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How Can You Print Your Logo On Different Marketing Materials?

by Anne Carton Tweet - in Logo Design

print your logo

The logo is one of the most significant brand identities. It’s not only printed on your products or services but imprints in the minds of your clients/audiences. Marketing experts say that when you print your logo on different products, it is a sure-shot way to target potential customers and drive them to your business.

If you take a closer look at the things lying around in your house, a common feature you will see is – a logo. For instance, you will find logos on various household products such as refrigerators, TV, bottles, etc., or eatery products like cookies, coffee, ice-creams, and so on.

Even when you are throwing leftover items in the trash, you come to see a logo on them. It means the product has reminded you of the brand even it’s going to be trash. That is why companies distribute promotional items such as customized t-shirts, mugs, pens, beer cans, key chains, etc., with a logo for free.

Also, promotional products are strong marketing materials. One of the reasons your logo must be on the products is that people keep promotional items for months. American people keep writing products for nine months, mobile power bank and drinkware for 12 months, and t-shirts for 14 months. They will see your brand logo for months on a product they got free.

Numerous studies have revealed that the power of these products is in building a brand and enhancing its recall value. Marketers have found that 90% of people who get these products can recall a brand, and 80% have a favorable impression. That establishes the significance – why you should print your logo on marketing material.

You may now be thinking of launching a promotional campaign to distribute promotional material to people. But make sure that your logo print on different products looks impressive.

However, before you set out to print your small business logo on different materials, you must acquire a working knowledge of the printing process. You must know which printing method works for logo printing on a particular surface or print your logo on anything.

Here Are The Important Aspects Of Printing A logo On Different Marketing Materials

Some Technical Terms To Know Before Logo Printing:

Logo printing involves many technicalities expressed through technical terms that you must first understand well before printing a logo. You need to know these terms before knowing how to print your logo. Here is the main glossary:

CMYK and RGB

Colors are an inevitable part of logo printing. CMYK and RGB are the technical terms you will frequently encounter while deciding on colors.

CMYK stands for colors Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Key. But note that Key is not a color in itself; instead, it is the color you get after mixing the other three colors. RGB stands for traditionally used colors Red, Green, and Blue.

When cyan, magenta, and yellow are blended in different proportions, you get different but unique hues of the colors. Large professional printing presses and smaller ones, mainly personal lasers or inkjet printers, use the CMYK color system.

During the CMYK printing process, four separate rollers, each having one of the processes color inks, are used, and a sheet of paper is passed through the roller. Then, the primer lays these colors over each other, and they merge to give a full-color image. So, for instance, if you need an image in forest green, you get it by mixing 71% C, 1% M, 94% Y, and 9% K.

On the other hand, RGB uses red, green, and blue lights beside each other closely to get an image. So, a varied combination with different intensities of these three colors is the way to get specific colors.

With RGB use, the designers can achieve the desired saturation, vibrancy, and shading by modifying these three colors. They can control how the light on the digital screen will manifest itself to achieve the color of their choice.

Overall, we can say that CMYK is for physical prints while RGB is for digital prints.

Note that a sound knowledge of colors is also crucial to have if you want to create a logo by either hiring a professional designer or using an online logo generator.

Raster and Vector Images

Another thing to know when you print your logo is about different image file formats. There are two types of file formats – raster and vector images files. Most logo printing involves vector images made of geometric shapes.

Raster images have pixels, so such images lock pixels in themselves. But a disadvantage is that scaling up or squashing a raster image will stretch its pixels. As a result, the image gets blurred.

You can even see the pixels when you enlarge the image. These images are generally used in photography and are default images for software design programs such as Photoshop. So, graphics and digital art are typically in raster images.

Unlike pixels, vector images do not face such issues. Instead, they have no pixels and have math equations to retain their original dimensions. Therefore, they are ideal to print your logo. Files used to save vector images are AI, PDF, or EPS. Illustrator is the main program that professional graphic designers use to create vector images.

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Resolution

A screen’s resolution is about how many pixels an image displays per inch on a surface area. If the image has fewer pixels per inch or lower PPI, it will show fewer details. Generally, 300 PPI makes an excellent digital picture.

In the case of a physical print, the term used is DPI [Dots Per Inch]. So, the more ink dots per inch on a surface a printer uses, the higher its resolution. Typically, inkjet printers can ensure a resolution of around 300 to 720 DPI. Laser printers can produce resolutions ranging from 600 to 2,400 DPI.

But there is no industry standard to determine how many DPIs will produce a sharper image. So, higher DPI does not necessarily translate into higher print quality.

Logo File Types

You should also know about the files that can save a logo design. There are four types of logo files:

  • PNG – Portable Network Graphic
  • SVG – Scalable Vector Graphic
  • EPS – Encapsulated PostScript
  • PDS – Portable Document Format

PNG files are best to save your logo image when displaying it during a PowerPoint presentation. Vector files are the correct logotype when printing the logo on clothing, business cards, swag, and brochures.

So, if your printer accepts SVGs, then send the logo in this file. Otherwise, send it in EPS or PDF. Send your logo to the printer in the transparent background if you intend to send it in PNG.

Once you create a logo using a logo maker tool, make sure that you save the design in a proper logo file before you send it to the printer.

Printing Your Logo On Different Marketing Materials

Now, let’s discuss how to print your logo on a wide range of marketing products that you want to use to promote your brand.

Printing A logo On Clothing

Clothing such as custom hoodies, t-shirts, long-sleeve shirts, gloves, socks, dog clothes, etc., is amongst the most popular marketing materials for promoting your brand. When you print your logo on a soft fabric of a t-shirt etc. or any clothing, you have many techniques to explore.

Screen Printing

Screen printing is the standard to print your logo on soft clothes for t-shirt design. The printer puts the cloth on a table. Then, cover it with a screen and stretches a gauze over a frame. Then, an ink paste in the frame spreads forcefully around the cover surface, and repeating the pressing process with other colors gives you the print of the logo on the clothing.

Also, screen printing is the most popular method for printing logos prints on fabric because it is durable and lasts for a long time. This is also a good practice when producing logo prints in large quantities.

Transfer Printing

This is a simple technique. All you need to do is print your logo on a specialist transfer paper using a standard inkjet printer. Then, press the transfer paper on the fabric to get the logo printed on the surface.

But it is not the most durable option since washing clothes with hot water may cause the logo print to peel off. However, transfer printing is less expensive, and opt for it when you need only a few prints.

Block Printing

In this basic technique, the printer uses a block, usually a wooden block, having your logo. This type of printing mostly used in interior design. You just apply your dye to the block and press it on the clothing to print the logo.

Roller Printing

The roller printing method involves a roller of iron or any other material, which has your logo engraved on it. Then, add ink to the roller and roll it on the fabric. It will then leave the print of your logo on the cloth.

Heat Printing

The heat printing method uses a specialist transfer paper on which your logo will be first printed. Then, the paper is heated to very high temperatures to transform it into an iron that you use for transfer printing. High pressure is applied to the paper, causing the specialist ink to penetrate the fabric’s fibers.

Embroidery

The embroidery method is about stitching a logo on clothes. First, upload an image of your logo to the software, which guides a stitching machine to stitch the logo on the surface. This method of stitching logos is advisable on thick fabric. So when you create custom embroidered jackets, caps, polo shirts, etc., you should use this stitching method.

Which of these printing techniques are best depends on how detailed your logo design is and how many colors it uses.

Consider These Tips

  1. When thinking to print your logo on clothing such as funny tshirts, the key thing is that clothes stretch or shrink and get wrinkled. They change a lot after years of wearing and washing. So, keep that in mind.
  2. Also, send your logo design to the printer in a vector file format that allows scaling up or down a logo. Since clothes come in all colors, use different logo mock-ups on colored shirts. Choose a logo print that looks impressive on that particular cloth.
  3. Consider the texture also. While t-shirts and fleece zip-ups are soft cottons, they come in different textures.

Logo Printing On Rigid Fabric

You will also print your brand logo on some rigid fabrics such as the fabric of tote bags, bandanas, bucket hats, flags, and baseball caps, which are the popular kinds of ‘stuff we all get.’

Unlike soft fabrics, rigid fabric does not stretch. So, do not worry about how your look will look when the fabric gets stretched or shrunk on the clothing worn by different bodies. The logo will look the same on a larger chest of a person wearing clothing of rigid fabric. Or, it will not get distorted on tote bags.

Printing Techniques:

  • Screen Printing
  • Traditional Printing
  • Embroidered Printing

Make sure that you consider a clothing material’s texture and color when printing a logo. Consider the fabric color also as a background for printing your logo.

Printing A Logo On Stationery

Stationary ranging from business cards and envelopes to posters is an effective marketing material with a company logo. But paper letterhead is the most used stationery item. The letterhead has a company’s logo and contact information.

Make sure that you leave a margin while printing a logo on stationery. You should leave the space at least 50% of the logo size and leave the margin on both sides of the paper. So, if the logo size is just ½-inch for a business card design, the margin should be at least ¼-inch from the text.

You can reduce the margin to accommodate the logo when you print your logo on USB drives and even smaller spaces such as round button pins.

Printing A Logo On Ceramics

Ceramic products such as mugs are enticing promotional materials that people love to have for daily use. The logo printing process when you print your logo on products made of ceramics includes:

  • Dye-Sublimation Printing
  • Digital Printing
  • Direct Screen Printing
  • Litho Printing

Each of these techniques involves a different printing process, and their costs also vary. The printing results also are different. So, make an informed choice when picking any methods to print your logo on ceramic products.

If cost is your primary concern, you may opt for a direct screen printing method. But you will compromise on the quality front as the logo prints will be of lower quality than the other techniques.

When printing a logo on curved surfaces such as mugs, it would be well first to print your logo design on a piece of paper. Then wrap it around the mug to see how it looks. If satisfied, you can proceed to print on the product.

Also, consider your logo design in choosing a suitable printing method. For instance, for a simple logo with no fine details, having a simple gematric shape, direct screen printing could be your best option. But if your logo design has more details, then digital printing or litho printing could be the right printing method.

Printing A Logo On Paper

Thin Paper

A thin paper refers to different papers such as stationery, wrapping paper, flyers, tissue paper, art prints, posters, and paper bags. Since thin papers come in various textures, thicknesses, and opacity, it would not be appropriate to give one printing solution for all of them.

Depending on the paper quality and thickness, you will choose different logo printing processes. So, for printing a logo on thin papers, the printing processes available include:

  • Digital Printing
  • Screen printing
  • Flexo Printing
  • Pad Printing
  • Letterpress Printing
  • Gravure Printing
  • Intaglio Printing
  • Block Printing
  • Flock Printing

Make sure that you try your logo templates on mockups before you print your logo on different thin papers to test how it will look on a different texture and thickness of the paper. You should be confident about the look and impression your logo print will make on a specific paper.

You should also consider the glossiness of the thin paper. A logo looks vibrant on glossy paper. So, decide on the impression and vibe your logo need to make.

You should choose your color saturation before printing it on a particular thin paper. You can make the logo colors more vibrant if you decide to print the logo on matte paper.

Thick Paper

Thick papers usually refer to the paper used in product packaging, postcards, product level bags, cardboard boxes, magazine covers, and business cards. But thick papers come in various thickness and glossiness levels, making printing difficult.

The processes of printing a logo on thick paper are many. But major techniques include:

  • Digital Printing
  • Litho Printing
  • Rotogravure Printing
  • Screen Printing

Printing A Logo On Hard Plastic

You will also be printing your logo on plastic items for promotional purposes. Such hard plastic products include water bottles, travel mugs, flash/thumb drivers, frisbees, cafeteria trays, pens, and many more. Most of the products around us are made of plastic.

The Logo Printing Process For Hard Plastic Includes:

  • Screen Printing
  • Digital Inkjet Printing
  • UV Litho Printing
  • Laser Printing
  • Pad Printing

Note that you need to consider many aspects of each of these printing methods and take their limitations and costs into account. For instance, in the case of pad printing, when you print your logo on a silicone pad, you need to cover it in ink, press it hard on the plastic item, and leave the negative space in the image empty. But leave the ink part of the logo in color. But if you use digital inkjet printing, it prints your logo directly on the plastic.

Also, note that various plastic products are available for printing logos. So, consider that the plastic product may be opaque and transparency level vary. The appearance of your logo colors will depend on how transparent the plastic item may be.

Generally, hard plastic items are solid and do not stretch, printing a logo with fine details. If you need to print a logo on a small plastic surface such as a golf ball, keep the design simple with lesser information.

Printing A Logo On Metal

Logos also get printed on metal products such as metal signs, travel mugs, branded jewelry, stainless steel cups, scissors, and metal business cards.

The Logo Printing Process For Metal:

  • Dye Sublimation
  • Laser Engraving

When printing your logo on any metallic substance, follow the process more or less like it is for hard plastic. Your logo will not stretch or distort metals.

You can also use the laser engraving technique, which cuts a precise logo into metal. But its disadvantage is that you have no color choice, and just the engraved logo is your option.

Printing A Logo On Packaging

Businesses not only print their logos on products but also on the packaging. So, packaging such as bags and boxes have logos prominently shown on them to trust and brand promotion.

A foremost concern should be that the logo is recognizable and seen instantly on the packaging so if there are some other elements on the packaging. It will be a distraction that will divert the attention from your logo, which is a core brand identity. Such distracting elements on packaging include a patterned background. You should make sure that these elements do not overpower your logo.

Therefore, think of ways to make your logo different on a packaging level. For instance, consider printing the logo on soft, viscose plastic white rectangles. Or, print it on a ribbon design.

If you are in the business of selling workout apparel or swimsuit, you can choose to print your logo on metal or silicone. Note that packaging material comes in recycled cardboard, see-through plastic, and other materials.

While printing the logo, ensure that it is in the center so that your customers can quickly see it as the first element on the surface. Also, leave a good margin on both sides so that your logo stands out from other elements on the packaging design.

If you deliver products wrapped inside the box, you should also print your logo on the paper.

Printing Your Logo On A Swag

When printing your logo on swag [stuff we all get], do not start it at a big scale. These items come in different shapes and sizes. Therefore, consider the imprint area of each item. This will mean that while printing a logo on a small surface like the pen, print a version of a logo with no slogan.

Start by printing a logo on a few promotional items such as water bottles and towels. Then, find out which products are working for your promotional activities and steadily include more things to print your logo on them.

Printing Your Logo On Signs

A signboard of a shop by a sidewalk or a billboard is the sign that businesses mostly use to drive people’s attention. When printing your logo on signs, know that most signs are big. Printers will need your logo vector EPS files. So, if you use a small file size for a smaller logo, the logo will appear blurry and will leave a wrong impression on viewers.

If the logo appears on the sign surface just on its own, make sure you leave plenty of space on the shine. It will make the logo look professional for the desired response.

Choosing A Printer

Now that you know about the major logo printing techniques, it is equally important that you know how to choose our printer. Without picking the right printer, you will not be putting a nice logo and its impression on your target audience.

When you print your logo, the first thing to note is that the printer service provider should be equipped with all the printing techniques to choose the one you think is right. You should also access different materials when approaching the printer company.

Go with a printer that gives you many samples of previous logo printing works on finished products especially if you are printing on safety apprarels or other similar products. That is your way to get the preview and feel of the logo printed in advance.

Finally, such a printer company should tell you the logo print measurement and details. Some printers show a different printing preview than it turns out to be in real. So, make sure that you double-check with the printers about the final results.

Therefore, hiring a printer company that lets you access various products and materials is advisable to give you a good overview of your logo on different products.

So, take note of these key tips while thinking of printing your logo design on different products for promoting your brand.

If you need a simple but unique logo, you can launch your design contest on Designhill, a leading creative marketplace. Dozens of talented logo designers will submit their works as per your design brief. You can then pick a winning logo design that best suits your brand personality and looks great on all materials.

Alternatively, you can also explore the best logo generator by Designhill to create the design on your own and customize it repeatedly until your satisfaction.

Are You Looking for a New Graphic Designer?If Yes, Call Us on +1-855-699-2851 [times for calling 9am to 6pm EST (US)] or Register for a Free Design Consultation

Wrapping Up

A logo is the most significant brand identity of a business as people first look at it to recognize a brand and build trust in it. However, make sure that the logo design appears impressive on different marketing materials when you print your logo on them. You need to choose the right printing methods for each product material and immediately ensure that the logo catches the audience’s attention.

Create Your Own Logo Online

Anne Carton is a small business consultant, designer and an enthusiast blogger working with Designhill, one of the fastest-growing custom design marketplace. She has authored several blogs, articles and editorials on various topics related to interactive content, concerning design, social media strategies, growth hack strategies, digital marketing and e-commerce. Facebook | Twitter

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