Your Embroidered Logo: Second Logo Placement?

Want to add a second embroidered logo to your embroidered shirts? Wondering where it should be located?

The two most common secondary logo locations are on the right chest side (across from your original logo) or on a sleeve. Placing the second logo on the right front side will give it more visibility but it may detract from the look of your left chest logo. Using a right or left sleeve placement is popular but may not work if your logo has small detail because sleeve logos are limited to a smaller size. Which sleeve is best? Most people prefer the right sleeve because they feel it balances well with the left chest logo but left sleeve placement is also popular.

A third less popular option is to have the secondary logo embroidered on the back of the shirt just below the collar. In this case you may want to make the logo slightly bigger than the left chest logo so it doesn’t look too small against the back of the shirt.

Your Embroidered Logo: Shirt Colors?

Your logo design is finished! You love it! Now you’re wondering about shirt colors. What colors will work best? Pick shirt colors that contrast well with your logo colors. If your logo contains multiple colors, choose shirts that contrast with your business name. Want a subtle look? Use tone-on-tone colors to create a classy appearance. Still unsure? Have your embroiderer show you proofs of your logo against different background colors.

Your Embroidered Logo: to Difficult For Embroidery?

l’m often amazed by how a digitizer (person to sets up an embroidery design) can use thread to recreate a detailed design within a small area. Is there anything a digitizer can’t do? Well, there are some details in logos that are hard to recreate with thread. Here are some effects that generally don’t work too well when embroidered:

Decorative Fonts -  Fonts with solid, filled strokes are fine but pictorial fonts with lots of detail may be difficult to embroider.

Drop Shadows  - Drop shadows on fonts tend to muddy the readability of the font especially if the lettering is small.

Font outlining - Outlining can look sloppy when every stitch doesn’t line up perfectly with each letter.

Color Gradations -  Gradually changing from one thread color to another takes space.  This technique is best reserved for large embroidered logos such as jacket back designs.

So, what do you do if your printed logo contains one or more of these effects? Simplify. While embroidery can recreate an amazing amount of detail, embroidered designs usually look best when they are kept simple.

Your Embroidered Logo: Offcenter Hat Design?

Cool! Embroidered hats with the logo centered on one side. You love the look but will that placement work for you? Its attention-getting but will your logo fit in that space?

Possibly. The area within one side panel is small. If your logo isn’t very wide it may fit (keep in mind it’s limited to 2.25” high) but you don’t want it to extend past either panel seam. If it almost fits try downsizing it slightly. Embroidered designs can only be downsized by 10%-20% if at all so that may not work. Your best option may be to use part of your design - possibly the image or your business name. Once you’ve chosen your small design print it at the correct size, tape it to a hat, stand a few feet away and see how it looks. If its readable and looks good you’ve got your offcenter hat design!

Your Embroidered Logo: Pocket Placement

What? An embroidered pocket polo without the logo on the pocket? You’ve seen department store pocket polos with a logo embroidered on the pocket. Why can’t your business logo be embroidered on the pocket?

If you need a full-sized embroidered logo then you’ll need more room. Mass produced polos are embroidered before the pocket is sewn on the shirt so it’s easier to have a larger logo on the pocket. Very small logos can be embroidered on a pocket that’s sewn on but most business logos are too large for an embroidery machine to work from the underside of the pocket.

Where should your business logo be located on a pocket polo? Most people have their logo embroidered above the pocket but some prefer the right chest side especially if the shirts may be worn with items extending from the pocket that might cover up the logo.

Your Embroidered Logo: Logo Evolves...

Starting a business - You have a general idea of what your business will do but you're uncertain about your final direction. You want embroidered shirts but you don’t want a logo that won’t work as your business evolves. What should you do? Have shirts embroidered with just your business name. Make sure your name is easy to read and contrasts well with the shirt color.

Two years later - Your growing business has direction. Its time to create your brand. Spend time considering the style, fonts, image, colors and organization in your logo. Is it understandable, unique, memorable? Does it represent your business? Get honest feedback and revise, revise, revise...

Two years pass - You want to introduce a new product. You develop a small logo to be embroidered on shirt sleeves.

Another year passes - Your embroidered logo could use an update. You change the business font, adjust the spacing so your business name can be enlarged, brighten the thread colors and choose a different shirt color.

Next summer - You want a subtle look. You choose a tone-on-tone thread color for your embroidered logo.

That fall - You want hats embroidered with a small design on the left front panel for a change.

Next year - Should you add employees names to shirts? Get hats for a give-away? Try a new shirt style? The possibilities are endless with custom embroidery!

Your Embroidered Logo: DST Files?

What is a dst file? It’s a file format that many commercial embroidery machines read. It tells an embroidery machine what stitches to embroider. It's also known as a “stitch” or a “Tajima format" file after the Tajima embroidery machines it was developed for.

Can anyone open and look at a dst file? No. You need embroidery software that can open that type of file and an understanding of how to interpret the file. Most brands of embroidery software can open dst files because that format is considered to be the universal format for embroidery machines.

Are all dst files created equally? No. The quality level of the file is only as good as the digitizer who created it.

Do “auto digitized” dst files work? They should embroider but the quality level of the embroidery won’t be as good, the embroiderer may have trouble running the file or the file may run inefficiently.

What are some of the problems found in auto digitized dst files? Auto digitized files often use fill stitches rather than traditional satin stitches to fill in areas which can make the design look flat. Auto digitized designs often don’t have any sense of how the design should progress from the beginning to the end so these designs can take longer to run.

How long does it take to learn how to create a good dst file? It can take two years of concentrated study to begin to create good embroidery files and many years to perfect this artistic skill. For more information read What Is Embroidery Digitizing?

Your Embroidered Logo: Quality Counts!

Want to have your business logo embroidered? Received a quote from a reputable embroiderer but the price seems high? Thirty-five dollars for the embroidery set-up?

You check the internet and decide to have your embroidery set-up done by a budget digitizer. The cost is $12.00 for your first design. Can you beat that price? You go ahead and have your design digitized. You receive your design and an image of the final product. Looks good! But wait...

You send the digitized file to the embroiderer so you can avoid paying their digitizing fee. But, the embroiderer says they can’t use the file because of quality issues.  The file won’t run properly or look good when its finished.  They don’t even want to attempt it. Should you try another embroiderer? You can. You might find an embroiderer that doesn’t care about quality but is that what you want?

If you want an embroidered design that represents the quality of your business then use an embroiderer who cares about quality!

Your Embroidered Logo: Snapback Advertises Where HE Goes!

It's me! Your favorite cap. A black flatbill snapback! Want a cool custom look? Have me embroidered with your logo. Give me a simple, distinct design in contrasting thread colors and I’ll make a BIG impression wherever we go!

Your Embroidered Logo: Update!

Hey! I’m an embroidered pocket polo. My guy, Frank, started wearing me so he could spread the word around about his new business. But, I’m wondering... My embroidered logo doesn’t look so good. The business name is small, the tag line text is hard to read and the stitching is falling out...

I’ve been replaced! Frank realized the poor quality of my embroidered logo wasn’t helping his business so he decided to have his logo redone by an experienced embroiderer. Now Frank proudly wears his new shirts every day. He looks sharp wearing his new custom embroidered pocket polo shirts!

Your Embroidered Logo: Design Tips

Its spring! Time to have shirts printed for your new business. You grab clip art from the net, pencil in some text and you’re good to go - right?

If you want a good design that isn’t too expensive to print then consider these ideas:

1. If the design is to be your logo that represents your business then you’ll need permission to use it.  Not every image on the internet is free to use. Make sure you have permission to use your chosen image.

2. Use a decorator who has the ability and understanding to add your text to your image. Adding text to a design without any thought about the right placement, sizing, font or amount of text can lead to a poor design. Instead, use someone who has the right experience and skill to create a well-designed logo.

3. Consider simplifying your image to a one color design to save money if you plan to have your shirts screen printed. If you must have a multi-color design then mostly likely it will be more cost effective to have your shirts direct to garment printed.


Side Note: Many thanks to FEEDSPOT for including us in their list of the Top 25 Embroidery Blogs. We appreciate it!

Your Embroidered Logo: Use a Drawing???

Can a drawing be used to create an embroidery set-up? Possibly.

When a digitizer (person who creates an embroidery set-up) digitizes a design, he uses an artwork file as a template to show him where to place stitches. If the artwork file was created by a professional graphic artist, then it should be a clean, balanced, well-proportioned design.

A drawing can be scanned to create a computer file but that doesn’t make it equal in quality to professionally designed art work. Drawings usually need to be “cleaned up” to create a usable template for an embroidery set-up.

While a good digitizer can improve the look of a poor design the end result may not be as professional-looking as a logo designed by a graphic designer.

Instead, use drawings to develop your initial ideas and employ a graphic designer (preferably one who understand the needs of embroidery) to create your artwork and your logo will look and work better for your business!

Your Embroidered Logo: Go Minimalist!

Designing a new business logo? Keep it simple! You probably know when it comes to embroidered designs its best to eliminate unnecessary detail.  But, do you know that having a minimal logo can have more advantages?

Colors - Minimal logos are easier to work with because they are more flexible. They usually work as a one color logo so its easy to adjust the color to work with different background colors. When a little more variety is desirable, it's easy to add a second logo color that works with various background colors.

Sizing - Simply designed logos usually work well at different sizes.  While a detailed logo may not size down to a one inch wide logo, work as a social icon or be clearly seen on a small mobile device a minimal logo will work.

Less Hassle - If your logo is simple then you don’t need as many artwork versions.  Detailed logos often have multiple versions that are appropriate for different uses. For example, a simplified version for embroidery, a detailed version for printed T’s, a black and white version for printed media and so forth. If your logo is simple you can avoid the extra paperwork work and potential for mistakes.

More Readable - Detailed logos can be hard to read. Information like phones numbers and tag lines take up room that could be devoted to your business name. If your logo is simple then it won’t get lost.

More Forceful - Developing a minimalistic logo forces you to decide what is the essence of your business and how to portray it simply, uniquely and if the design is good - memorably.

Less Cost - Having a logo that looks good in one color will eliminate extra printing charges for additional colors.

Your Embroidered Logo: Fleece Fix!

Does your embroidered logo look “weak” when embroidered on polar fleece? Is it hard to read?  Are you unhappy with its appearance?

While your embroidered design may look perfect when embroidered on tightly woven materials where the stitches lie on the fabric's surface it may look lost when embroidered on polar fleece where there is a tendency for the stitches to sink into the fabric. There are a few techniques you can try to improve the look of your embroidered logo on polar fleece:

1. Use solvy

2. Add a base fill in the same color as the garment

3. Slightly enlarge the design

4. Increase the width of the elements in your design