CREATING AND DESIGNING YOUR CUSTOM PATCH - WHAT MAKES A GOOD PATCH DESIGN

CREATING AND DESIGNING YOUR CUSTOM PATCH

WHAT MAKES A GOOD PATCH DESIGN?

CHOOSING THE RIGHT GRAPHICS

When you are creating your own custom patch design, selecting the right graphic for your patch design is very important.   The best designed patches have simple clear designs.  Too many details, to many elements or too much lettering will make a very complicated patch, hard to read and sometimes the design gets lost in the patch.  The general idea is to make a simple clear patch that gets your message or joke through clearly, easy to look at and easy to read.   For example, if you take a large graphic with many details and try to put that whole graphic into a 3 x 3 patch, the design is not going to be very clear and most of the detail will be lost in the transition.  It may look good in jpeg form, but it will be nearly impossible to get those details in embroidery.  Simple well placed graphics work the best on patches.

SIZE AND SHAPE

Once you have your team graphic or symbol chosen, the next step would be to choose the size and shape of the patch.    Any solid shape will work on a patch.  The standard sizes are 2 x 3in, 2 x 4in or 3.5in round, however you can pick any shape that you want.  Standard shapes with straight lines and neat corners or completely round can always be merrowed, but other shapes will have to be embroidered with a thick edge and have the Velcro sewn securely on to the patch.   You can also take into consideration where the patch is going to be placed – if it is on your jacket with a 4 x 4 fuzzy side Velcro real estate, you can decide if you want tabs or scrolls or other patches to fit onto that space.  If you want only your team patch to fit on that area, you can choose a size that will take up most of that space, not leaving room for other patches.

Again, while deciding the shape of the patch, take into consideration the graphic and lettering that you need fit into the patch.  If you are going to write sentences on the patch, then you will have to adjust the size of the graphic and the size and shape of the patch to make it all fit in.   If you have a large graphic, keep the lettering to a minimum to allow the graphic to be the main focus of the patch.   Same is true for the opposite – if you have a lot of writing, then keep the graphic small and simple to allow for more writing.

BALANCE

To make a really good patch design, the patch has to be balanced properly.  Too much writing on one part and empty spaces on other parts will make the patch look unbalanced and probably make the lettering less readable, or the graphic unclear.   A balanced patch will have a clear simple graphic, the right amount of lettering and perhaps some small symbols to balance out the negative spaces.

Custom Team Patch Punisher with Stars is a good example of how to balance a patch design.   The punisher graphic is simple and clear and a good size to be seen properly.  If we were to change the shape of the patch to a 2 x 3 with the punisher in the middle of the patch, it would leave little room for lettering.  So we picked a 3.5 round patch, which will balance out either a large amount of lettering or a small amount, and will look good either way.   We decided to further balance the punisher team patch by adding stars.  The stars balance out any amount of writing by making a visual stop point between the team name and the team, and also fills in the blank spots when there is little writing.   Either way, the patch is balanced with little or no blank spots.

FONT

Which font to choose when you are creating your own custom patch?  Again follow the rule that simple is better.   For example if you have a small amount of lettering, you can go for a fancier font because you will have enough room for larger lettering.  If you are writing more than a few words, I would suggest some of the more simple lettering fonts – block, government or serif fonts – the writing will stitch out clear and be readable.   The same rules that apply to the rest of the patch apply here:  simple is best.

WHAT FORMAT DO I SEND TO OMLPACHES?

This is a question we get a lot.  It’s a simple answer -.JPEG or BMT and now corel draw files work best.  If you don’t sent it to us in that format, we will convert it to that format anyways.  It has been suggested a few times that an .eps file will take the place of digitizing – no it doesn’t at all – we still have to digitize the patch into stitches.  We do not manipulate or change your original design as a jpeg or a corel draw file – but we can make changes to the stitch file.

BALANCE, SIZE SHAPE, WHAT IF I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO TO GET IT RIGHT?

That’s easy, send it to us to check it out for you.  We can make suggestions and have tons of ideas that will help you make a balanced proper patch that you will be proud to wear.      Email us your preliminary design and ask for suggestions or any help you may need.  My favorite patches to digitize are the ones that the customer says “ if you have any ideas or suggestions, feel free to add them in”.  I usually do, and I always come up with some good changes or ideas to balance out the patch!   A good example of this is a police patch I did this year.  The design looked great as a jpeg, and it had a circle rope design around the middle.  Again looked great as a jpeg, but I knew it would not stitch out very nicely – there was way too much detail in the rope design – it would look great as a 10 x 10 patch, but not a 2 x 3.  So I asked if I could change the rope design slightly – its still a rope, but just designed in embroidery so I knew it would stitch out perfectly and have the right amount of detail.  The customer was not sure exactly what I had in mind, but he allowed me to try my idea.  The result was spectacular, and the rope design looked amazing, and ended up being one of the focal points of the final patch. 

To date, we have designed thousands of custom patches and through that experience we have a good eye for detail, balance and space available.    When we see the graphic of the patch, we can already picture what it will look like in stitches, and if it will work or not.  We can look at your graphic and let you know depending on the size of the patch you want, whether it will look good or not.  Not all graphics or designs lend well to embroidery, and we will let you know.

I DESIGNED MY OWN PATCH, NOW WHAT?

After you have designed your own custom patch and sent it to us – simply place your order for the digitizing fee and the amount and size of patches you need.  The order with the digitizing fee is the order that we will reference to you.   Once your order has been placed, we will digitize the patch, send you digital drafts for your approval and then stitch out the patch.   The fun is seeing your design get transformed into stitches – and it usually looks so much better in stitches!

So go ahead and try your stills designing a patch.  If you need any help along the way, simply contact us and we will be happy to work with you to create your own one of a kind custom designed patch!
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