Graphic Design

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OVER 25 YEARS EXPERIENCE

With over 25 years experience in the screen printing industry on staff, we are proud to offer the most comprehensive artwork and printing capabilities in the local area.

LOCALLY OWNED, PROFESSIONAL BUSINESS

Graphic FX has grown from a small manual printing shop into a professional screen printing business with an automatic press and state of the art graphics department.

Graphic FX opened in 1996 on the central east side of Terre Haute, IN.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

• “No hidden charges” policy
• Fast, 5 day turn around on most orders
• Multiple printing methods for specialty designs
• Work one-on-one with sales, art and printing departments

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT ARTWORK

What kinds of artwork can be used for screenprinting?

A: Almost any type of flat artwork “can” be used to create a screen printing design. Some good examples are: drawings, sketches, paintings, photos, digital files, logo slicks, even other t-shirts. Generally, if you can scan the image into the computer or redraw it by hand, we can use it.

we would suggest the following guidelines:

How do you design a custom piece of artwork?

A: Generally, the creation of custom designs follow one of two paths depending on whether we are working with spot-color or some form of “process” design.

For spot-color :

1. We start with criteria and suggestions from the customer
2. We design on the computer with full color.
3. We then produce a proof for customer approval
4. If needed, we make corrections or enhancements and proof again
5. Once finalized, the design is separated for printing

For 4-color process or simulated process:

1. Again, we start with criteria and suggestions from the customer
2. Any text or effects are added
3. We then produce a proof for the customer
4. If needed, we make adjustments or corrections and proof again
5. Once finalized, the image is processed by special software
6. The design is checked and then separated for printing

How long does it take to design custom artwork?

A: Our artists are very skilled and can produce a custom design relatively quickly. A simple spot-color design can be complete within a few days. It really depends on how many we have to do and how complicated they are.

What do you charge for a custom logo?

A: We do not charge for custom artwork that we are going to print on t-shirts or other garments. However, per our polices, we retain all rights to the artwork we produce. If you would like limited reproduction rights ( e.g. for fliers, a web site, entry forms, etc. ) we grant that for free.

If you need a custom logo for your business or organization to use with full rights we charge $25-$75 per hour

How should I send you artwork or logos?

A: You can send us artwork via:

• Postal Mail
• UPS / Fed Ex
• Email
• FTP to our web server

For Digital Files we accept PC format:

• Email attachments up to 10MB
• CD-R / CD-RW disks
• SD cards / Memory stick / most other porable memory cards
• Jump drive or other USB storage device

Floppy Disk – If you have ever seen one 

What file types can I send you?

A: We have the following software and can accept any format that can be opened or imported by these programs:

• Adobe Illustrator CC
• Adobe Photoshop CC
• CorelDraw X8
• CorelPhotoPaint X8

We would prefer Corel .cdr or Illustrator .eps formats for vector files and .psd or .tiff for bitmaps.

Tips for vector files:

• VERY IMPORTANT: Convert all fonts in your design to curves or outlines
• Bitmaps embedded in a vector file are still bitmaps and are hard to use for spot-color

Tips for bitmaps:

• Resolution must be at least 200 dpi at the final printing size
• Do not flatten images in case we need to edit the file
• Bitmaps are best for designs printed in 4-color or simulated process

If you are not using one of the titles above, many other packages can save or export to the encapsulated postscript format (.eps). If your software can only save in a proprietary format we will not be able to open your file.

Halftones work by fooling the eye into seeing the combination of the ink color and the color of the shirt they are printed on. When seen from a distance, the colors blend together and the dots merge with the background color of the shirt. If you look closely at or magnify the print, the separate dots are quite clear. You can see good examples of halftones if you magnify a picture in a magazine or a print from a color printer or even if you look closely at your TV screen. All these are made up of tiny dots.

In screen printing we use halftones for three main purposes:

What’s the difference between vector and bitmap files?

A: Vector graphics are made up of many individual objects. These objects are defined mathematically as a series of control points joined by lines or curves. Each object is self-contained, with properties such as color, shape, outline, size, and position on the screen. As an example, to draw a red square with a black outline, the software only has to know the position of the 4 corner control points, draw black lines between them, then fill the enclosed space with red. Since each object is self-contained, you can move and change its properties over and over again while maintaining its original clarity and crispness. Vector-based drawings are also resolution independent. This means that they appear at the maximum resolution of the output device, such as your printer or monitor. The image will not loose its proportion or definition when it is scaled up or down.

Bitmap, or raster, graphics are actually a “pixel map” that describes how to display an image pixel by pixel on the screen. Bitmaps are very resolution dependent, meaning that if the image is stored at 300 dots per inch (dpi) then every square inch of the picture will have 300 dots or pixels. Each pixel needs color and shading information stored for it. This makes for very large files at high resolutions. Bitmaps also do not scale up very well. If the image starts out being 1″x1″ and 72 dpi (common dpi for web graphics) and you need to enlarge it to 10″x10″ it still only has 72 dots. Now you can see the individual pixels quite clearly and the image looks very jagged. The computer can compensate for this and guess where more dots are needed but the image will be blurry because the “guess” is not perfect.

Remember  that vector graphics are created as collections of objects and bitmap images are made of individual pixels arranged in patterns. Of the two formats, bitmap images are better for photographs because they tend to offer greater subtleties for shading and texture but require more memory and take longer to print. Vector images are best for drawings that need sharper lines, more detail, and easy modification. Vector images require far less memory and computing resources.

Do you use Mac or Windows computers?

A: We use Windows.

Can you match an exact PMS color?

A: If you have the PMS code we can use it.  Please remember that computer images sometimes do not depict the exact color you are looking for.

https://www.graphicfx.com/artwork-faq/