Art Department
Click Here for information on how to check if your logo is Camera-ready Art for use on Promotional Products
Quality shows in the products we manufacture at Mid Florida Sportswear. We are always striving to stay on the cutting edge of technology. Starting with our in house art department, which has some of the finest digital equipment on the market today as well as an image setter for outputting directly to film. However, the art department would not be complete without great artists. We have some of the finest full time artists in their field today on our staff. They have perfected design and layout, as well as, color separations and are continually striving to stay on the cutting edge of trends and technology.
Call us today and let us create a custom design for you.
To contact or send a file to the art department directly, send to:
Dmitry
Joe
or call (386) 258-5632 or toll-free (800) 365-5632. Just in case, our fax number is (386) 253-5843.
How to check if your logo is Camera-ready Art for use on Promotional Products
Having worked in the promotional products industry for many years, I've run into customers who don't know the difference between an image (raster art) and camera-ready art. I have had many customers send me logos that they use in their presentation files in .jpeg format. When I tell them I need it in vector format and to please save it as an .eps file. They open up the image in a graphics program and simply save it in .eps format. All they've managed to do is hide the image in an .eps file format. So how do you know if you art is truly camera-ready and not just an image? Here are a few tests you can do to check if you logo is camera-ready or not.
The first sign to look for when determining whether art is camera-ready is the file extension. If it reads .jpg, .gif, or .bmp, it is not camera-ready. These are extensions for images. Usually they don't have very high resolution, nor will they imprint clearly on any promotional product. The bottom line is that JPEG is a useful format for compact storage and transmission of images, but you don't want to use it as production art. Use a lossless 24-bit format (PSD, PNG, TIFF, etc) while working on the image. The JPG format sacrifices quality for smaller file size, and imperfections will be glaringly obvious when printed at full size.
Next, if you enlarge the image you will see the it's resolution worsens and the image appears distorted. You can actually see the dots that were used to make up the electronic image.
Last, if you open up a file that has an .eps file extension in a graphics program such as Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw, QuarkXpress, FreeHand, etc. If it's in vector format, when increased in size the image should not become distorted, but instead maintain it's proportions and integrity.
If the art is in vector format, check to see that all text is converted to outlines or curves before submitting the art to the distributor. Not everybody's computers have the same fonts. By converting the text to curves, you insure that your font will open exactly as you saved it without converting it to a different font.
Google and other web sites are not a good source for clip art and production images. Most images online are copyrighted, and there is often no way of telling if an image used would be in violation of someone’s property. Rarely are there images of a high enough quality or size to use for production art. The most common file type online is JPG, which is outlined above. If a customer asks us to get a logo or artwork from a website, very rarely will there be quality we can use.
Preferred File Formats:- Photshop PSD files:
Ideally, files need to be 15x16 Max at a 200 resolution with a white and black background layer.
Please do not flatten the files and preserve all layers. - Uncompressed TIFF files or JPEG files at 300 dpi
- Freehand or Illustrator files
Be sure to convert all fonts to paths or include all fonts and all place or imorted images. Missing fonts and objects only delay artowrk. - Please label colors using the PMS format if possible or CMYK percentages.