The time a client's logo file was basically a postage stamp

I was in my shop last Tuesday, about to run a 500-piece order of custom tote bags for a local brewery. The client sent over their logo file, said it was 'print ready'. I opened it up and it was a 72 DPI JPEG, maybe 2 inches wide. I called them and explained it would look like a blurry mess blown up for the bag. They got a bit defensive, said their nephew made it and it looked fine on their phone screen. I ended up spending about an hour walking them through finding the original vector file, which turned out to be on an old laptop they had to dig out of a closet. The whole job got pushed back a day. It makes me wonder, where's the line? Do you just flat-out refuse to print with bad art and risk losing the job, or do you become a free tech support service to try and salvage it? What's your hard rule on file specs?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_sarah2mo agoMost Upvoted

Honestly, sometimes you just gotta make it work. I printed 200 shirts last month with a 150 DPI jpeg because the client was a small nonprofit and their event was the next day. It wasn't perfect, but they were thrilled to have the shirts at all. If you turn down every job with a bad file, you're turning down a lot of business from normal people who don't know what a vector is.

the_tara2mo ago

I had a client last year who insisted on using a tiny logo from their Facebook page for a banner. We printed it and the blurry result actually hurt their brand image at a trade show. Setting clear file standards upfront saves everyone from disappointment later. Sometimes saying no to a bad file means saying yes to doing quality work that doesn't damage your reputation.