When you’re developing a design for your company’s t-shirts, hooded sweats, or uniforms, it’s important to consider everything that goes into the screen printing process. This will help you understand how the colour and ink really affect every aspect of the finished product so you can develop a design that will look amazing while still being cost effective.
The Screen Printing Process at Artik
Because each colour is printed separately, our graphic designer will first break down your design into its individual colours.
Next, screens are made for each colour. We use UV light to harden the light sensitive emulsion on the screen around the design, the dark art shades the areas to be opened leaving the emulsion soft and ready to be washed out so the area of the design itself is open for ink to pass through while the hardened emulsion blocks off the rest of the screen.
Using precise ink formulas from ink manufacturers online formulas, we use a scale attached to the computer to measure and mix the inks to your colour specifications and do a test print to make sure everything is just right. If our expert screen printing manager approves the test, we print your order. We use both manual and automatic machines depending on the design and the size of the order. Each colour is printed one at a time, fitting together like a puzzle until your design is complete.
Once the design is printed, the ink is cured at high heat and your apparel items are ready to go.
Ink, Colour, and Design
In order to make sure your design ends up looking exactly as you want it to on your shirts, here are some tips to keep in mind:
- Pay attention to colour choice. This applies to the colour of the tee-shirt and the ink. For example, printing a navy blue design on a darker blue shirt won’t end up showing well – even if it looks subtle but distinct when zoomed in on the computer screen. Even printing white design on a black shirt can be difficult for a less experienced printer. In order to stop the black from showing through the ink, the white ink has to be thicker than other colours are or applied more times. This affects the look of the design and can also lead to the ink eventually cracking after being washed.
While experienced printers have techniques to overcome these difficulties, if you’re not confident in your printer’s ability you may want to change up your design. Here at Artik we perfected printing white on dark colours by using two screens, after the underlay white is screen printed we flash cure the white ink and then with a second screen apply a second thin layer of white ink. Once the shirt is fully printed we run the shirt through a dryer with high intensity infrared heat, we use a precise heat gun to ensure the screen printed surface reaches the optimal curing temperature. The ink now is fully cured and will remain bright, durable and will not crack for years to come.
- Dark inks on light coloured shirts are an ideal combination. Not as much ink has to be used so the final product will look smoother and, once properly cured, the design will last a long time without cracking or peeling.
- The kind of material being printed on will also affect the look of the final product. The same design printed on a thin cotton tee-shirt can look completely different on a thick coarse canvas tote bag, in terms of both colour and texture.
- The more complicated the colours of the design, the more difficult it is to print. A design with easily separated blocks of solid colours is much easier to screen print than one with halftones, layering, or blending. Photorealistic designs are the most difficult to screen print, and depending on the level of detail your printer may recommend you go to digital printing which is heavier, less aesthetically pleasing, and the final product’s print won’t last as long as a screen printed garment. Remember: the best designs on T-shirts are bold and graphic; a design that looks great on a magazine cover may not be as suitable for a T-shirt.
- Watch the design placement. We offer sleeve, yoke, horizontal and vertical standard, left chest, and oversized printing, but the design cannot come too close to the seams of the shirt. We require at least one inch of room between the design and the seam to guarantee optimal quality.
Save Time and Design Online
If you’ve got a good idea of what you’d like to see on your custom apparel, we invite you to build your won free mock-up with our online design tool! You can pick any one of our promotional apparel items and visually design it in real time, right from your web browser. Choose from our selection of ink colours, fonts, and clip art, or even upload your own custom design – you’ll save time and money when ordering, and ensure that your order will look just as you imagined it would.
We’re Here to Help!
If you have any questions about a design or want to place an order for printing, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. Call 1-866-909-9161 or 416-815-7770. You can always visit us online, too, at Artik.