WHAT MAKES GREAT ARTWORK:
Imprint area shape and size
The question of the shape of the imprint area can be thought of as the widget world's equivalent of the round peg in a square hole. Is the "shape" of what you want imprinted consistent with the shape of the imprint area. For example, The shape of The WIDGET Source logo at the top of this page is very wide and not very high. This would look great on the barrel of pen whose imprint area is wide and short, but as very good on a keychain with a round imprint area. If your company or organization has multiple logos (e.g. horizontal, stacked, vertical, etc.), consider using one that best "fits" the imprint area.
Similarly, think about the size of the imprint area. A complex logo or a large amount of text will not look good and, in fact, might not be legible or even reproducible, if the imprint area is small. Try cutting a piece of paper the size of the widget's imprint area and use that as a guide when thinking about how to put there.
Vector vs. Raster Images
Electronic artwork generally falls into one of two categories: vector or raster. A vector image is one that made up of points with lines and curves connecting them. These images are created using software like Adobe Illustrator®, Corel Draw® or Adobe Freehand®. This is the preferred type of artwork because the image can be scaled up or down as needed to fit the imprint area and there is no loss in the quality of the image. This is because the endpoints of the lines and curves simply move further apart or closer together. Vector filenames commonly end in .AI, .EPS and .CDR (Microsoft Windows file extensions).
Raster images, on the other hand, are composed of dots. Lots and lots of dots. This is what you get when you scan something or take a picture of it. And what looks like a line is, in truth a bunch of dots right next to one another. The trouble starts when you try to make the image larger, more dots need to be added. If you make the image smaller, dots need to be deleted. The problem is that the process of adding or removing dots is a less than perfect science and as a result, the quality of the image suffers. You get "jaggies" (see Figure 1). Raster filenames commonly end in .JPG, .GIF, .BMP, .TIF and, sometimes, .EPS.
Does this mean this means that raster images can't be used for widgets? Absolutely not but they have very strict requirements, the most important of which is that the image needs to be scaled to the size of the imprint area using a program like Adobe Photoshop®. If you are planning to use a photograph or scanned image as your imprint or part of it, please as your salesperson for details on the manufacturer's art specification.
Website logos
We are occasionally asked to use a website logo as the artwork for the widget project. These never work because website logos are (1) raster images and (2) low resolution. As explained in above, raster images are generally not scaleable. And instead of the 600 dots per inch (dpi) of resolution needed by a manufacturer, webiste logos are typically composed of 72 or 96 dpi. If a website is the only image you have to use for your widget project, we can have the logo recreated as a vector image by a graphic artist for at an additional fee. Please ask your sales person for details.
Artwork specifications
Most of us have no desire to wallow in the details of artwork specificiations. But the "devil is in the details" so whoever is going to create your artwork, please take a look at the guidelines here and ask questions that you have. Good luck!