As discussed on the Preferred Formats page, you can submit your artwork in a wide variety of formats. Just as some formats will require less work from our art department than others, the methods used in creating the original art can save a lot of time at our end while saving you money. The recommended format is vector art...art created using a vector-based program such as Corel Draw or Adobe Illustrator. There are many other software packages that are also vector-based, and any of those should be adequate. All vector designs created at Bayou City Shirts, Inc. are created using the latest version of Corel Draw. In order to lower your art charges, below are a few do's and don'ts to use as guidelines before starting to design your artwork.

Things you SHOULD do when creating your vector design:

1. Use a Spot Color/Pantone (PMS) palette whenever possible.
2. Create a custom palette containing only the colors you plan to use...one red, one blue, one green, etc. Use ONLY the colors from the custom palette.
3. Create the design at as close to the final production print size as possible.
4. Convert all text to curves (sometimes called outlines).
5. Convert all outlines to objects.
6. Save/export your design as a vector file.
7. Save a JPG image of the file and attach that along with your vector art when submitting.

1. If it is available in the software you are using, select a Spot Color or Pantone Matching System (PMS) color palette before beginning your project. Many design packages use a default CMYK palette rather than a Spot Color palette. Corel Draw has a built-in feature for simplifying color separations, but they will only separate properly if a Spot Color/PMS palettes is used. A CMYK palette causes everyth to be separated as a 4-color process print. If a CMYK palette is used, our art department will have to convert all the colors to Spot Colors by hand, and this can be very time-consuming and expensive.
2. After selecting your palette (whether you are able to use a PMS palette or have to use a CMYK palette), if possible create your own personal palette and select a limited set of colors to be used for your design. In other words, for your red, find a specific red in the full palette and add it to your custom palette. The original full palette may have several shades of red that look almost identical, and it is easy to mistakenly use several different reds (or whatever color) without realizing it. If you set up a custom palette with only the one red in it (and one green...and one blue...and so on), then all the similarly-colored areas of your design will have the exact same color, making separations at our end much easier and less costly to you.
3. Create your original design as close to the final print size as possible. This way there is less room for error in the final printing.
4. Convert all your text to curves (sometimes called outlines). Since every computer has a different set of fonts, it is possible that we do not have the same fonts installed that you might use. By converting all the text to curves/object/outlines, the text will actually be vector objects and there will not be a problem with fonts being substituted when opening the file on different computers.
5. When using outlines, convert all the outlines in your design to objects. A detailed explanation of how to do that is too broad to cover here, but instructions for this should be available in the help files or manual that came with your software. The reason for this is that often one software package may not interpret outline in the same way as another. What was originally a 4-point thick outline in your design could be interpreted by Corel Draw as an 8-point thick line and could completely change the way your design looks. By converting all outlines to objects, you avoid this problem altogether.
6. Save the file in one or more vector formats. If you are using a vector-based design program, saving it to the native format should be adequate. But just to be sure, if you submit multiple formats it is more likely that one will be closer to what is needed at our end to reproduce your design correctly.
7. Save a JPG version to be submitted with your design. This way we have a picture of exactly what you are looking at in case the file gets changed when imported into our software.