A failed photo mug is obvious at a glance: the face is blurry, or cut off by the handle, or lost in a busy background. These are almost never printing errors — they are file errors. Here is how to avoid them.
Choosing the right photo
The main constraint is not technical, it is visual: the printed area is curved and looked at from close up. An image that works on a phone screen does not necessarily work on an 8 cm cylinder.
Favour close subjects
A portrait or a tight shot works very well. A group photo taken from a distance, a wide landscape or a highly detailed scene lose their legibility: the elements end up tiny and distorted by the curve.
Simple rule: if you have to zoom in to identify the subject on your phone, the photo is too wide for a mug.
Beware of busy backgrounds
A plain or slightly blurred background makes the subject stand out. A cluttered background — a messy living room, a busy street — competes with it. When in doubt, a photo taken outdoors with a distant background is almost always a good choice.
Avoid screenshots and recompressed images
A photo saved from a messaging app has often been recompressed several times. It looks sharp on a six-inch screen and reveals its artefacts once printed. Always go back to the original from your gallery or your camera.
Resolution: the only genuinely technical point
A screen displays an image at roughly 72 dots per inch. Printing needs about 300 dots per inch to look sharp up close. So an image can be perfect on screen and insufficient on paper or ceramic.
In practice, aim for a photo at least 1500 pixels wide. Any photo taken with a smartphone in the last ten years comfortably clears that threshold, provided you send the original file — hence the importance of not going through a screenshot.
That is why we ask for artwork in high definition, ideally HD or 4K.
Framing: think cylinder, not rectangle
This is where a decent mug and a great one part ways, and it is the least intuitive aspect.
The handle cuts into the printable area
A mug is not printed across a full 360°. The handle takes up part of the circumference, and the useful visible area sits on either side. A subject placed at the centre of the image ends up well positioned; an off-centre subject can disappear behind the handle depending on the side.
Leave margin around the subject
Give the face or the main element some air. A photo already cropped as tightly as possible leaves no room for adjustment, and the slightest shift cuts off a chin or the top of a head. Generous margin is easy to remove; it cannot be invented.
Watch the top and bottom
The curve pulls the upper and lower edges out of the field of view. Avoid placing text or an important detail there: centre what matters vertically.
Adding text
If you add a name or a line, two principles are enough. Keep the text short and readable at a glance — a first name, a date, four words at most. And keep the contrast strong: light text on a dark area, or the reverse. Grey text on a grey photo disappears.
How it works with us
Three options depending on what you need.
The mug personalised with your design for complete artwork you supply. The blank customisable mug if you are starting from scratch. And the whole Customisable collection to see every possibility, including existing designs to complete with a first name.
In every case, send us your artwork through the form on our Contact page. We come back to you to approve the result before printing — that step exists precisely to catch a questionable crop or a resolution that is too low, before it is too late.
The checklist before sending
- The file is the original, not a screenshot or an image received by messaging app.
- The photo is at least 1500 pixels wide.
- The subject is close and stands out from the background.
- There is margin around the main subject.
- Any text is short and high-contrast.
HD sublimation printing on 330 ml ceramic, shipped from France within 3 to 7 working days once the artwork is approved.