It might be a little overwhelming when you are given choices for imprint areas and processes for your promotional items. Should you go for debossing or embossing? What will make my promotional pen look better – screen print or laser engraved logo? Custom printing businesses can only do their best to come up with the design, present samples to you and give all the information you need about imprint processes but it’s you – the customer who has the final say. Here are some guide on different imprint processes and some of the products they look best on. Hopefully this will help in making your decision.
- Screen Printing. Using spot colors and a screen made of nylon or polyester, screen printing transfers your logo onto your selected item. The screen is covered by the inverse of your image so ink can only be printed as your logo. The ink is then spread across the screen and transferred to the surface of the item. This process is usually the cheapest option and is best used on products such as tote bags, water bottles, plastic pens, coolers and stress balls.
- Digital Printing. Additional colors for a logo might require a more complex imprint process than screen printing. Digital or full color printing is ideal when printing a whole bunch of colors and this allows you to print over the entire surface of your promotional item such as mouse pads, magnets or note pads. Digital printing is also known as CMYK, full-color printing, color burst and 4-color process printing.
- Heat Transfer. This process is similar to using an iron to press a decal onto a shirt. In this imprint process, printers use intense heat to press the ink into the material to make sure that your logo stays where it should be. When creating a logo with more than one color, heat transfer is usually the ideal process. Tote bags and t-shirts are the best products to use with heat transfer.
- Laser Engraving. When you want your logos to be more permanent and wouldn’t peel off, then laser engraving is the ideal choice. This imprint process creates sharp and very clear logos; it’s very simple, clean and easy as well. Ink and tool bits won’t be needed in laser engraving because logos are programmed into the laser software and the machine does all the work after that. If available, you can opt for oxidation which adds a little more color to the logo for products including metal pens, wood items, glass awards, and corporate gifts with metal plaques.
- Debossing/Embossing. A 3-dimensional element can be achieved through debossing and embossing processes. While embossing rises from the item, debossing pushes into the item. For both processes, dies are constructed from metal in the shape of the logo. You can add color to the logo for an additional cost, which is only optional. These imprint processes are ideal for products such as leather portfolios, vinyl pouches, custom chocolates and backpacks with leather or vinyl patches.
- Embroidery. This imprint process adds texture to your logo. Cloth products especially corporate apparel look great with the vibrant stitching. In embroidery, the logo is changed to a digital image and then assigned color threads. Clothes, blankets, hats, towels, backpacks and t-shirts are the best product for embroidery. They will be placed in the embroidery machine, then the needles do their job and finally excess threads are cut off giving the finish product a clean look.
Suggestions and opinions from experts like Bag Wear Printing might make your job easier so feel free to contact them if you need help in printing your logos on to your items. Discuss your ideas or requirements with them to start creating unique and custom made promotional items.
