Art Resources

Here at Your Brand Cafe we strive to produce the best quality printed products. Here you’ll find information on the best practices for producing the highest quality print in a timely manner.

Direct Printing vs. CMYK Printing

CMYK Printing

CMYK or “Full Color” is a 4 color printing process where Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black ink are combined in different amounts to achieve millions of color variations. CMYK printing is the way to go if your logo includes gradients, shadows, more than three colors, color transitions, or a photograph. CMYK printing is available on 8, 12, 16oz hot cups, drink coasters, and coffee sleeves.

CMYK
Art-Direct Print

Direct Printing

Direct printing is the process of stamping solid inks onto a surface one at a time. Up to three ink colors can be printed on one side. This printing process only uses Solid Coated Pantone Colors which are very accurate because solid inks are used rather than blending four inks to build a color. All cold cups and food containers are printed with direct printing as well as 4, 10, and 20oz hot cups.

Direct Printing

Direct printing is the process of stamping solid inks onto a surface one at a time. Up to three ink colors can be printed on one side. This printing process only uses Solid Coated Pantone Colors which are very accurate because solid inks are used rather than blending four inks to build a color. All cold cups and food containers are printed with direct printing as well as 4, 10, and 20oz hot cups.

Art-Direct Print

Here is an example of a CMYK printed logo vs. a Direct printed logo.

Art CMYK Sample
Art Direct Print Sample

Tips For Print

File Formats

Vector artwork is recommended for the best quality print. Vector allows us to scale the art to fit the product and will prevent any unintended loss of clarity or quality in the printing. Please submit your art as a vector file in one of the following formats: .AI, .EPS, or .PDF.

Have a picture or photograph? Our CMYK printed products allow for photographs, .jpg, .png). These images must be 300 dpi.

File formats

Not sure if your file works? No problem, simply email our art department at approvals@yourbrandcafe.com with the art file and the product and size you’re interested in.

Color Matching Direct Print
Color Matching CMYK

Color Matching

Direct printed products will be printed using Solid Coated Pantones. If you don’t know your logo’s Solid Coated Pantone our art department will find this for you.

Pantone Colors provided for CMYK printed products will be converted to CMYK at no extra charge. Provided Pantone colors will be color matched to the best ability of CMYK printing. Some Pantone colors are harder for CMYK printing to hit such as teals, neon colors, and cool grays; reference a Color Bridge Pantone book for the most accurate depiction of your converted Pantone Color.

Color Matching

Direct printed products will be printed using Solid Coated Pantones. If you don’t know your logo’s Solid Coated Pantone our art department will find this for you.

Pantone Colors provided for CMYK printed products will be converted to CMYK at no extra charge. Provided Pantone colors will be color matched to the best ability of CMYK printing. Some Pantone colors are harder for CMYK printing to hit such as teals, neon colors, and cool grays; reference a Color Bridge Pantone book for the most accurate depiction of your converted Pantone Color.

Color Matching Direct Print
Color Matching CMYK

Fonts within Vector Files

Please outline your text or include the font files with your submission. We don’t have access to every font, so outlining the text before hand will help us get your message onto the product without any problems. If you would like us to make any changes to your text the font files will be required with art submission. Here is an example of what we see when a font file is not included and when the text is outlined.

Art Fonts
Art Adjustments

Art Adjustments

Please try to prepare your artwork as close as possible to how you would like it printed. If adjustments are needed, please list them during the ordering process; the more we know about what you want, the smoother the process will go! Keep in mind, that the longer it takes to get the art ready, the longer it will be before printing can begin.

Art Adjustments

Please try to prepare your artwork as close as possible to how you would like it printed. If adjustments are needed, please list them during the ordering process; the more we know about what you want, the smoother the process will go! Keep in mind, that the longer it takes to get the art ready, the longer it will be before printing can begin.

Art Adjustments

Revised Print

Not all art works well when reversed. Please keep in mind that if you request your art with the logo as empty space on a color field, small details can be lost when it goes to print. When doing a reversed print, bolder is better!

Revised Artwork

Please keep in mind some elements or your artwork might need to be altered to best fit the requirements and restrictions of the printing method. Our in-house art team will be sure to keep your logo as close to the original while ensuring the best print quality is achieved. Here is an example of how a logo might be changed to meet the requirements of Direct Printing.

Artwork Revised

Contact

For inquiries regarding artwork or templates please contact the art department at approvals@yourbrandcafe.com.

For inquiries regarding pricing, turnarounds, or the ordering process please contact customer service at 866-566-0390 or by email at contactus@yourbrandcafe.com.