What Artwork to Send Us (and Why Your Logo From WhatsApp Won’t Print Well)

Roughly a third of orders arrive with a logo that can't be printed at the size requested. It's almost never the customer's fault — the file they have is the file someone sent them. Here's how to tell whether yours will work.

Send vector if you possibly can

Vector files describe your logo as mathematical shapes, so they scale to any size without losing quality. The same file works on a pen and on a banner.

Vector formats: .ai, .eps, .pdf (saved from design software), .svg, .cdr

Whoever designed your logo has one of these. It's worth one email to find it — it removes the single biggest source of print problems permanently.

If you only have a raster image

JPG, PNG and WhatsApp exports are made of pixels, so enlarging them makes them blurry. They can still work if they're big enough to start with:

• 300 DPI at final print size is the rule. A logo printed 10 cm wide needs to be about 1200 pixels wide.
• PNG with a transparent background beats JPG every time — a JPG carries a white box around your logo that will show on a coloured garment.
• A screenshot of a logo is never enough. Screens are 72–96 DPI.

Things that quietly cause problems

• Very fine lines or small text. Embroidery can't hold detail below roughly 4 mm; laser engraving can go far finer.
• Gradients on screen prints. Each colour is a separate screen — gradients need DTF or sublimation.
• Logos in a Word or PowerPoint file. Extractable, but usually at low resolution. Ask for the original.
• Untold Pantone colours. If your brand red must match exactly, tell us the Pantone code. Otherwise we match by eye.

Don't have anything usable?

We redraw logos as vector files as part of our branding service. Send whatever you have — even a photograph of a signboard or a business card — and we'll tell you honestly whether it can be rebuilt.

You'll always see a mockup showing exactly how your artwork sits on the product before we print. Nothing goes to production without your approval.