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In Anything Engraved, BUSINESS ENGRAVING, Laser Wood Engraving, Logo Engraving, Metal Engraving, Photo Engraving, YETI

7 Engraving Mistakes

and How To Avoid Them

by Daniel Marsh // June 14, 2023

7 Engraving Mistakes and Solutions

Do you know the difference between a quality engraving finish and an average one? You can almost bet your bottom dollar that your recipient will…

Today we will discuss how to prepare your project for the absolute best delivery and create a custom laser engraved masterpiece that will be remembered as one of the most thoughtful gift’s ever received!

ADDING TOO MUCH

Going hard and adding too much to the space is a no go. By over-complicating the design space you may not get the desired effect on the end user. When we cram in too much text or images it can make them hard to distinguish. What we really want to do is emphasise the main focal point and add complimentary items to it to, each one bringing its own point to the design. Keep it simple, simple but effective. If you really want to get busy, we would recommend taking a look at our full 3D wrap around engravings for that sleek, intricate finish.

FONT CHOICE

Poor font selection can really spoil a design. We would always make a suggestion to look at the theme of your engraving project and direct to to something appropriately suited. For example, if you were making a special retirement gift for a colleague, a Star Wars font may not be the right fit for that occasion. The same goes if we were creating a Superhero design for your 6 year old’s junior yeti, we would direct you to choose a fun, bold comic style font to match the theme of the project. To give you more control over your font choice we can send you to a online preview website where you can play around at home before you make a final decision.

SIZE

Yes, size matters! It’s important to consider the product you are engraving and prepare your designs in proportion to it. There’s nothing worse than collecting your newly engraved product and having the unpleasant surprise of it being not what you were expecting. Allow your designer to direct you on how best to scale your design for the best delivery on that particular product.

We have a ‘What you see is what you get’ policy, meaning you will receive a digital engraving proof laid out in exact proportion to your product, it is our No Surprises Approach to some of the known issues our customers have faced in previous experiences.

POSITIONING

Positioning is so very important to a great design. The use of ‘white space’ or the space in between items is a fundamental design principle that is almost forgotten when it comes to laser engraving. When thinking about the positioning of your graphics and text you should consider the following, front, back, top, middle or bottom. Look at the product in segments. Again ask your designer to run through this when you come in and confirm everything by digital proof first. Where Yeti’s are being engraved, do you want your design to be standalone from the Yeti badge or incorporated, this can detract from a business logo for example.

POOR QUALITY IMAGES

When suppling images and graphics to be engraved, the resolution of those images needs to be considered. Every time an image is copied, screenshot or send via a messaging service it loses more and more of its resolution or sharpness. The best way to combat this is to supply a Vector Graphic which is made up of lines (or curves) as they are known in the trade. These graphics can be scaled to any size big or small without losing any of their properties of sharpness. Instead of JPEG’s and Bitmap’s, which are graphics that are made up of pixels, which get fuzzier and fuzzier the more they are manipulated for design use. By supplying graphics in the right format or in high resolution you can save yourself the added expense of editing the images to make them suitable for engraving. We do all this in house and also utilise the expertise of Keiran, our highly skilled graphic designer.

ATTENTION TO DETAIL

You’ve heard it before… Yes, the devil is in the detail! The #1 reason we see out there on a regular basis has to be the engraving itself. It’s a combination of all of the above plus the competence of your designer and their ability to accurately program the engraving machine to perform highly intricate designs to get a show stopping result. By not paying attention to the design, equipment or customers needs, a poorly executed engraving can actually devalue your products rendering them almost useless. This makes for a difficult decision of whether on not to hand them out. If I t’s a special occasion, sentimental gift or business branding, it can be highly distressing to be faced with this decision. There are many considerations that can help get the best result for your project, talk to your designer, who is it for, how old are they, what’s their personality? What is your goal for the product? Ask questions and ask to view examples up close and in person. Read real customers testimonials. A scorched, fuzzy, scratchy or just plain badly designed engraving is no good to anyone and can be a reflection on you, the giver…

SUMMARY

If you need help with your next project or design, shoot us a message or drop in to the workshop, we understand that every job is different and will happily guide you through to the design process to a unique personalised solution. Remember this rule of thumb… if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is! Do your homework and protect your investment. At Outback Engraver will never be beaten on value. We stand by our craftsmanship guarantees and do not compromise quality. See you in the workshop!

Dan & The Outback Engraver Team 🙏.