alternative as it is lower in price than the Adobe Creative Cloud.
Your best defense in getting great files is educating your customers on what you need in order do a good job. Have some predesigned educational material on your website, and saved as a one-pager that you can email a customer.
Educating your customer is always a good idea.

Answer to the Statement – “This is all I have”

If you are in business for any length of time, you are going to run into this statement concerning a poor resolution art file.
“Sorry, but this is all I have.”
How are you dealing with this challenge?
You need a policy that is standard for dealing with this challenge. Do you charge to fix this situation? Are you spending valuable art department time cleaning up that logo, or do you simply rely on a service that can do it for $10?
More often than not, this conversation is about a low-resolution logo file that is needed for the customer’s order.
Which brings us to…

Vector

Vector images are based on math, not pixels. If you remember your high school geometry class, if you plot two points on a graph, you can connect them with a line. Plot four, connect all of them with a line, and you have a box shape. With that shape defined you can make the line or the box a color.
What’s great about this type of image is that it can be enlarged or reduced in size and never lose fidelity.
For this reason, vector images are always the best choice for logos and type.
Your art director isn’t crazy for constantly harping that logos coming in for orders have to be vector files. It’s a quality control thing. He’s just annoyed that for something so basic, he has to constantly repeat the raster vs vector art instructions on what’s needed.

I know you’ve heard this:

  • Logos need to be vector files. This is so there aren’t any resolution challenges.
  • All Pantone colors labeled. Specifying these in the logo art file means nobody has to guess or ask questions later.
  • Fonts should be converted to outlines. This means that killer font you downloaded for free needs to be converted from that text file to vector paths so it reads correctly in the logo art file.
Vector files are always best when doing something with logos or text. The majority of designers use Adobe Illustrator, but there is a big contingent of CorelDraw users too. Also, like with Photoshop, the vector version of Affinity Designer is seeing some growth. It’s really a personal preference at this point, but with Adobe shifting everything to their cloud format many designers don’t want to be saddled with that expense forever.

Screen Printing Basics with IDG's Custom Screen Printing Palm Desert

Screen Printing Basics

When a design is produced using the screen printing method, actual screens are used in the process! Essentially, this screen is cut to make a stencil for the design. Ink is then spread over the screen, passing through to the object underneath only in the areas you want it to be. Only one color per screen can be used - so depending on the number of colors in the design, you’ll need multiple screens to produce the final item.

 


Our Service

Screen printing is the best way to put an amazing custom screen printed shirt design on a piece of clothing, and here at IDG screen printing in Palm Desert we handle the entire custom screen printed t shirt design process right on site! First we do the design work, making sure your graphics look great and will print perfectly on our quality screen printing products. If you only have an idea of what you want, our design team will personally guide you through creating a great design for your screen printed products. Next we'll help you pick the right product to put it on, be it a custom t-shirt, hoodie, tote bag, or any of thousands of possibilities.
We service Palm Desert, Palm Springs, Cathedral City, Indio, La Quinta, Indian Wells & the Coachella Valley
 Call us at: 760-469-4055
www.idgscreenprinting.com

Screen Printing Basics part 4 with IDG's Custom Screen Printing Palm Desert

1. Plan Out Your Color Scheme
When planning out your color palette in advance- it is helpful if you create mock-up designs to test colors-  this will help with any issues when it comes to printing time.



2. Use Adobe Illustrator or Corel Draw
If you have access to the Adobe Suite,  or Corel Draw then you should be using them to create your designs. This is important for using spot color and saving as vectors. Always be sure to save your designs in vector format! Unlike other formats (JPEG, GIF, or BMP), vector images can be resized without sacrificing quality. This helps especially if you’re planning to print the design across different materials such as business cards, postcards, t-shirts etc.
When using other products, like Photoshop, you’re creating a raster-based application. This means you are pretty much stuck with the original dimensions. This can greatly affect the quality of the printing process and final product.
A pro tip: Always create your design at a larger scale and higher resolution than you need as you can scale art down without any issues, but not the other way around.
If your artwork is hand-drawn and needs to be digitized, make sure that you have scanned your design at the correct resolution! Generally, if the drawing is actual size, then scanning at 300 dpi will produce the best end result. 

Raster vs Vector Art

Raster vs Vector Art



Raster

A raster file is an image composed of a finite set of dots called pixels. The word “pixel” comes from combining the “pix” in picture, and the “el” in element. So, essentially a pixel is a picture element.
Every pixel is square in shape and assigned a specific color. If you imagine a multi-colored chess board as being a close-up of a raster image, it can help paint a mental picture of what I’m describing.
Unlike a vector file, a raster file is dependent on the resolution of the file. The number of pixels that fit into a square inch determines the resolution. A 72 ppi (pixels per inch) file means that the image is only composed of 72 pixels in that square inch. A 300 ppi file means there are 300.
Smaller pixels means the image looks better on a computer monitor, phone or even your television.
What you need is to strike a balance based on your intention with the file.
More pixels = better quality.
Fewer pixels = faster download speed.
For files, the pixels per inch is the resolution of the actual file. Dots per inch, or dpi, refers to the capabilities of the printer used. Dpi is the density of the inkjet dot placement. It aligns with the pixels per square inch rule too, so the higher the number the better print quality.
For resolution, especially for production, you always want a bigger number.

Low Resolution = Bad

A low-resolution image is usually what someone “borrows” off of some website somewhere to use as the basis for their artwork.
An easy way to tell if the image will have reproduction challenges is to just look at the edges. If they are “stair-stepped” or look jagged, it’s going to be tough to get that to reproduce cleanly without a lot of work to that file. Just look at the image we chose for this article. See the choppy look at the background image has? That’s the indication of poor resolution.
When you ask for a higher resolution file and your customer just changes the resolution from 72 to 300 and sends it back to you, that isn’t solving the problem. When that file was transformed, the software program had to basically guess how it should look and filled in areas with pixels to make the change.
What’s added might not be a good solution.
While you can always make resolution lower, bumping things up to a higher resolution usually has unwanted consequences. Added in are artifacts, pixelation, and weird chunks of color fun.
Resampling doesn’t always work.

High Resolution = Good

For raster images, always try to get at least a 300 dpi file at the actual size it will be reproduced.
For these file types, the larger the physical dimensions of the file get, the more megabytes the file may be in size. A 300 dpi file at 12″ x 12″ in size could be a 37MB+ file, and even larger if there are unflattened layers. That’s usually not something that can be emailed. I recommend either setting up an FTP portal on your website or getting a Dropbox account.
Raster image file size can be a good indicator for image quality.
So when a customer shoots you a raster image that is 112K is file size, you may be in trouble.
Raster images are best for photographs, complex illustrations, banner ads, web graphics, and content for social media. Adobe Photoshop is the recognized best industry platform for manipulating these photographic images, but other software programs can be used as well. In addition, many designers have switched to Affinity Photo as an alternative as it is lower in price than the Adobe Creative Cloud.
Your best defense in getting great files is educating your customers on what you need in order do a good job. Have some predesigned educational material on your website, and saved as a one-pager that you can email a customer.
Educating your customer is always a good idea.

Answer to the Statement – “This is all I have”

If you are in business for any length of time, you are going to run into this statement concerning a poor resolution art file.
“Sorry, but this is all I have.”
How are you dealing with this challenge?
You need a policy that is standard for dealing with this challenge. Do you charge to fix this situation? Are you spending valuable art department time cleaning up that logo, or do you simply rely on a service that can do it for $10?
More often than not, this conversation is about a low-resolution logo file that is needed for the customer’s order.
Which brings us to…

Vector

Vector images are based on math, not pixels. If you remember your high school geometry class, if you plot two points on a graph, you can connect them with a line. Plot four, connect all of them with a line, and you have a box shape. With that shape defined you can make the line or the box a color.
What’s great about this type of image is that it can be enlarged or reduced in size and never lose fidelity.
For this reason, vector images are always the best choice for logos and type.
Your art director isn’t crazy for constantly harping that logos coming in for orders have to be vector files. It’s a quality control thing. He’s just annoyed that for something so basic, he has to constantly repeat the raster vs vector art instructions on what’s needed.

I know you’ve heard this:

  • Logos need to be vector files. This is so there aren’t any resolution challenges.
  • All Pantone colors labeled. Specifying these in the logo art file means nobody has to guess or ask questions later.
  • Fonts should be converted to outlines. This means that killer font you downloaded for free needs to be converted from that text file to vector paths so it reads correctly in the logo art file.
Vector files are always best when doing something with logos or text. The majority of designers use Adobe Illustrator, but there is a big contingent of CorelDraw users too. Also, like with Photoshop, the vector version of Affinity Designer is seeing some growth. It’s really a personal preference at this point, but with Adobe shifting everything to their cloud format many designers don’t want to be saddled with that expense forever.

SCREEN PRINTING VS VINYL HOW TO CHOOSE

SCREEN PRINTING VS VINYL

Taking a look into the differences between heat vinyl press and screen printing when making a custom t shirt. Let's begin...

Both will give you a quality, a long lasting product, and in most cases either option will work just as well as the other with a few differences. So let's take a look at those differences.



Vinyl press plotter machine (Vinyl Heat Transfer)

With the vinyl heat transfer process, a heat press machine is used to cut out simple designs and letters in pieces of colored vinyl. the heat press is then used to transfer each vinyl color of the design onto the object being pressed through a process that uses a combination of heat and pressure.This is usually done for smaller runs and only a few colors.

Screen printing 

When a design is produced using the screen printing method, actual screens are used in the process. The design is burned onto the screens, ink is then spread over the screen, passing through to the garment underneath only in the areas you want it to be. Only one color per screen, so depending on the number of colors in the design, you may need multiple screens to produce the final output on the item. Screen printing is usually for higher quantity runs and multiple color output.





Thanks for joining us.

You can find us at www.impressiondesign.com or give us a call at 760-469-4055. 

Screen Printing Basics part 3 with IDG's Custom Screen Printing Palm Desert

Size of the Artwork

If you use the same size graphic on different sized shirts, the graphic stays the same size across all shirt sizes. We can scale the image down to make a smaller graphic for the smaller shirts but another screen will need to be made and that is added expense. So if at all possible make your graphic size work for all your garment sizes. Most clients find a way to do this
screen printing graphic sizes


Call Today 760-469-4055.
 www.impressiondesign.com
Make your first impression a lasting one!
Our screen printing service area includes Indio, Palm Desert, Palm Springs, Cathedral City, La Quinta, Desert Hot Springs, Indian Wells, and the greater Coachella Valley.