Every week, someone comes into the shop on Irish Street with something they made using AI. A logo for a new café. A flyer for a quiz night. A poster for a club event. A banner for the front of the shop. Our answer is always the same: yes, we'll print it.
AI is a quick, cheap way to get an idea down, and for plenty of jobs it's a fair place to start. But artwork that looks great on your phone can come out very differently on paper, vinyl or fabric. Here are the five things that decide how yours will turn out, and what to do about each one.
1. Size: AI images are smaller than they look
Most AI tools give you an image around 1,024 pixels wide. Print needs about 300 pixels for every inch to look sharp, so at full print quality that covers roughly 8.7cm.
| What you're printing | Pixels it needs at print quality | An AI image about 1,024 wide |
|---|---|---|
| Business card or sticker | about 1,000 wide | Sharp |
| A5 flyer | about 1,750 x 2,480 | Soft around the edges |
| A4 poster | about 2,480 x 3,510 | Noticeably blurry |
| Pull-up banner or shop sign | far more again | Blocky from a distance |
Some tools let you download a bigger version or "upscale". Always send the largest file you can get. Upscaling helps a bit, but it can't add detail that was never there.
Quick check: zoom right in on screen. If the edges go fuzzy or blocky, that's what a large print will show.
2. Shape: AI picks its own size, print doesn't
AI images usually come out square or in a fixed shape. Flyers, posters and banners don't. To fit, the image has to be stretched (which distorts it), cropped (which can cut off words) or extended.
Print also needs bleed: about 3mm of extra image past the edge, which gets trimmed off so there are no white slivers. An AI image with words right up to the edge will lose them in the trim.
3. Text: the part AI gets wrong
AI is still unreliable with words. Look closely and you'll often find a doubled letter, a letter that isn't quite a letter, or a number that's slightly off. On a logo that's awkward. On a flyer it's the date, the phone number or the price.
There's a second catch: text inside an AI image is part of the picture. You can't edit it. To change one date, you'd have to make the whole thing again.
Read every word out loud, letter by letter, before it goes anywhere.
4. Colour: screens glow, paper doesn't
Your phone lights colours from behind; ink on paper can't. Bright blues, greens and neon tones dull most in print, and AI images lean on exactly those colours because they're made for screens.
It doesn't mean it won't work. It means a printed proof is worth seeing before a full run, and we'll always tell you if a colour is likely to shift.
5. Stitching and cutting: machines need clean lines
For embroidered workwear or cut-vinyl signs and vans, the machine follows lines and shapes. An AI image is a grid of coloured squares, so there's nothing clean to follow. Soft shading, glows and fine detail don't stitch or cut at all.
To embroider or cut an AI design, it has to be redrawn with clean shapes first. It's the same idea, built so a machine can follow it.
Before you send it: a 5-point check
- Send the biggest version you have. Download the original, not a screenshot or an image saved from social media.
- Zoom in on the edges. Fuzzy or blocky means it's only safe at small sizes.
- Read every word and number out loud. Dates, prices, phone numbers, spelling.
- Tell us the size and where it's going. A flyer, a banner and a jacket need very different files.
- Ask for a proof. It's the cheapest way to catch a colour or spelling problem.
Two ways we can print it
As it is. For smaller items, an AI design often prints well enough. We'll check it and tell you honestly if anything will let it down.
Made print-ready. Our Print-Ready Rebuild redraws your design properly, keeping your idea: built at the right size and shape, with bleed, text retyped so it's correct and you can change it, and colours set for print. For logos, that means one logo that's sharp on a pen, a shopfront or a jacket. From {PRICE}, ready in {DAYS}.
Either way, it's your design. We just make sure it looks as good printed as it did on your screen.
Bring it in to 22 Irish Street, Downpatrick (Monday to Friday, 10am to 1pm), or send it to us online and we'll tell you what it needs.
Questions we get asked
Will you print something I made with ChatGPT or another AI tool?
Yes. We print AI-made logos, flyers, posters and banners every week. We'll check it first and tell you how it will turn out.
Can an AI image be printed as a banner?
Usually not well as it is. A typical AI image is around 1,024 pixels wide, which prints sharp at about 8.7cm. On a banner it will look blurry or blocky unless it's rebuilt at the right size.
Why is the text on my AI flyer wrong?
AI tools still make mistakes with letters and numbers, and the text is part of the image, so it can't be edited. We can retype it so it's correct and easy to change.
What size should my artwork be for printing?
About 300 pixels per inch at the printed size, plus about 3mm of bleed on each edge. For an A5 flyer that's roughly 1,750 x 2,480 pixels before bleed.
Can an AI logo be embroidered?
Not as it is. Embroidery machines follow clean lines and shapes, and an AI image is made of pixels. It needs redrawing first, which we can do.
Why does my design look different printed?
Screens light colours from behind and paper doesn't, so bright screen colours often come out duller in ink. A printed proof shows you exactly what you'll get.