MoJo's Guide to: Artwork

By Rae Laverick

Our guide to Artwork and understanding the options available.

VECTOR ARTWORK = Screen printed, pad printed, engraved or embossed products.

These files usually come in one of the following formats: Adobe Illustrator, Editable PDF, Editable EPS.

RASTER (or Vector) ARTWORK = Digitally printed or embroidered products.

These files usually come in one of the following formats: Jpeg, PNG, Giff, PSD.

If you want to find out more about these types of artwork, check out our article ‘Raster VS Vector Artwork’.

Things to consider when using vector artwork:

  • Text is outlined for final design so it doesn’t default when opened on another computer.
  • Confirm your Pantone references for all print colours.
  • Infinitely scalable artwork making it ideal for everything from business cards to billboards.

Things to consider when using raster artwork:

  • Enlarged images can pixelate due to being made up of squares of colour.
  • Make sure your colour profile is set to CYMK.
  • Always draw up the design to scale of branding area at 300DPI.
  • Quality of the image depends on DPI.

MoJo Tips

When you come to drawing up artwork, make sure you consider the product's print area. However, if it is a complex print area, you can always ask for a PDF template to draw it up on. The best way to get an idea of how your design will look is to print it out to size and stick it onto a plain stock sample. However, beware that depending on print method, registered trademarks may fill in if they are printed too small. If you are concerned about this, please speak to us. When flood printing a product like a mousemat or a paper pad, make sure you are including 3mm of bleed to all the edges. A final design thought for you, if your product has a coloured trim, print in the same colour to tie these colours together. E.g red trim, white pen and a red print to make tie all these colours together.

Services

Free of charge

  • Simple text designs
  • Layout of supplied logos and text

Charged services

  • Complicated design layouts
  • Conversion of raster artwork into vector artwork
  • Logo & design creation