File formatting tips
The launcher gives you full control of your creativity. Making it as easy as possible for creators to make and sell products, we’ll guide you through the best ways to make use of your design tools so you have everything you need to hand. Start with our top file formatting tips below.
File type
Always make sure you’re uploading high-quality PNG files to the launcher. Your designs should have a transparent background – the product colour should be your background. Find free tutorials showing you how in GIMP, Photoshop, etc. online. It’s worth noting, the launcher does not accept EPS files and the file size limit for the launcher is 50 MB.
Artwork dimensions and resolution
Not only is it crucial to pay close attention to your artwork dimensions allowing them to fit onto your product correctly, but also your image resolution. Try to create designs with a minimum of 300 DPI (dots per inch) whenever possible (we recommend 150dpi for larger files used on AOP products like leggings and AOP sweatshirts.) The higher the DPI, the better quality your image will be. The minimum DPI the launcher will accept is 120, and we’ll stop you from going further if it’s looking too low.
In terms of art board sizing, we recommend setting up a file at 12.4″h x 16.5″h for standard POD items (3720w by 4950h pixels) – remember, you can always scale down in the launcher to fit each product type, so you only need to use a single file for multiple products – and for specialty products like AOP apparel and accessories, then you will need to design to the template specs. You can find design templates for speciality products here and video tutorials here.
Color profile
Your final print file should be saved in the CMYK color profile in the design software you are using. We don’t recommend using overly bright colors like neons in your design. The exception here is for AOP products, as they use the sublimation printing technique, allowing for brighter and more vibrant results.
Anti-aliasing
If you want a cleaner, crisper print around the edges of your design, export your design files with anti-aliasing turned off. When exporting a .PNG in Adobe Illustrator, the last dialog box contains the option for turning anti-aliasing on or off. Make sure to select “none” before exporting.
If you’re using Adobe Photoshop, there’s no option to turn anti-aliasing on or off because the images are already rasterized. Instead, make sure the setting “Nearest Neighbor (hard edges)” is selected as the resampling method in the image size settings. For more guidance on this, visit Adobe’s tips and guides.
Additional tips
Photographs & art: If you plan to sell your own photographs or art, it’s best to upload high-resolution images that are close to the print specifications – e.g., if printing at 12.4″w x 16.5″h tall, an 12.4″w x 16.5″h image (or 3720w by 4950h pixels) at 300 DPI is best. Any scaling-up of lower resolution images can lead to reduced print quality.
Front/back design placement: if you add a design on the front and back of apparel this will increase the item’s base cost—to minimize base cost and maximize profit you may want to keep your design on one side of the products only.
What can I do if my print quality is showing as “Poor” in the launcher?
If your image doesn’t meet the minimum quality requirement, we prevent you from continuing to Step 2 in the launcher. There are 2 things you can do:
- Resize your image (smaller) until it hits the minimum quality threshold
- Go back to your original file, check the resolution (DPI), and upload a design with higher quality.
My design file is too big when I try to meet the minimum print quality requirement…
If you’re having trouble staying under the 50MB limit and meeting the quality requirements (DPI) in the launcher, there are a few other things to try:
Within your design software, resize the design to match the artboard size of 12.4″w x 16.5″h (3720w by 4950h pixels) and export/save it as a PNG.
If you’re using Photoshop, use ‘change image size’ option to get your design to at least 3720w by 4950h pixels. Export/save it as a PNG.
You may have to resize the design once it’s uploaded to the launcher; sometimes by adjusting the design to a slightly smaller size you can raise the DPI (quality).