Artwork Guidelines
Where possible, it's always fastest to design and pay for your pens on the website rather than via email. However, if you require something that the website doesn't support, emailing artwork can be the only option.
If you're not a graphic designer and you want something that can't be achieved on the website, just email us your logo, explain your requirements and we'll be happy to help.
If you are a graphic designer and would like to design something more complex than can be achieved with our online design function, we have provided the following information and guidelines to help you get the most out of your design.
Bleed
As we print all designs onto our pens directly, no bleed is required.
Colours / Colour Matching
Here at Fast Pens we are able to design custom printed pens from a variety of methods. When specifying a colour, we can accept any of the following:
- CMYK (e.g. C2, M11, Y100, K0) - Preferred
- Hexadecimal (e.g. #ffd900)
- RGB (e.g. 255, 217, 0)
- HSB (e.g. 51°, 100%, 100%)
- Pantone® colours*
* We print in CMYK. If Pantone® colours are used in your design we will use the CMYK Pantone® matching system to print your pens using CMYK inks. Please note: There are many Pantone® colours that cannot be accurately matched using CMYK colours. If you use a Pantone® colour that cannot be matched it will be converted to the closest CMYK colour available. If printing on a pen with a background other than white, the colour or effect of the pen may affect the final printed colour.
Fonts
In most cases, fonts are not required in the artwork as any text on the pen will not change. To make things simple, please convert all text to outlines (curves) when sending pen designs to us by email.
If you do need to include the font, we have a vast library of thousands on our system. You might want to check with us when submitting your order if your design uses a rare or obscure font. If it is not subject to any licensing then why not attach the font with your artwork and we will add it to our collection.
If you supply us with a particular font and point size we can replicate this. However, make sure that when you design your own pen it is created actual size, otherwise point sizes will be meaningless.
Submitting Files
We can accept logos and designs via email in almost any format, but if the artwork has been designed using a vector based program it is always best to prevent rasterising the design. As such, our preferred file formats are listed below:
- .ai
- .eps
Other common file formats include:
- .jpg
- .jpeg
- .png
As previously mentioned, we can open almost anything. In the unlikely event that you send us a file we cannot open, we will contact you about your options.
We can currently accept files via email up to around 10MB.
