One client logo, six different answers
The pens go to a pad printer, the polos to an embroiderer, the tumblers to a laser, the tees to a screen printer. Same logo, same client, four suppliers — and four different opinions about whether your file is acceptable.
What each method needs
| Method | Needs | Where it breaks |
|---|---|---|
| Screen print | Separable paths, one group per ink, spot colours named | Gradients and photographic detail; anything under about 0.5 mm of stroke |
| Embroidery | Clean outlines to digitize from, then a stitch file (DST, PES, JEF) | Fine text under roughly 5 mm; tight counters in letters fill in |
| Laser engraving | Vector paths for cut lines, or a high-contrast raster for fill engraving | Mid-tones on most substrates; the laser fires or it does not |
| Pad printing | Vector, one plate per colour, generous trap | Very fine detail — the pad distorts as it picks up and lays down |
| Rotary / diamond engraving | Single-line or outline vector geometry | Filled artwork with no usable centreline |
| Digital / DTF transfer | High-resolution raster is acceptable, vector still preferred | Low-resolution web images — the most forgiving method, still not magic |
Every column above starts from vector. It is the only form that converts down to all of them: separations, a digitizing source, a cut line, a plate, a high-resolution raster. From a JPG off the client's website you can produce one of those, poorly, and you will be paying someone to rebuild it before the first sample ships.
The step worth automating
Getting from what the client sent to clean vector is the same operation every time, on every order, for every method. It is repetitive, it is well defined, and it is bought file by file at a price that nobody totals up.
What comes after — choosing the imprint, setting the trap, deciding what to drop at 15 mm — is judgement, and it should stay with your art department. We are not suggesting otherwise.
Convert a client logo freeWhat distributors ask
Because they are doing different things with it. A DTF transfer can work from a good raster; a pad printer needs a plate per colour and cannot make one from pixels. The file did not change, the requirement did.
Because it is the only form that converts down to all of them. From clean paths you can produce separations, a digitizing source, a cut line and a high-resolution raster. Starting from a JPG you can produce exactly one of those, badly.
Extremely. Most small businesses never received the source files, or lost them when the designer moved on. It is the default situation, not the exception, which is why art charges exist as a line item across the industry.
Count the orders last quarter where the client artwork was not usable as supplied, multiply by your supplier art charge, then by four. Most distributors have never run that number, which is precisely why it never gets managed.
On the conversion itself — getting from what the client sent to clean vector. That step is repetitive and well defined. Choosing the imprint method, setting the trap, deciding what to drop at small sizes: those stay with your art department, and should.
If promotional product decoration is your business, you are probably paying per file.
An outside art service charges 6 to 26 dollars a logo and comes back the next day. Redrawing it yourself costs half an hour you could bill. A year here is $49 for 25 conversions every month, every machine format included, which works out cheaper than two outsourced logos.
Everything on this page stays free. This is only worth it if you do volume.