If you haven’t already, please visit our Creating Design Files article to familiarize yourself with our product templates.
Mugs. Are. Awesome. But, there are some very important things to keep in mind when designing them. In this article, we’ll go over mug templates, design file tips + requirements, and artwork placement.
Mug Template
The design area on mugs is a single rectangle that covers the left, middle and right sides of the mug’s surface. The red crosshairs indicate the center of the mug on the left and right sides. Please note that the design area does not cover the full surface of the mug, it’s very important to keep this in mind when designing!
Design File Tips + Requirements
File Type + Size
All of our mugs require a JPEG image at 300ppi. The JPEG Quality should be set to 100%. The final size of the design file will vary depending on the mug.
Background Color
One common error we see with mug designs is using a background color other than white. Since we cannot print on the full surface of the mug, this results in a white border around the design:
Foil Mugs
For foil mugs, we require black and white artwork. It’s imperative that the black is true black, or RGB (0, 0, 0,), and that the white is true white, or RGB (255, 255, 255). If we receive a foil mug file that has any color or any shade of gray, we’ll have to contact you to revise the file and you’re order will be temporarily put on hold.
Colored Mugs
When designing for colored mugs such as our gold, pink or silver mugs, it’s important to remember that the printing process does not use white ink. The lighter the color, the more transparent, or see-through it will be. This is demonstrated in the image below:
Artwork Placement
Figuring out where to place your artwork on the mug template might seem confusing, but it’s actually very simple!
Artwork placed in the center of the template will be printed on the center of the mug, directly across from the handle. More often than not, this is done by accident. If your design is appearing in the center of the template in the Printed Mint Custom Designer, your file may be the wrong size.
Artwork placed on the left side of the template will be printed on the side of the mug with the handle on the left:
Artwork placed on the right side of the template will be printed on the side of the mug with the handle on the right:
For a two-sided design, simply place your artwork on both sides of the template:
