If you are looking for custom shirts in the Indianapolis area, A+ Images has you covered!  We can create a variety of custom designs for your apparel and sign needs. We accomplish this using DTG, screen printing, embroidery, rhinestones, vinyl, and sublimation.  If you don’t know what method is best for you project, check out our service pages for more information.

• individuals
• businesses
• bridal/bachelor/bachelorette parties,
• family reunions
• special events
• birthdays
• clubs
• organizations
• anniversaries
• weddings
• schools
• in memory of/funerals
• and more.

Our sign products are great for promotions, trade shows, branding, gifts, advertisements, and more.

If you are looking for custom teacher/school or Kiwanis shirts, click on the appropriate button below to view sample designs and get a quote:

The information below is designed to explain to you what we need from you (in terms of artwork) to get good print results, as well as what we can and can’t print legally.

Information Needed for a Quote

Prior to contacting us for a quote, make sure you have all the necessary information for us to generate a quote.  If you are familiar with printing and are clear on what you want, you can go straight to our price charts to get pricing.  Pricing on those charts is for decorating only, and does not include garment pricing, or any artwork charges (if applicable).  Apparel pricing can change weekly.  Contact us to get a quote on blank apparel.

If you don’t know what print method(s) are required for your apparel project, the following information is needed:

• Garment style(s)
• Sizes
• Colors
• Quantities
• Print Locations
• Image sizes
• Number of colors in an image
• Sending copies of the art is highly recommended

Asking, “I need 10 t-shirts printed, how much are they?” isn’t going to get you an answer.  If you say something like, “I need 10 G200 shirts in black: 2 M, 4 L, 2 XL, 2 2XL.  The left chest has a 3”x3” four-color logo.  The back has a 12” x 10” white logo.  I have vector artwork.  How much are they?” we can get you an exact quote.

Garment styles, colors, and sizes can be found by searching the online catalogs from our main suppliers: alphabroder or Sanmar.  When listing colors, please list colors found on the product websites as the manufacturer lists them.  For instance, using the G200, don’t ask for “grey” shirts.  Gildan offers 5 different greys: Ash Grey, Ice Grey, Sport Grey, Charcoal, & Dark Heather.  Please specify which one you want exactly.  We cannot get accurate pricing or see if the items are in stock without this detailed information.

When referring to print locations such as left or right chest/sleeve prints, they are listed from the point of view of you wearing the shirt looking at your own shirt.  See the illustration for more details.

For sign projects, we at least need to know:

• How many you need
• What material you want (wall decals, banners, stickers, etc.)
• How big you want each image
• Use (weekend sale, tradeshow, indoor/outdoor, etc.)
• Sending a copy of the artwork is highly recommended.

Vector Graphics vs Raster Images

Vector graphics are graphic computer images defined in terms of 2D points and are connected by lines and curves to form shapes or objects.  Common file formats include .eps, .svg, .pdf, .ai (Adobe Illustrator), and .cdr (Corel Draw).  We use both Corel Draw and Adobe Illustrator to create vector graphics.  Generally speaking, vector art is ideal when creating company logos/text/sports team logos and other non-photo-realistic graphics, .  It is also scalable without a loss in quality.  You can create an image 2” wide that prints well on small promotional products such as pens and t-shirts, but can easily enlarge it to print on banners and billboards.

Raster images (commonly referred to as bitmap images) are computer graphics made from a dot matrix data structure that represents a grid of pixels, with each pixel’s color determined by a number of bits.  Common file types include .jpg, .png, .gif, .bmp, .psd (Adobe Photoshop) and some .pdf files.  In the print world, these types of graphics are mainly useful when dealing with photographs. 

We HIGHLY recommend creating non-photographic art with vector art software.  Vector art is useful for printing custom shirts and signs.  You easily save the image in raster form (for use on a website) if needed.  On the contrary, if you create a logo in Photoshop, but vector artwork is required for your project, it will need to be remade.  Saving a Photoshop file as a .eps file is NOT the same as creating a file in Illustrator or Corel Draw and saving it as a .eps file.  For more details, here is an excellent article on vector vs raster images.

Resolution

While you can set a resolution to any number in a big range of numbers (limits vary by program), two are commonly used: 72 and 300.

72 dpi images are considered low-resolution and are ideal for websites.  Their small file size helps images load faster.  They are not being displayed in a massive format, so they don’t require lots of detail. 

300 dpi images are considered high-resolution and are ideal for printing. Files tend to be bigger and have more detail.  They don’t work well on websites because they take so long to load and frustrate users.  Most printing companies recommend or require native 300 dpi images to provide good printed artwork.

For more information on dpi, review these articles: Article 1  and Article 2.

Canvas Size vs Image Size

One of the most common issues we see is a file made without realizing the importance and difference of canvas size and image size.  When designing in vector software, it isn’t a huge issue as the image can be resized without losing quality.  However, for those that use Photoshop (which isn’t the right program for most design work), the difference can be huge.

For this scenario, we’ll pretend you are using Photoshop.  Say you want to draw a smiley face that is 10” x 10”.  The proper way to do it is to make your canvas 10” x 10” at 300 dpi, use a transparent background, and draw your smiley face to touch all for sides (but not all four corners).  However, most people only make the image a few inches in size and leave a ton of blank space around the image.  Many designers argue that it is a 10” x 10” image at 300 dpi.  In reality, it is a much smaller image, at a lower resolution.

Not following?  Take regular piece of paper.  It is 8.5” x 11”.  That is your canvas size.  Now, draw a 3-inch-tall oval in the middle.  That is your image size.  How big is your graphic?  8.5” x 11” or about 2” x 3”?  If you said 2” x 3”, you are correct! Now, apply this concept to your canvas and image size in Photoshop and you’ll be all set!  If you want an image 8.5” x 11”, make you canvas 8.5” x 11” and fill every bit of that space.

To test this concept, when you are done with your artwork, go to: Edit>Trim>Based On Transparent Pixels and check all four boxes in the Trim Away section.  If you did it right, nothing will change.  If your canvas shrinks after clicking OK, your canvas was much bigger than your image, and your image probably wasn’t as big as you wanted it to be.  You must have a transparent background for this to work.  Using any other color background or having other images in the canvas will result in this test to not work as planned.

CMYK vs RGB

Generally speaking, CMYK is for printing (paper, photographs, signs, etc.), and RGB is for displays (website, TV, phone apps, etc.)  RGB has a broader color spectrum than CMYK.  If you design something in RGB mode using a color outside of the CMYK spectrum, computer software (RIP software) tries to convert it to a CMYK color.  Sometimes it works well, other times it doesn’t. With our DTG printing, the difference can be quite noticeable. 

CMYK stands for Cyan/Magenta/Yellow/Black.  When the colors are combined, they form black.  These are the colors of the ink cartridges found in printers.  Newer technology has expanded the ability to offer other colors along with stand CYMK colors, such as “light” versions of each color, and in some cases, Red, Green or Orange.  This creates a larger color spectrum, but still isn’t as large as the RGB spectrum.

RGB stands for Red/Green/Blue. When the colors are all combined, they form white.  Displays use light to show images, while printers do not. 

It is important that when you design artwork, you set your color space correctly at the beginning.  Otherwise, the software converts the colors and the results may not be what you are looking for.  For a more detailed look at CYMK vs RGB, we recommend reading this article.

Legal Use of Artwork and Copyright Laws

You read everything above and are ready to create the perfect graphic for printing, right?  Great, but don’t stop reading yet.  We have some legal issues to mention.

First, we are EXTREMELY strict regarding the legal use of artwork.  We will not reproduce copyrighted/trademarked/licensed material without explicit written consent from the design/property owner.  In most cases, this permission is not easily obtainable.  This includes (but is not limited to): professional sports organizations and team names/logos, collegiate teams/logos, characters from movie/tv/books/comics, etc., Greek fraternities/sororities, and companies/brand names. Using a celebrity’s likeness also falls into this category.  

Additionally, most files downloaded from the internet are not legal to use.  Some websites do allow for commercial use of images (e.g. pixabay.com) or will sell licenses to reproduce images (e.g. istockphoto.com, canstockphoto.com, shutterstock.com, dreamstime.com, etc.).  Images like this are normally high-quality and ready for printing.  When purchasing such images, make sure you buy the correct license type and file size/format necessary for your project.  If you have questions about what to buy, contact us.  Images taken from search engine results, websites like Pinterest, and images with watermarks will not be reproduced without owner consent.

You may be required to complete an artwork certification form prior to us beginning production on your order. This form says you have the rights to reproduce the artwork in question and are legally responsible for any legal action taken as a result of the reproduction of any infringing artwork.  This should not be taken lightly and can cost thousands (or even millions) of dollars in legal fees and judgements. 

Think of it this way: If you created something and put it on you own website, and someone else downloaded that image and printed it on shirts they sold to make millions of dollars, what would you do?  Chances are, suing them would be the answer.  We don’t want this to happen to us (or you).  When you play by the rules and create your own artwork…the possibilities are endless!

If you wonder why companies do this, there are two main reasons: they have a monetary incentive and they want to control the use of their logo through branding standards.  The licensing section further down addresses this more.

Common Misconceptions

Public Domain: You may be thinking, if it’s on the internet, it is “public domain” and legal to use. WRONG!  Public domain applies once the copyright has expired, or when the creator of artwork specifically makes their work part of the public domain.  Google even writes directly under each image in a search result “Images may be subject to copyright”.  That picture of a beach you found (and want to print a poster from using it) was taken by someone.  Either that person or the company they work for owns the legal rights to that image.  Their permission is required to reproduce it.

Fair Use: Many people think downloading an image from a search result for printing on a t-shirt is “fair use”.  WRONG!  The Fair Use Act was created to balance the interest of copyright holders with public interest.  This allows people to review copyrighted work (such as a book or movie review) or report the news (displaying a company logo on a television screen during a newscast) without affecting free speech rights.  If we were to print the image on a shirt and sell it to you (regardless of your use for it later), it is no longer “fair use”.  We would be profiting off someone else’s work, while they receive no benefit.  This is considered infringement, and why we don’t do it.

No © Symbol: You found an image online and it doesn’t have the copyright symbol so it’s legal use, right? WRONG!  A copyright symbol is not required to be displayed to make a work of art receive copyright protections.  The copyright symbol is generally there to identify the copyright holder.  This makes it easier for someone to figure out who created the design in question, so they can be contacted about licensing or reproduction questions.  When someone takes a photo, draws a picture, or creates a design on a computer, that work of art is instantly copyrighted by the artist.  Registering a copyright with the copyright office can provide additional protections.

10% rule:  You may think it’s okay to download a copyrighted image and change 10% (or whatever rumored number you heard) and avoid copyright infringement.  WRONG!  The truth is, there is no magic number of change that dissolves copyright protection on a work of art.  Copyright law refers to work based on the work of someone else as “derivative work” and the original artwork creator’s explicit permission is required.  Taking the Mickey Mouse logo and changing the color of shorts to green, the shoes to blue, and shortening the tail and selling it as “Nicky Mouse” is just as illegal as copying the original design.