Good clear high resolution or vector artwork is crucial for a great screen print.

When you zoom in on the artwork on screen it should appear crisp with clean edges free of pixellation.

To ensure you get a great final product take the time to prepare your artwork for printing following these guidelines:

Print Ready Artwork Guidelines

Print ready art must be submitted in these formats:

Vector Files – .ai .pdf .eps .svg
Raster Files – .psd .png .jpg
Raster Files must be 300dpi to print size or larger

Our current standard "full front or back" print size is 13 x 16, and limited to 15Wx17H. A typical "Left Chest" print size is 4 x 4 inches. Keep this in mind when you create your files. If you start your design work at 100% print size at a resolution of 300dpi you are already on your way to print success!

If your art isn’t print ready:

If the art is not print ready our Art Department can typically recreate it at our hourly art rate. We can estimate a time frame to prepare the artwork for print. If you aren’t sure your art is print ready, simply send it over and we can take a look.

Raster vs Vector

Raster files are made up of pixels which can not be increased in size without degrading quality, which is why we prefer vector files for screen printing and embroidery. Vector files are made up of equations making them infinitely scalable, without losing quality. Raster files must be 300dpi to print size or larger.

Outline Fonts

If your files contain text, you need to create outlines around the fonts. Simply right click the text and hit create outline, or expand your file in the object menu. This ensures the fonts will print how they were intended.

Include Pantone Colors

We use Pantone Solid Coated for matching colors of ink and thread to your design. To get the most accurate reproduction include the pantone colors in your file. You can easily convert a pantone color in illustrator and photoshop, but it’s always recommended to check it to the physical pantone book since monitors/screens all display differently. We include pantone references in our online proofing for all screen print orders.

Minimum Font & Line Size

For the best results check your fonts are no smaller than 8pt, and lines no thinner than 1 pt. Inverse art and negative space text need even larger sizes to print well. Small details of negative space must be exagerrated to make up for gain (filling in) on press. It is helpful to print your design out to size if it has small elements to make sure they will look good when printed and legible from a distance.

Artwork Services

Union Press has a full  in-house Art Department. If you don’t have artwork, or your art is not print ready, we can create or re-create for you at our low hourly rates. From a sketch on a napkin, to editing a photo for screen print, our creative team can bring your great ideas to life. We also offer branding and logo design services to give your business or project a proffessional image.

Simulated Color Separations

To screen print photographic, high color, or gradient images we must create simulated color separations. This takes additional art time to prepare the artwork for printing. Simulated processes typically use 7+ colors to reproduce an image. We also often use simulated process to create a 'high color look' with limited print color.

Halftones

If your artwork has gradients these will need to be halftones for print. Unless you are a screen ready artwork pro, leave the halftones to us, we'll set the right line count and angle for color gain.