That is a question we often get asked when someone is
interested in buying custom logo embroidered apparel
from us at Thread
Logic. And it is a very good
question.
If you want your logo embroidered on the left chest of
a shirt, size matters, right? Too big
and it will out of proportion and goofy on the shirt. Too small and it may not be easily seen or read
by the people you want to see it.
The answer of course is more complicated than it first
appears but in this post I will try and explain two quick ways you can see what
sized your logo might end up being.
First of all, there is no real standard size for every
embroidered logo. And that is simply
because every logo is different and must be treated differently. However there are some guidelines that can
help you understand how big a logo will be on a shirt.
Because nearly all of the logos we embroider on the
left chest of apparel, we will concentrate on that application. Obviously if the application is a full front
or full back, the discussion is very different.
The Logo Shape
The final size of an embroidered logo can depends a
great deal on shape of the logo. For example,
we approach logos that are a circle shape differently than ones that are more
horizontal or vertical. By the nature of
their shape, circle logos look bigger because the cover more area.
Therefore, we usually recommend circle logos be sized to
2.5 inches in diameter. At that size,
the elements are generally big enough to embroider well and the circle image
still doesn’t look out of proportion on the left chest of a shirt.
The America’s Best Companies is a good example of a
circle shaped logo.
The Moss Landing logo is more of a square shape. A square shape can appear very large
Business Card
Size
Most everyone is familiar with the size of a business
card. If you are looking for a quick and
dirty definition of logo size, this is the one.
Most logos, either horizontal or vertical in orientation end up about
the size of a business card. The
standard business card is 3.5 inches by 2 inches.
When asked this question, I have even recommended that
people take a business card and put it to their left chest so they can get an
idea of how large a logo will be.
The Chocolate Pink logo is a good example of a logo
that is about the size of a business card.
Too Big
We have found that any logo that is over 4 inches long
or 4 inches tall is too big for the left chest of a shirt. Not only does it look out of proportion, but
larger than 4 inches wide and it starts to dive into the arm pit-which never
looks good.
As you can see, answering the question about logo size
may not be as easy as it first appears.
Hopefully we have helped you answer this question and therefore make a
more educated decision about your embroidered logo apparel
purchase.
The Smallest Element
When considering what size to embroider a logo, we
first consider the smallest elements in the logo. Embroidery has its limitations. Putting thread on material is different from
ink on paper.
So we look at how big we need to make the smallest
elements in the logo so they embroider well then adjust the size of the overall
image to reflect that.
This method works well in some cases. In others, the smallest elements are so small
that if we adjusted the size so they would embroider well, the logo would blow
up to a point that it would be too big for the left chest of a shirt.
In those cases, the smallest elements may be to be
adjusted or eliminated so the logo will embroider cleanly and not be too big.
