Why it looks different on the thing.
A screen emits light and a mug reflects it. Here is what that actually changes, what each printing technique can and cannot hold, and where the line between a characteristic and a fault sits.
Colour
Your screen makes colour by emitting light and mixing red, green and blue. A printer makes it by laying down ink that absorbs light and reflects what is left. The two gamuts overlap but they are not the same shape, and some colours that are easy on a screen have no ink equivalent at all.
The ones that move most:
- Neons and electric blues. A screen can push these far past what ink reaches. They come back a shade quieter.
- Deep navy and near-black. These can read slightly warm or slightly purple depending on the substrate.
- Pure white on a coloured garment. White is the absence of ink in most techniques; on dark fabric it has to be laid down as an underbase, and it takes on a little of the colour beneath.
None of this is a defect, and it is not something a better file fixes. It is the difference between a light source and an object.
What each technique holds
| Technique | Best for | Struggles with |
|---|---|---|
| Direct-to-garment | Photographs, gradients, fine detail on cotton | Very fine hairlines; a soft hand on heavy fleece |
| All-over print | Edge-to-edge pattern, blankets, socks, leggings | Anything that must align across a seam |
| Sublimation | Mugs, metal, polyester — bright and permanent | Natural cotton; true white on a white base |
| Embroidery | Logos, bold type, hats and heavy knit | Photographs, gradients, type below about 5mm |
| Engraving | Glass, metal, wood — one permanent tone | Colour of any kind; fine tonal shading |
What the studio does about it
The product is chosen before the design is drawn, not after, so the brief already knows which technique is coming. A design destined for embroidery is generated with fewer colours and heavier strokes; one for engraving is generated as a single tone. That is why the same sentence produces visibly different artwork on a hat and on a blanket — it is not the model being inconsistent.
Resolution is handled the same way: every design is generated at the print size the partner needs, so nothing is upscaled from a screen-sized image.
Characteristic, or fault
A fault, reprinted free under returns:
- The design is off-centre, cropped, rotated or at the wrong scale.
- Banding, streaking, or a visible head gap across the print.
- Cracking or lifting on a garment that has not been washed.
- A seam, a handle or a glaze that failed.
- The wrong product, the wrong size or the wrong design entirely.
A characteristic, not a fault:
- A colour one step quieter than it looked on your screen.
- Texture from the weave showing through on a heavy knit or a canvas.
- Slight placement variance between two copies of the same garment — these are printed one at a time, not stamped.
- A mug print that stops short of the handle. There is a clearance the machine needs.
If you are unsure which side a photograph falls on, send it. We would rather look than have you decide for us.
Keeping it
Garments: inside out, cold, tumble low, and skip the fabric softener — it coats the fibres and dulls the print. Mugs: dishwasher-safe and microwave-safe, though handwashing extends the life of any print. Canvas and posters: out of direct sun, like any pigment. The product page carries the partner’s own instructions where they differ.
If you can imagine it, we can create it.
Anything, designed from a sentence, printed by a partner near you, shipped to the door.