One-Color Artwork Preview
Drop your logo in and see what a single screen leaves of it, on any of the 1,025 product colors we stock — before a proof tells you two parts of it merged.
Drop your logo here
You will see it beside a one-color version, on the product color of your choice. Your file stays in your browser and is never uploaded. PNG, JPG, WebP, GIF or SVG.
How to use the one-color preview
- 1
Drop your logo in
PNG, JPG, WebP, GIF or SVG. It is read in your browser and never uploaded. The threshold starts at the cut your artwork itself suggests.
- 2
Set the ink and the product color
Pick the imprint ink and the color of the item underneath it. Both are matched to a color we stock, with a link to the products that come in it.
- 3
Read the warnings, then move the slider
The tool names any two parts of your logo that collapse into one shape, and tells you whether the ink stands clear of the product color.
The failure nobody sees coming
Different colors, same lightness, one shape
A single screen makes one decision per point in your artwork: ink, or no ink. It cannot see hue. So two shapes that look nothing alike to you — a red mark against a blue one, say — become the same solid color the moment they are similar in lightness, and the wordmark sitting on top of a shape disappears into it.
That is the whole reason this tool exists. It compares the dominant colors in your logo, works out which side of the threshold each one lands on, and names the pairs that collapse together instead of leaving you to discover it on a proof.
Three colors, two of them doomed
- #c8102elightness 50%
- #1f4e9clightness 43%
- #2e8b57lightness 58%
Three unmistakable brand colors, all within a few points of each other on the only axis a single screen can read. Every one of them prints as the same solid mark.
On the product, not on white
Preview it on a color we actually stock
Most artwork tools show you a result on a white page. That flatters everything. Set the product color here to the tote, tumbler or shirt you are actually ordering and the answer changes, because half of what a one-color imprint has to do is stand clear of the item under it.
Both the ink and the product color are matched to the 1,025 colors we stock, so the result is a listing you can order from rather than a hex code you cannot buy.
The same ink, two products
- White on Navy16.0:1
- Navy on Black1.3:1
An imprint needs at least 3:1 against the product. One of these clears it comfortably; the other is a smudge waiting to happen.
A setting, not a sentence
The threshold is yours to move
There is no single correct cut. A printer moves the threshold too, and where they put it decides whether a mid-tone in your logo prints solid or drops out altogether. The tool opens on the cut your artwork itself suggests, then hands you the slider.
Moving it is often the entire fix. A logo that merges at one setting can separate cleanly a few points away, and knowing that number is a far more useful thing to send a printer than "it looked wrong".
What the slider changes
- Toward less ink. Only the darkest parts print. Mid-tones and thin strokes drop out first.
- Toward more ink. More of the logo prints solid, until the detail inside it closes up into a block.
- Light on dark. Flips which side prints, for artwork drawn as a reversed or knockout version.
When one color is the decision
A one-color imprint is the default on most promotional products, so this comes up on nearly every order that starts from a full-color logo. These are the cases where checking first saves a reprint.
A full-color logo going onto a budget run
The quantity works at one color and not at three. Check what survives before you commit to the saving.
A logo with text inside a colored shape
The most common merge there is. If the lettering and its badge are close in lightness, the words vanish into the shape.
One logo across several product colors
A single ink rarely reads on every garment color you are ordering. Check each one and you will know where a reversed version is needed.
Artwork that arrived as a photo or a screenshot
Soft edges and compression noise behave very differently under a hard threshold than clean vector shapes do.
A gradient or a drop shadow in the brand mark
Neither survives a single screen. Seeing it flatten is usually what settles the conversation with a brand team.
Deciding whether a second color earns its screen
If one color holds up here, the second screen is optional. If it does not, you now have the evidence for the upgrade.
How a one-color reduction actually works
A screen has one decision to make
A screen-printing screen is a stencil. Ink passes where the mesh is open and is blocked where it is not, so every point in your artwork is either fully inked or completely bare. There is no half-ink, which means there is no shading, no fade and no second color to carry a difference the first one cannot.
Reducing artwork to one color is therefore not a filter or a style. It is a threshold: a line drawn across the lightness range, with everything below it printing and everything above it dropping out. This tool draws that line where your artwork suggests it, then lets you move it.
Why hue disappears and lightness survives
Color has three properties: hue, which is the position in the rainbow; saturation, which is how vivid it is; and lightness, which is how pale or deep. A one-color reduction keeps only the third. Hue and saturation are discarded entirely, because the screen has no way to express them.
That is why the failure is so easy to miss. Your eye reads hue first and lightness last, so two colors that could not be more different to you can be almost identical on the only axis the print process can see. The measurement is objective; the impression is not, and the impression is what everybody approves artwork on.
Where the preview stops
This preview models the threshold, and only the threshold. It does not model ink spread on fabric, the way a knit surface breaks up a fine line, the sheen of a coated tumbler, or the fact that a screen holds detail differently from a pad print or an embroidery machine. Those are real and they all cost detail rather than adding it, so treat a clean result here as necessary rather than sufficient.
Use it as the first of three checks. Get the reduction right here, confirm the ink reads on the product in the contrast checker, then check the file itself against our artwork guidelines before it goes to production.
Nothing you drop in leaves your browser
Your logo is read, converted and drawn entirely on your own device. There is no upload, no copy on our servers and nothing kept when you close the page — the PNG you download is produced in the browser as well. A brand mark that has not been announced yet is safe to check here.
When you are ready to order, send us the original vector file rather than the preview. An AI, EPS or PDF holds the shapes at full quality, and we will do the one-color separation from that.
Shop promotional products by color
The colors we carry across the most products. Every link opens the real listing.
FAQs
What is a one-color imprint?
A one-color imprint is a decoration that uses a single ink. Every part of the artwork is either printed in that ink or left as bare product, with no second color, no gradient and no shading in between. It is the cheapest and most common way to decorate promotional products, which is why PPI's one-color artwork preview exists: it shows what a full-color logo looks like after that reduction.
Why does my logo look wrong in one color?
A logo looks wrong in one color when two of its parts differ in hue but not in lightness. Screen printing cannot see hue — a single screen only decides ink or no ink — so a red shape and a blue shape of similar depth both become the same solid color and merge into one mass. PPI's one-color artwork preview detects that pairing and names the two colors that collapse together.
What is the threshold slider doing?
The threshold slider sets the lightness at which artwork stops printing as ink and starts leaving bare product. Everything darker than the setting becomes solid ink; everything lighter drops out. PPI's one-color artwork preview opens on the cut the artwork itself suggests, and moving the slider shows you the range of results a printer could produce from the same file.
Does a one-color print cost less than a full-color one?
A one-color screen print normally costs less than a multi-color one, because each color in a screen-printed design needs its own screen and its own setup charge. Reducing a logo to one color removes those extra screens. Ask us for pricing on your quantity and product and we will show both options side by side.
Can I print a gradient in one color?
A gradient cannot be printed in one color as a smooth blend. A single screen lays one ink at one density, so a gradient either becomes a flat block or has to be faked with halftone dots, which look coarse at the sizes most promotional products are imprinted at. If your logo depends on a gradient, ask us about a print method that reproduces it, such as full-color transfer or digital printing.
What happens to thin lines in a one-color print?
Thin lines are the first thing lost in a one-color print. A hairline that sits lighter than the threshold drops out entirely, and one that survives can still close up on press because ink spreads slightly into the fabric or coating. If the preview shows very little ink surviving, thicken the strokes in the artwork rather than hoping the press holds them.
How much contrast does an imprint need against the product?
An imprint needs at least a 3:1 contrast ratio against the product color, the same floor WCAG sets for a non-text graphic, and comfortably more than that when the logo contains fine lines or small lettering. Below 3:1 a one-color imprint reads as a smudge rather than a logo. The preview measures your ink against your product color and says which side of that line you are on.
What should I do when my logo fails in one color?
When a logo fails in one color you have three honest options: move the threshold to find a setting where the parts stay separate, redraw the merging parts so one becomes an outline rather than a filled shape, or move up to a two-color print so the difference is carried by ink rather than lightness. Send us the artwork and we will tell you which of the three is cheapest for your run.
Is my file uploaded anywhere?
Your file is not uploaded anywhere. PPI's one-color artwork preview reads and converts the image inside your own browser, so the artwork never reaches our servers or anyone else's, and the PNG you download is drawn on your own device. Closing the page discards it.
What file types can I drop in?
PNG, JPG, WebP, GIF and SVG can all be read directly in the browser. AI, EPS, PDF, PSD and INDD files are the right thing to send us for production, but a browser cannot open one to read its pixels, so export a PNG or JPG copy for the preview and send us the original when you order.
Does a white imprint work on a dark product?
A white imprint on a dark product is the standard answer for dark garments and bags, and it usually measures far above the contrast an imprint needs. Set the ink to white and the product to the color you are ordering, and switch on the light-on-dark option if your artwork was drawn light to begin with.
Does this replace a printed proof?
This preview does not replace a printed proof. It models the one decision a single screen makes — ink or no ink — on a screen that emits light, while a real imprint sits in ink on fabric, ceramic or metal, each of which spreads and absorbs it differently. Use the preview to catch the failures early, then approve a proof before a production run.
See the full FAQ for ordering and shipping questions, or contact us and a real person will answer.
Ready to put this on a product?
Send us the logo and the product color you are considering and we will confirm the one-color separation on a free visual proof before anything is printed. See how to order, browse the full catalog, or request a sample to check a color on the real material.
How this page is made
- Maintained by
- The merchandising team at Promotional Product Inc, who source and sell the products these colors appear on.
- Color data
- Read from our live product catalog on . Every count on this page is read from that catalog, never estimated.
- Method
- Your logo is reduced to one ink by perceptual tone rather than raw brightness, and merges are detected where two visually distinct colors land on the same side of the threshold.
Found something wrong? Tell us and we will correct it.
Keep exploring
- Color palette generatorBuild a palette or pull one out of your logo, then see the closest colors we actually stock.
- Color wheelEnter one color and see every color that goes with it, matched to the colors we stock.
- Image color pickerClick any point in your logo to read its exact color, and what we stock closest to it.
- Contrast checkerCheck your imprint color stays readable on the product color underneath it.