Understanding artwork
This page is here to help you have a better understanding of some of the subtleties of artwork file requirements.
Embroidered logos.
Embroidered logos undoubtedly add a strong element of quality to an item. It should be remembered that you are unlikely to obtain the depth of resolution in embroidery that you might expect with digital, vinyl or traditional screen printing.
Whilst a larger logo may offer more surface area for detail, that comes at a financial cost of higher stich count and embroidery time.
Given this trade-off, we generally encourage simpler logo designs.
How are logos or artwork created?
Normally we would see any artwork created in Adobe Illustrator and saved as a vector file.
I have a Vector file!
Awesome! A vector file is our preference as all aspects of the logo (size, shapes and colors) can be modified without impacting quality. This gives us much more flexibility when preparing your artwork.
Examples of vector file extensions would be .pdf .eps .ai and .svg
I have a Raster file.
We can work with Raster files but it should be noted that this format lacks flexibility in how we can modify it.
Essentially, if you are using a raster file, it will need to be in an acceptable color format and sized correctly.
Correct sizing means a minimum of 300 dpi at the requested logo size. If we need to upscale the image then quality will be affected.
Examples of raster file extensions are: .psd .png .jpg and .bmp
Is your logo digitized?
This is a required next step beyond having a vector or raster file. Digitizing allows the artwork to be recognized by the embroidery machine software. This in turn allows for the manipulation of size, stich density, stich style and so on.
There is a one-of cost associated with digitizing your file for your first project. Thereafter, you own the file and it can be used on future projects without additional costs.
I only have a physical copy of my logo.
If no soft copies of your artwork exists then we can look at options such as taking a picture of the logo and digitizing it. Alternatively we could digitize from scratch. Both are manual processes and would have additional costs associated with the process.
I am curious about styles of embroidery.
How artwork is embroidered to an item is another subject in its own right! There are many styles and associated processes, which are covered here.