One of the most common questions we get here is in regards to imprinting premium items. In almost every case of printing your logo on anything from Rally Towels to Bam Bams, we use vector artwork. Which leads many to ask us….What is vector artwork?

Vector graphics (also called geometric modeling or object-oriented graphics) is the use of geometrical primitives such as points, lines, curves, and polygons, which are all based upon mathematical equations to represent images in computer graphics. It is used in contrast to the term raster graphics, which is the representation of images as a collection of pixels.

Vector art is key for printing. Since the art is made from a series of mathematical curves it will print very crisp even when resized. For instance one can take the same vector logo and print it on a business card, and then enlarge it to billboard size and keep the same crisp quality. A low-resolution raster graphic would blur incredibly if it were enlarged from business card size to billboard size. (source: wikipedia)

What makes vector art so important is the ability to enlarge it without distorting it. So when you print your logo on a rally towel it’s crisp and clean and something you can be proud to distribute. In addition, in many cases we can not even print without vector art.
Three helpful points:

1. Our best advice is to ask people in your office who handling printing (print advertising, etc) since vector art would be standard for their use as well. Common vector file types are .eps, .ai, .pdf.
2. Note that you can not simply save non-vector art (like a .gif file) as a vector art file (like a .eps). The art must have originally be created with a vector art program.  Trying to save a non-vector (aka raster file) as a vector format is a waste of time.
3. If you are a college or professional team it is highly unlikely that this vector art doesn’t exist. At that level it is very uncommon not to have artwork and logos that have been created in a vector based program, but sometimes the challenge is finding those files. It is a bit more common for high schools not to have these files.

Gameops.com has a very detailed art page as well, that can be a helpful primer. (Art Page)

Mark Out Productions and Gameops.com have some in-house art capabilities. We have the major programs to open and edit images and graphics (Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Freehand, Fireworks). We also have an good library of sports team logo art (vectorized logos), so we may even have several versions of your logo at hand. We also have some ability to recreate your art from non-vector formats, especially if you have large, clear jpg or gif files. There may be additional charges for this more labor-intensive art service.

If you have questions you can always check with a TEAMmate Sales Representative when working on your order.

–Cudo