# Best way to get a logo off of business card and which printing method?



## crookedline (Oct 25, 2012)

I am looking to do shirts for a local business. What is the best way to get the logo from their business card to a custom transfer printing company? Do you guys just scan the business card and crop the logo in photoshop? Then email to printing company? 

Also, would you recommend heat transfer or plastisol transfer? I am looking for good quality for a small logo on left chest and large logo on the back. What about difference in cost? Also, what exactly does "gang" mean and how do I do it? Any recommendations would be appreciated.


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## macumazahn (Jan 11, 2007)

Depending on the complexity of the logo I would suggest vectorizing it in Illy or Corel then enlarge it as a vector. Gang mean to put multiple logos or designs on one transfer sheet. Might be a good way to go here. A heat transfer is a sort of broad term where as a plastisol transfer is a specific type of heat transfer. Unless you have access to a vinyl cutter and the logo is relatively simple custom plastisol transfers are one of a very few ways to do this type of work.


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## crookedline (Oct 25, 2012)

Thanks! I just got Adobe Illustrator so I guess that's a good start. I can watch some tutorials on how to use it. Is there a specific heat transfer you prefer? (good quality) I'm having a hard time understanding when to choose custom plastisol transfers over other custom heat transfer types.


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## binki (Jul 16, 2006)

how about asking for the orignal artwork? go figure that they dont have it.


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## macumazahn (Jan 11, 2007)

Saying heat transfer is sort of like saying car as opposed to corvette. I can't recommend a specific Plastisol transfer though I have done a few. I have only used Silver Mountain Graphics, and they work fine for my purposes. You should wait for one of the heat printing experts to chime in.


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## hswartout (Sep 17, 2008)

Most of us have a vectoring fee (Ours is $25) so just contact you transfer supplier and save yourself some time if you have never done it before. If you have time to learn how it is worth it because in the long run you will save a lot of money and have more control.
vectormagic.com is also a good source that will get you 90% of the way there but you still need to know adobe ill or corel.


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## crookedline (Oct 25, 2012)

Thanks! So, say I use vectormagic.com or learn to vectorize an image on my own, where do I go from there? What is the most cost effective way to get, say, 10 transfers made with the logo?


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## drdoct (Jul 26, 2011)

10 transfers? Like only 10 are needed in total? 

If that little then you would have to go with F&M for a single color transfer. Even then you're probably going to be around $4 a transfer adding in shipping and their $20 fee. That would be a vinyl job for me unless it was really complex. If it HAD to be plastisol then I would make sure they know that at those quantities it will be expensive and make sure they pay a good price for them where you can make some money. If you're starting off trying to learn Illy and attempting to draw your logo then you could easily spend 5-8 hours on this logo. Meaning you're working for them with a 10 shirt order. You really can't give away artwork with a 10pc order. It's too hard to make up the time spent.

Good luck.


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## crookedline (Oct 25, 2012)

I see. So essentially, having plastisol transfers made would be ideal for large orders. Are there non-plastisol transfer options maybe not as expensive?

Would me buying a printer and printing on jpss also be an option and still provide good quality shirts?


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## drdoct (Jul 26, 2011)

Not really. Vinyl is the best option. Check out Stahl's. Even then I'm not sure that it will be much cheaper. Vinyl with your own cutter is how you can do those small orders. Shipping divided among 10 shirts is hard to absorb.


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## Decal_Designs (Jul 4, 2005)

If you only need ten, and it's multi-color, then you can have someone print garment vinyl transfers for you. If its a single color, just cut vinyl will do the trick.


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## crookedline (Oct 25, 2012)

Thanks. Can you explain a little more about having someone print garment vinyl transfers for me? never heard of this

and what if the logo includes gradients where one color fades into another? How is this accomplished?


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## Decal_Designs (Jul 4, 2005)

Basically, the artwork is created to the finished size it needs to be. Then using a printable garment vinyl and usually an eco-solvent printer, the design is printed out much the same way as you would print out any other decal. A cutline needs to be created around the artwork that will look nice and eliminate as much of the background as possible so that the transfer does not just seem like a big patch. This is all done before the printing starts. Once your transfers are printed, they can mail them to you so you can apply them to the shirt. You apply these pretty much the same way you would apply a solid color garment vinyl like ThermoFlex for instance. These kind of transfers have their drawbacks at times, but they are usually the best way to get a really nice looking print that has lots of colors, gradients and fades, and when you don't have enough volume for screen printing. Without seeing the actually art you need to work with, it's hard to say what the best overall approach would be.

The very first thing you need to figure out is if you can get the original art, or how you want to go about making it good enough to work with. Could you post a picture of what you have to start out with?


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## crookedline (Oct 25, 2012)

Decal_Designs said:


> Basically, the artwork is created to the finished size it needs to be. Then using a printable garment vinyl and usually an eco-solvent printer, the design is printed out much the same way as you would print out any other decal. A cutline needs to be created around the artwork that will look nice and eliminate as much of the background as possible so that the transfer does not just seem like a big patch. This is all done before the printing starts. Once your transfers are printed, they can mail them to you so you can apply them to the shirt. You apply these pretty much the same way you would apply a solid color garment vinyl like ThermoFlex for instance. These kind of transfers have their drawbacks at times, but they are usually the best way to get a really nice looking print that has lots of colors, gradients and fades, and when you don't have enough volume for screen printing. Without seeing the actually art you need to work with, it's hard to say what the best overall approach would be.
> 
> The very first thing you need to figure out is if you can get the original art, or how you want to go about making it good enough to work with. Could you post a picture of what you have to start out with?


Awesome explanation! Is there a particular company you might recommend that can print garment vinyl for this job?

So, original artwork is not an option here. I guess recreating would be the only way, huh? 

Here are two logos I need to figure out what the best options are.. I'm sure with your experiences, these are a piece of cake for you guys to accomplish..please advise!


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## Decal_Designs (Jul 4, 2005)

Well setting up the cut lines on these two would not be too hard. It's easy to see where they need to be. The face could go two different ways. Most likely left as a black and white image, but an option would be to get rid of the white, and use a shirt color that would look good with the image. The landscaping logo would take a bit of work to recreate, but it's not really a hard one to do. If your customer has no original artwork then most likely they just used some stock business card template at an online site somewhere and added their name.


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## Decal_Designs (Jul 4, 2005)

We do this kind of stuff a lot, but you should put a post into the Referrals and Recommendations section of these forums so others can jump in and offer to help you out with this project. If not, then you could PM me.

Another option would be using someone with a DTG setup.


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## crookedline (Oct 25, 2012)

Yea the cut lines are pretty easy to visualize. I guess the hardest part im having trouble comprehending is how I would accomplish the gradient blue in the landscape logo onto a transfer.

So at this point, would I simply vectorize the face logo and send it to say, stahls to cut some vinyl transfers for me?


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## uncletee (Feb 25, 2007)

e-mail the company, have them send you a full size jpeg or psd of there logo. scanning buss cards is tough. good luck uncletee.


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