Great art or “artwork” is the first step toward providing a quality imprint on the many K&B promotional items we offer. Without a quality imprint, there is virtually no value in what we do. Camera Ready Art in vector format is the best choice for artwork.

WHAT IS ART?
Art—in terms of promotional products— is the graphic manifestation of a logo, trademark, graphic, design or typestyle (or font). It is artwork that PRECISELY displays how a company’s name or image should appear on our products.

WHAT IS ACCEPTABLE ART?
Acceptable art is art that is ready for our graphics department to use directly on a promotional product without the need to modify it. It is artwork that is ready to be imprinted on a customers promotional product. The common term used is “camera ready.”

IMPORTANT: Currently, 80% of orders (that are held up) are held up because the art is not acceptable. Even in a digital format, 95% is still not acceptable.

Acceptable art comes in a variety of forms and has changed over the years to accommodate the digital age we live in. In the pre-digital age, it meant simply a clean, quality black and white piece of art on paper, typically gloss stock. We simply photograph the artwork to set up the appropriate materials necessary to imprint the item being ordered. Today, artwork should be delivered digitally in an appropriate computer file format.

FILE FORMATS
Computer Platform Differences. One of the biggest problems encountered is the difference among computer platforms and file extensions. The two most predominantly used platforms are Windows/PCs and Macintosh’s or Macs. There is a difference in the way these two different platforms store files. Macs will recognize files without file extensions and PC’s won’t. So, the big rule of thumb is to ALWAYS SAVE A FILE WITH AN EXTENSION; it’ll work with either platform. It also helps to save files in extensions that are readily recognizable by both systems. In general, EPS and TIFF are the most commonly used file formats in the desktop publishing industry because of their flexibility and platform-independence. EPS (Encapsulated Postscript) is commonly used for vector art programs. TIFF (Tagged Image File) is commonly used for rastor programs such as Photoshop because it does not compress the file data. Always name an art file with a file extension.

RESOLUTION & SIZE
The preferred art file type is vector art. If you only haverastor art (jpeg or tiff), make sure the resolution is acceptable. This is a combination of the appropriate dpi (dots per inch) and saving at a printable size. The industry standard dpi is 300. With screen printing, you can sometimes use a lower dpi, especially when using vector art. Printable size is a more complicated matter. For example, you might have an image saved at 300 dpi, but the size of the art at 100% is only three inches. If the client wants it expanded to full chest size for T-shirts, say 12 inches, it needs to be enlarged 4 times, or 400%. By doing so, the resolution will be blurry—by a factor of four. So, while at 300 dpi, it needs to be saved at an appropriate printable size.

USING KAESER & BLAIR ART DEPARTMENT
We encourage you to use the K&B art department to create acceptable art.

Kaeser & Blair Art Department Charges
Basic 1-color art $10-$30.00(x)
Basic 2-color art $20-$40.00(x)
Complex, time consuming, or multi color artwork will be quoted upon request.