Artwork FAQ's

All I have is an idea for my design, do you do custom artwork?

We can create original Logos, layout, and artwork for you, or we can use an existing design that you have created. Many large Clip-art libraries are available to us for use in the design. Visit sites like these to help you find the images you are looking for:

Photo and vector image sites

clipart.com
istockphoto.com

Embroidery design site

dakotacollectibles.com

How much do you charge for artwork creation?

Artwork creation fees start at $35 an hour.

I have my own design. What type of file should I send?

When submitting designs, please keep a few things in mind that may save you money:

We prefer certain file formats over others because of their reliability and our own software tools.
Any cleanup or reworking of the original art files by our designers will add more cost to the final price of the project.

A quick crash course in design terminology:

Raster art: Raster art is the standard term for a pixel based image.

Raster files are more suited to photographs or images with a large amount of detail. A JPG or GIF is an example of raster art, in which tiny blocks of color make up the image. The more block density that you have the higher the overall resolution. A 72 dpi image 1" X 1" is made up of 5184 (72x72) blocks of color. if increased to 5"x5" it still contains 5184 blocks of color information. The larger the blocks the more jagged the image appears. Because your computer monitor only displays at 72 dpi, a picture that looks acceptable on the screen will not necessarily look good printed. A good resolution for most print projects is around 300 dpi. At this resolution the pixels are no longer visible to the human eye. Any photos or scans that are submitted for artwork should be sent at the needed size and resolution for final production.

Vector art: A vector image is made of mathematically defined lines and shapes that are assigned properties such as color and stroke.

This allows the shapes to be rotated and transformed easily allowing you to share full control of a composition. In the raster definition the computer sees a raster file as many tiny little color blocks that make up an image. Because the computer has to store each block in memory, file sizes can get large even on simple images. A vector image is different because the computer defines the shape and its characteristics. A 1" square with a fill color of black will be the same file size at 5" inches without a loss of definition.

Proof: an example from the designer to the client of artwork that is being submitted for approval.

Production ready art: Artwork that can be used immediately by our designers without any cleanup or reworking of the original file.

Non-production ready art: Artwork that is not print ready. Our designers have to take the time to redraw or clean up some artwork to make it acceptable for production. This will usually result in a design fee being added onto the project.

If available, do you prefer vector art or raster art?

When available we prefer vector art over raster for most projects. All type and logos should be in vector format. If you are using a font that is unusual or proprietary, please include the actual font file with your order or change your font into vector outlines using your design software (in illustrator select type and use the "create outlines" function in your type menu). If raster elements are used they should be at least 300 dpi and the size of the final print. Make sure that any raster files used are embedded into the final output file, because some programs just link to graphic files on you computer instead of saving them within that file.

Acceptable Production Ready Vector file formats:
(all of these programs can contain raster and vector art within the same file)

Corel Draw 12 and earlier
Adobe illustrator cs and earlier
PDF
EPS

Acceptable raster art
(300dpi or better at print size)
PDF
TIFF

Non-production ready files:
(Use of these files will typically result in artwork charges)

Word
Excel
Publisher
Freehand
JPEG
GIF
WMF
Scanned images
Page layout files (Quark, InDesign, PageMaker)

 Caps
 Visors
 Dress shirts
 T-shirts
 Jackets
 Badges
 Patches
  Motorcycle
  Fire
  Police
 Letter Jackets
 Indoor Banners
 Buttons
 Mousepads
 Coffee Mugs
 Hair Ribbons
 Name Tags

 Advertising
 Products
  Keychains
  Pens
  Sports bottles
  Koozies
  and more...

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