Artwork that actually prints well

Most proofs that come back with a note attached aren't the result of anyone doing something silly. They're because a file that looks perfect on a screen behaves differently once it's ink on vinyl and a blade is following a path around it.

Here are the six things we flag most often, what each one actually looks like when it goes wrong, and how to fix it before you upload.

1 · Resolution: 300 DPI at printed size

The number that matters isn't the pixel dimensions, it's the pixels per printed inch. A 1000 × 1000px logo is plenty at 40 mm and visibly soft at 150 mm — same file, different job.

The quick check: divide your image's pixel width by the printed width in inches. A 75 mm sticker is about 3 inches, so you want roughly 900px or more across. Under 150 DPI and the edges go mushy in a way that's obvious in your hand and invisible on a monitor.

The fix is almost never upscaling — enlarging a small JPEG just makes bigger soft pixels. Re-export from the original at the size you're printing, or send us the vector.

Better: send vector

PDF, SVG and AI describe shapes mathematically instead of storing pixels, so they are sharp at any size. If your logo was made in Illustrator, Figma or Affinity, export a PDF or SVG and the resolution question disappears entirely.

2 · Cut tolerance: keep 2 mm clear

A cutting plotter is accurate, not perfect. There's about a millimetre of real mechanical tolerance in where the blade lands, and vinyl moves slightly under the roller. That means artwork sitting right on the cut line will sometimes get clipped — not always, which is worse, because it makes it hard to spot in a sample.

Two rules cover it:

• Keep important detail 2 mm inside the cut line. Text, thin logo elements, anything you'd notice missing.
• Let the background run past it. If you want colour to the edge, extend it 2–3 mm beyond the cut and let it be trimmed off. That's bleed, and it's how you avoid a thin white sliver on one side.

The dashed line in our builder's preview is the cut line, so you can see this before you order rather than on the proof.

3 · Hairlines and thin strokes

Vinyl won't hold detail below about 0.5 mm reliably. A 0.25pt rule that looks elegant on a screen prints as a broken dotted line, and a die-cut path with a 1 mm spike in it tears when the sticker is weeded off the sheet.

If your design has hairline rules, thin serifs at small sizes, or spindly flourishes, either thicken them or print bigger. When we see this we'll say so on the proof and suggest a size where it works.

4 · Colour will shift, slightly

Your monitor emits light (RGB); a printer lays ink on stock (CMYK). Some colours exist in the first and not the second — the ones that shift most are electric blues, vivid greens and bright oranges. Expect them to come back very slightly duller and a touch cooler.

You don't need to convert anything yourself; we handle that. What helps is telling us if a specific value matters — a brand hex, or a Pantone. We'll flag on the proof anything we know won't hold, rather than printing it and hoping you don't notice.

If a colour has to be exact — a corporate blue on packaging that sits next to a printed carton — say so before you order. It's a five-minute conversation, and it's much cheaper than a reprint.

5 · Transparency, and what a die-cut needs

A true die-cut follows the outline of your artwork. To generate that path we need to know where your artwork ends — which means a transparent background (PNG with alpha, or a vector with no background shape). Don't have one? Upload as-is and press Remove BG in the builder — it cuts the subject out on your own device. If the result isn't what you wanted, order anyway and say so in the notes — we fix the cut line by hand before the proof.

A JPEG can't hold transparency at all. If you send a logo on a white square as a JPEG, the shape we can cut is a square. That may be exactly what you want, but if you were expecting a contour cut, it isn't going to happen from that file.

One more: white is a printed ink here, not "nothing". On clear vinyl, anything white in your artwork disappears into the surface behind it unless you tell us to print a white underbase.

6 · Pick the right file format

• PDF / SVG / AI — best. Vector, scales freely, holds transparency.
• PNG — good. Supports transparency. Export at 300 DPI at printed size.
• JPG — usable, but no transparency and it re-compresses every save. Fine for a full-bleed photographic sticker; poor for a logo.

Whatever you send, the proof step catches the rest. That's what it's for — a person opens your file, looks for the six things above, and tells you before the press runs rather than after. There's more on that in how ordering works.

The short version

• 300 DPI at the size you're printing, or send vector.
• Important detail 2 mm inside the cut line; background 2 mm past it.
• Nothing thinner than 0.5 mm.
• Expect bright blues and greens to shift a little.
• Transparent background if you want a contour cut — or let the builder's background remover make one.
• PDF or SVG if you can, PNG if you can't.