In a perfect world, every project would be completed exactly as planned, on time and on budget. Alas, we don't live in a perfect world, and mistakes occasionally happen.



Although we are extremely careful about proofing and tracking orders, a typo might sneak past several sets of eyes, a screen print might feather on the press, or a nasty snowstorm might strike a UPS hub. When these situations arise, we do everything in our power to act quickly and provide an appropriate solution.

Shipping errors are definitely the hardest to fix. Once a shipment is in UPS' hands, it is extremely difficult (read- impossible) to intercept and redirect the package. Now, please don't misunderstand me, UPS does a wonderful job. UPS sorts and delivers tens of millions of packages every day, and the fact that only a handful of mistakes skate by is truly a credit to their service. Be it so, it's smart practice to err on the side of caution and allow a few extra days for shipping or even upgrade to expedited service.

Printing errors are a bit easier to remedy. If you have enough time before the items are needed, you can always reprint the order. If the event is, oh, TOMORROW, you have to get a little creative.


One solution that is both quick and inexpensive is a sticker. Similar to the gold star you craftily used to conceal the fat 'F' on a school report brought home to Mom, a custom printed sticker will hide anything you don't want seen. If you go about it correctly, the sticker might even look intentionally placed. In the example above, the collector's edition decal works double duty. It conceals the typo below and increases the perceived value of the piece.

We hate to admit that mistakes occur, but if and when they do, rest assured that we will correct them.

I will say, screen printing on a striped or patterned shirt is really not that common. BUT, if you do decide to go this route, make sure you think about how the lines of your imprint will look against the lines of the pattern.

Stripes aren't always perfectly level on a T-shirt, and an imprint with a straight edge will only highlight those inconsistencies. In the example above, the blue rectangle of the Old Bay logo is perfectly level, but it looks crooked because of the surrounding stripes. The easiest solution, of course, would just be to print on a solid color shirt. If the stripes have to stay, the next best option is to back the logo with a circular shape. This way, the misaligned stripes are less noticeable.

We're big fans of the Never Stop Marketing blog at Sonic. Last week it was Jeremy's observations of paper coffee cups that caught our attention. This week it's name tags.

On any given day, think about the number of name tags you encounter. The teller at the bank... what was his name? The cashier at the grocery store... it was Susan, I think? My server at Sweetwater Tavern... I have not the faintest clue. But the Roast Chicken Salad was really good.

Jeremy had no trouble remembering Betty, the Westin employee that he met in Beijing. Now, why was that? Because Betty's name tag had a little something extra. Beneath her name, the text- "My Passion: Singing"- was inscribed, and it acted as a conversation starter between her and Jeremy. 

Westin's name tags teach us that a little creativity can really amplify the impact of your branded items. If you're going to invest in name tags for your employees, make them work for you.  

We've written before about the number of decisions that go into printing a T-shirt. One of the more basic questions to answer is- what color shirt do you want?

White T-shirts are less expensive than colored T-shirts, so most people opt for the more economical option. Unfortunately, this is also the main reason so many of us own more white T-shirts than we can count on two hands.

Rather than default to white like everyone else, get creative with screen printing. If the colors of your imprint contain a commonly used T-shirt color, consider purchasing a colored shirt and allow the shirt’s color to show through the design. You'll achieve the look of an extra spot color, without the additional color run charge. In the example above, the yellow T-shirt has been printed with just two colors- red and blue. The white T-shirt has received three colors- red, blue and yellow- yet the overall effect is the same.

The money saved by printing two colors instead of three will help offset the difference in price between a white and colored shirt.

Have you ever taken a photography class? A common piece of advice given to novice photographers is to experiment with angles.

Repeatedly snapping photos from the same eye-level, frontal position can make for some dull shots. Getting low to the ground and shooting upwards or capturing a head shot from a side angle can greatly increase the visual interest of your work.

The same lesson holds true with promotional products. Unless you’re creating a fully custom piece, your artwork/logo is often confined to the item’s imprint area. When the art itself can’t be modified either (for instance, when adhering to very specific branding guidelines), a good trick is to experiment with angles.

In the example above, the water bottle affords a long, skinny imprint area. That’s not exactly conducive to printing a logo (Coca-Cola) that is wider than it is tall, huh? Rather than size down the logo to fit horizontally, rotate it to fit the space vertically. You make much better use of the imprint area, and the user will actually be able to read the imprint when drinking from the bottle.