Logotown is your ultimate advertising specialties source for imprinted promotional products.

Logotown's Artwork Explanation

When your logo, slogan, company name or specialty advertising message is put on a promotional product, it's called an imprint. The product it's put on usually determines the imprinting method used. The purpose of this section is to allow you to better understand the most popular forms of artwork utilized. For other explanations of artwork terms, please visit our Glossary of Terms.

	Debossing Debossing is the contrast to embossing and is popular with leather and vinyl products. Debossing hot stamps the actual logo, design, or wording so that the actual lines of the image are pressed into the vinyl or leather. This achieves a distinctive look by changing the texture of the ad area.
	Decal Transfer The decal is printed on an offset or letterset press, submerged in water and placed on the product. Excess water and air is squeegeed off and the product is kiln-fired, a process that fuses the decal with the glaze. Most often seen on glass, china, porcelain and ceramic products.
	Embossing Embossing is a popular imprint method used primarily with leather and vinyl products. Hot stamps depress the surface around the logo, design, or copy to result in an image with a raised appearance.
	Embroidery High speed, multi head sewing machines sew (embroider) an image directly onto an item. Single color work looks outstanding,multi-colored logos are works of art. Embroidery greatly increase an item's value. Color matches or close color matches are available.
	Engraving A laser is used to engrave an image into the surface of an item. This process is used on wood, glass and metal products and leaves a very clear and sharp image. Color matches are not available on engraved items.
	Etching An image is covered with a protective coating that resists acid. The image is then exposed, leaving bare metal and protected metal. The acid attacks only the exposed metal, leaving the image etched onto the surface. This is a popular imprint method with crystal and other fine glass products.
	Hot Stamping This imprint method uses a combination of a photo-engraved magnesium die and special hot stamping foil to transfer the image to the item. Through the joining of the heat and the pressure, the logo, artwork or ad copy transfers onto the item into a clear lasting imprint. Hot stamping is used on items such as vinyl cases/covers, labels, and plastic cases. Due to the use of foil, rather than ink, exact color matches may not be available with this imprinting process.
	Letterpress Printing This imprinting process uses a combination of a magnetic printing plate and a specially formulated ink to transfer the ad image to paper. A joining of plate pressure and ink volume perform this "off-set" like printing process. Products that require this printing method include 3M Self-Stick Notes and other paper items. Color matches are available with this imprinting process.
	Pad Printing For products with irregular surfaces, such as golf balls, pad printing is used as the imprinting process. This unique method uses a soft rubber pad to transfer a specially formulated ink onto a three dimensional item, with clarity. Color matches ar available with the pad printing process.
	Screen Printing An image is transferred to the item by using a combination of a synthetic "silk-like" screen and specially formulated ink. Screen printing is one of the most popular forms of artwork application and is used on items such as pens, plastic travel and sport mugs, nylon bags, etc. Because inks are hand-mixed at factories, exact color matches are available.
	Web Press Printing Specially formulated ink is transferred to an item by using a combination of a flexible printing plate and roller pressure. The material of the item is fed between the plate and the roller on a continuous roll. After the material has been imprinted, it is filled, cut and separated to create the individual packages. Bandages, food packets and moist towelettes are produced utilizing this process. Color matches are available.