File Prep

Please use the following resources to prepare screen printing images, art files, and other t-shirt design specs for apparel printing.  Feel free to contact us if you still have questions or to share your file for a quote.

Prepare Your Art File

All files must be at least 300 ppi and in Vector Format.  If your file is 300 ppi, but not vector art, you cannot just increase the resolution of the file.  This is called “upsampling” and will result in a blurry image.  If you are creating your file in Adobe Illustrator or another Vector-based software, just size your image to the size you want it to print.

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Half Tones: If your design has half tones (gradients/shading), please allow us to manage this for you.  As a client, you may be inclined to try to separate, or halftone, the image yourself to keep the cost as low as possible.  Unfortunately, this does not work and may cause more art charges than you originally would have incurred.  Our computers in the art department are calibrated to set the halftones specifically for the films and screens that we use for printing.  If we do not control the halftones ourselves, we cannot guarantee the quality of the print.

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Accepted File Types

We accept the following File Types:

• Illustrator (.AI)*
• Vector (.EPS)*
• Photoshop (.PSD)
• .PDF*
• .JPEG / .JPG
• .TIFF

*We prefer .AI, .EPS, and sometimes .PDF files (if saved with “Preserve Editing Capabilities” checked), since Vector images can be scaled without affecting quality.  All other file types will need to be vectorized/recreated and will include additional art time.

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Size Your Design

Your design should at least be sized to the intended print size.  If you want your print to be 10″ wide, please be sure the actual design within the file is at least 10″ wide, not just the background (artboard) of your design file.  In order to fit on your selected shirt sizes from XS to 3X, and up, the following is an approximate guide for sizing the width of your design:

• Full Front = 11″
• Left/Right Front Chest = 3.5″
• Full Back = 12″
• Neck Tag = 3″
• Short Sleeve = 3″
• Long Sleeve = 3″ x 15″ tall
• Hats = 2.5″ tall

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Convert Your Text and Strokes to Outlines

If you are creating your file in Adobe Illustrator, you will need to choose “Create Outlines” on all your text.  This allows us to open the file without requiring the font.  Additionally, if strokes are not expanded, the width of the lines may not remain proportionate to the design when sized.  To do this, select the art and choose menu options: Options > Expand, or Expand Appearance > (Expand Options Box pops up, click “Okay” > (Repeat until outside stroke color box shows transparent)

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Color

Each color in your design will help determine the final cost of your order.  The more simple your design colors are, the more affordable.  If you provide us your artwork, we can assess your artwork needs and even help reduce the colors in your design as desired.  We can easily print up to 6 colors, and this will need to be in respect to how many items are ordered to print on.  We understand that some designs are complex, so another option may be to process your art for separations for a fee.  Please contact us for more information on our price breaks per ink color amount.  

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Clean-Up

Our printer is incredibly sensitive to even hidden details.  Sometimes there are hairline strokes that, though not visible on the computer screen, when not cleaned-up may affect the final result.  For the cleanest art possible these need to be deleted/addressed.  If working in Adobe Illustrator, you can use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Y.  This changes the view of your art space into a black and white screen showing only the outline – and those pesky lines that can be carefully deleted.  Remember to toggle back and forth between screen display modes (Ctrl + Y) to make sure parts that you want to keep aren’t accidentally being deleted.

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Final Checklist

From centering, to ensuring your print’s visibility and legibility, we are more than happy to assist in preparing your art for printing.   Here are some additional factors to consider when submitting your design, are all elements:

• Spelled correctly?
• Centered (horizontally and/or vertically)?
• Have clean edges?
• Clear of unneeded hairline strokes (see “Clean Up” above for reference)?
• Sized closely to the end result desired?
• Spaced apart far enough for clean printing (letters not touching, etc.)?
• Thick enough to be visible when printing smaller (no smaller than 1/16 – 1/32″)?

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We Got You Covered!

Whether your art is print-ready or needs some love, we offer the following services with Art Prep paying customers ($15 charge):

• Digital Proofs:  We provide custom mock-ups of your designs on the shirt style and locations you want, to visually communicate to all members the desired result.
• File Set-Up:  Your print will be professionally processed digitally, sized, and aligned with custom registration marks and file labeling.
• Handled With Care:  We will have no less than 3 (and, up to 5) team members check your art to provide the best quality result, such as accurate spelling and film precision.
• Film Creation:  Each print location is specifically placed for our printer, given color assignment(s), and aligned with absolute film-over-film precision.  If going on darker garments, we will create a custom underbase to ensure color vibrancy.