What is the difference between Custom Screen Printing and Contract Screen Printing? Custom screen printing is the most common printing that most shops do. However there are different levels of custom screen printing. Jurassic Prints would like to help you understand those differences.
You may be a great artist and create art you’d like to have screen printed t-shirts made with your designs. You’re able to provide the printer with artwork in a high resolution file. The job for the screen printer is to reproduce that art on a shirt for you. Most likely the printer will need to do minimal work on you art files to get the art ready to produce films, used to shoot screens to print your custom screen printing.
You have a company and would like to get some custom screen printing of your logo on t-shirts for our up coming office event. All you have for artwork is a low resolution jpeg of the internet and some wording you’d like added around the logo. The printers job is to reproduce you art and logo so that it will look great on your custom screen printed t-shirts. This process is more involved for the screen printer and will take extra time reproducing you logo and maybe sharing a few choices of layout for your final custom screen printing design. Once you have chosen your shirt color and sizes and a layout. Your screen printers job will be to produce films to shoot your screens, then get them to press to print your t-shirts.
The most involved custom screen printing process would be the client with nothing more then an idea. You screen printer will then be asking you questions about your ideas. You should be going over how many colors are in your design idea. What color the substrate will have the custom screen printing applied to. Size of shirts, types of fabric, differences in brands maybe talked about. You’re leaving your ideas in the hands of the screen printer and his artists to amaze you. Maybe there is some back and forth once the first “real ideas are turned over to you. Keep in mind, your screen printer will most likely be charging for these services. In the end you will have something truly custom and made to your liking. Once your ideas are finalized the screen printer will bring them to life on your final choice of substrate.
The last custom screen printing option is a current trend. I would say it is a cross of “custom” and “add your name here” dynamic. Some custom screen printers offer online “Designers”. Loaded up with clip art and fonts to match any event, club, school, or church. You choose what you like. Maybe just type a saying or choose a design and add your text. They will be custom screen printed to your choices of there provided designs. Designs offered to anyone and everyone that wants the same options. These designers are good for some, especially those who like to tinker around with there own ideas. Biggest thing to keep an eye on is the amount that these companies charge you for the final screen printed product.
At Jurassic Prints we offer Custom Screen Printing as well as Contract Screen Printing. Providing contract screen printing and semi-contract screen printing to many companies and individuals.
Contract screen printing involves a company or individual that is looking for screen printing only. Providing shirts, camera ready artwork, maybe even the separated films to be shot to screen. A true contract screen printing job will leave the screen printers job to be not much more then get the designs on the shirts or substrate of your providing. Contract customers will provide high resolution artwork provided in Adobe Illustrator (spot color designs) or Adobe Photoshop (grayscale or cmyk). In Illustrator, all colors will be knocked out from one another and contain the proper PMS (Pantone Matching System) colors. All text and objects will be converted to path artwork and at 100% the final print size. Adobe Photoshop you will provide the artwork at 100% at 300 dpi. The true contract customer will understand to get the best pricing they will want to create the least amount of work for the screen printer.
