What to do when a customer sends a screenshot as artwork

It's the most common email a print shop gets. "Here's my logo, I need 50 shirts by Friday." Attached: a phone screenshot, a photo of a business card, or a small image saved from a Facebook page.

The customer isn't being careless. To them, a picture of the logo is the logo. The gap between what they sent and what your press needs is your problem to explain, and usually your problem to solve. Here's a practical way to handle it without losing the job or your afternoon.

First, judge the file in one minute

Not every screenshot is unusable. Before you reply, check three things.

• Pixel size. Divide the width in pixels by 300. That's the widest it prints sharply, in inches. A 1,080 px phone screenshot gives you about 3.6 inches. Enough for a left-chest print, not for a full front.
• What the art is made of. Solid shapes and bold text are easy to rebuild. Gradients, photos, distressed textures and tiny lettering are harder.
• Damage. Zoom to 300%. Look for blocky JPG artifacts, a grey haze around the edges, phone interface elements, glare or a curved surface if it was photographed.

After that minute you know which of three situations you're in: usable as it is, usable after cleanup, or needs to be redrawn.

Ask for the original, the right way

Most customers have a better file and don't know it. "Do you have a vector?" gets you a blank stare. These questions work better:

• "Who designed the logo? Could you forward the files they sent you?"
• "Do you have a file ending in .ai, .eps, .svg or .pdf?"
• "Did someone print your business cards or sign? They may still have the artwork."

Give it one round. If the answer is "this is all I have," stop asking. A second and third request only delays the order and makes the customer feel like the problem is them.

Your three options when the screenshot is all there is

1. Print it as it is

Sometimes the right call, if the print is small and the file holds up. Be honest about the limit: soft edges on screen will be soft edges on the shirt. Get approval on a proof at actual size, not a thumbnail.

2. Run it through an auto-trace or an upscaler

Fast and free, and tempting on a busy day. It works on big, clean, simple shapes. On a small or compressed logo it produces lumpy curves, letters that are almost the right shape, and thousands of extra points that slow down your cutter or RIP. AI upscalers have a different problem: they invent detail, and on a brand mark invented detail is wrong detail.

3. Have it redrawn

A proper vector redraw rebuilds each shape cleanly, matches the font where it can be identified, and sets flat, separable colors. It's the only option that gives you a file you can print at any size, separate for screens, cut in vinyl or hand to an embroiderer. It also gives your customer something they should have had all along: a real logo file.

Who pays for the art time?

This is where shops lose money. An hour of redrawing on a 24-shirt order can erase the margin.

Shops that handle it well do three things:

• They put it on the quote. A line that says "Artwork cleanup" with a small fixed fee is easier to accept than a surprise.
• They explain the value. The customer isn't paying for a favor. They're getting a print-ready logo they can reuse for signs, cards and the next order.
• They don't do it at the press. Your best screen printer shouldn't be tracing logos at 4 pm. Art cleanup is the easiest part of the job to hand off.

A reply you can copy

Keep it short and positive. Something like:

Thanks for the order! The image you sent is a bit too small to print sharply at the size you want. If you have the original logo file (.ai, .eps, .svg or .pdf), please send it over. If not, no problem. We can rebuild it as a clean print-ready file for a small artwork fee, and you'll get a copy to keep.

It tells them what's wrong, what to look for, and that there's a solution either way.

What a print-ready rebuild should include

Whether your art department does it or you send it out, the finished file should have:

• vector shapes with smooth curves and no stray points
• text converted to outlines, with the font matched where possible
• flat spot colors that can be separated, with Pantone matches if the customer has them
• a transparent background, with no white box and no halo
• the right size for the job, plus an SVG or PDF for the customer

The short version

A screenshot isn't a no. It's a file that needs one of three things: nothing, cleanup or a redraw. Check it for a minute, ask once for the original, quote the art time openly, and keep the cleanup off your press operator's desk.

If you'd rather not do the redraws in-house, that's what we do. Send us the screenshot, the photo or the fuzzy JPG and we'll send back a clean, print-ready file. See how it works for shops on our page for printers, or start with a design cleanup.