Vectors and artwork explained. We are so often sent logos for the large format print products in bitmap or jpeg format and I just wanted to help our customers understand how to get the best possible result when for example printing a tablecloth.
Boring technical bit - a vector file is made up of mathematical formulas - it's normally an Adobe Illustrator or eps file type, which allows the artwork to be resized to any size without any loss of quality and the edges becoming fuzzy or pixelated.
It also allows the printer to be able to see the edges and parts of the logo which would otherwise appear to the print machine as one single flattened layer. If we are then to print a tablecloth the vector file allows us to cut around the logo to be printed onto the cloth and in the case of the embroidered tablecloth this allows the software to see the different sections and our experts are then able to apply different stitch types, sizes and colours to each part to give the embroidery depth and life.
There is a possibility for using some of the raster type files such as GIF, PNG, TIFF, bitmaps and JPEG however there are only a few circumstances. We could print a flood printed tablecloth for you with your logo - this is where the cloth colour would be matched to the background of your artwork. This could only be possible if the image was set to 150ppi or dpi.
The next option would be if the ppi was set to 150 plus at the correct size of the required logo and the background was transparent, the chosen pantone matched cloth colour would show through.
Ultimately if you are in any doubt please email your logo through to info@printmytablecloth.co.uk and there will always be someone happy to help.
The image attached to this blog just gives a little insight into vector vs. JPEG. I hope I’ve scratched the surface for you on the artwork confusion.