Why Your Artwork Is Garbage!

You’ve heard the phrase “garbage in, garbage out!”  It’s also true when they say “What You See Is What You Get!”  The acronym is WYSIWYG!

Having been in the digitizing logo business now for some twenty plus years, I’ve seen virtually all kinds and types of artwork.  We all want and hope for the “camera ready” artwork to show up on our desk or computer files.  Fact is, we rarely see a “picture perfect” image and are usually expected to perform miracles on the fuzzy or pixilated design.  Even with the latest software, some artwork can present a challenge to make ready for certain applications.

Most of our clients (and I suspect yours too) don’t realize that you may not be able to achieve the same “look”, as compared to what they see on a print out.  Depending upon the application an image may need to be altered to allow for a better representation.  Of course we shouldn’t expect our customers to understand this matter, after all … that’s why they come to us.

One of the most helpful tips I received early on in my career was to suggest my customer return to their “printer” (person or company who created their business cards or letterhead) for crisp, sharp artwork.  Knowing that if they had a business card in hand, someone would have to have the original artwork on file somewhere within their means.  By suggesting to my customer to have their printer forward me the design, it would usually eliminate us having to “clean up” the image unnecessarily.

Of course there are the times when your customer brings in a paper sack or napkin, in which they have scribbled an idea for you to emboss or engrave.  These are the situations when it’s nice to have an artist on call or someone available to “redraw” the logo for production purposes.  Most small shops do not have the luxury of having such talent in house but once again, early on in my venture I learned to tap into other sources.

When we first started out in the logo business, the only “artist” was myself.  Telling it like it is … the best drawing I ever did was in my first dot-to-dot coloring book!  When it comes to free hand drawing, I look to others with the God given talent.  The solution?  I paid a visit to our local college and also phoned the high schools in our area, looking for artists.  There were several individuals I met through this process and I still use two of them in my existing business today!  Talk about a gold mine!!  These two individuals have spurred on numerous projects and helped grow our company to many different levels, developing thousands of clip art images and logos for the trade.

What I learned was, if I wanted to supply my customer with a top quality logo.  I needed to start with something of value.  Even if it meant having to hire an artist to recreate the drawing, it was worth the effort.  Having a quality image to work from made all the difference in the world when digitizing the design.

I suggest to you, by starting with optimal quality in your artwork, you’ll avoid putting out the garbage!