Why your logo looks bad on promotional products… and what you can do to fix it
Have you ever sent your logo to a promotional products decorator, an embroidery shop, or a print shop, only to have them tell you, “Sorry, your art is no good.”
If so, do you know what that even means?
Thing is, there is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to putting a logo on a promotional product. The specs of a logo you send to a printer for flyers won’t necessarily work for those needed to put your logo on an umbrella.
We get it; things get confusing. But we want to help you learn how to design a logo for branded items or promotional products. Read on to learn what kind of logos look good on promotional products—and which ones might need a little work.
An example of artwork that will look good on only some promotional products
Let’s take a look at a logo that will work on some products, but not all. Here, we have a full-color logo for a fictional company, the Sad Yeti Widget Co.
It looks great in full-color, doesn’t it? And this would work perfectly for digitally printed products, like business cards, flyers, and even some t-shirts (depending on finishing technique).
But what if the logo can’t be printed in full color?
If you want this logo foil stamped, embossed, etched, or done with letterpress, it won’t work so well.
Why?
Because with many decorating techniques, your artwork needs to be pure black and white. The black is what would be imprinted, embossed, or etched. The white is the negative space.
The sad little Yeti shown above gives the promotional products decorator no idea what will be imprinted and what will be the negative space.
Here’s what that yeti would look like if a promotional products decorator used the logo as it was sent to them:
Not good, right? Not to worry. A logo like this doesn’t necessarily need modification; it just needs variations of the primary logo.
Let’s see if we can make this sad yeti work for any type of decorating method.
An example of artwork that can be used on (nearly) any promotional product
Ok, little yeti, your original logo will remain your primary logo.
But let’s see if we can make some modifications so that the yeti will look nicer on other branded giveaways like foil stamped calendars or etched awards.
Much better, right? Rather than just a fuzzy blob, we can still tell it’s the yeti, even though it’s just black and white. By choosing areas that will be imprinted (black) and areas that will be the negative space (white), this little yeti now stands out as an imprintable 1-color logo.
Want to make sure your logo works on all sorts of promotional products like this one does? This is where you need the help of a trusted graphic designer.
What should I ask my designer for when creating a new logo for my business?
Here are the variations of your logo you should request when working with a graphic designer:
- A vector logo. Never accept a JPG as your primary logo format. In order for your logo to work in various mediums (like on a truck, on a coaster, or a calendar), you’ll need a vector logo that can be resized without losing any image quality. AI (Adobe Illustrator) files are the best vector format. You can also have vector files as PDF or EPS, but only if those have been saved in Adobe Illustrator or another vector graphics program.
- PMS (Pantone) version. You need a PMS version of your logo for printing techniques like ink offset printing and screen printed products. This includes anything from pocket folders to tote bags.
- CMYK version. Useful for digital printing. Many promotional products decorators are able to use CMYK logos. Not sure where CMYK is used? Think post cards, business cards, and even t-shirt designs can be CMYK (but not always; it’s best to check with your printer first).
- RGB version. You need an RGB version of your logo for your website, social media, and email campaigns. It’s ok to get a JPG format for your RGB logo.
- Grayscale version. Though grayscale logos aren’t used much anymore, they are still helpful when a document needs to be printed in black and white, but gradients or varying shades of gray are acceptable.
- Black and white version. This is needed for decorating processes like foil stamping and embossing. You need a version with a distinct area that will be imprinted (that is the black area), and the area that won’t be imprinted (that’s the white area).
Here are some optional logo variations to ask for:
- Logomark-only or text-only. If your logo includes both a picture or icon (ie, logomark) AND text, it might be helpful to have variations with just the image and just the text. For example, your logomark might not scale down well enough to fit on the barrel of a pen, but the text-only version of your logo might work just fine.
- Square (for social media). What this looks like depends entirely on the original shape of your logo. Some brands use just their logomark, others have a “stacked” version of their logo. If your standard logo is rectangular, consider a square version for social media purposes.
This might seem like a lot to ask for, but having this collection of logos on hand will make working with outside vendors like print shops and promotional products decorators that much easier.
We can help put your logo on promotional products
If you don’t understand graphic design or what “good” or “bad” artwork means, don’t worry. Small promotional products distributors (like us) are really good at working with customers who don’t know vector from bitmap.
When in doubt, ask for help. Send us an email to start a conversation or give us a call at (800) 475-2255.