Inside Hotline: The In-House Designers Behind Every Visual Proof™
Every Visual Proof™ at Hotline is made by a member of its in-house design team. What the designers check on your logo, what they can do with artwork that isn't ready to print, and how your changes reach them.
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View allEvery Visual Proof™ at Hotline Promotional Products is prepared by a member of our in-house design team, usually in around 20 minutes during working hours. They put your logo on the product you've chosen, check it'll work with the product, its colour and the branding method, and make any changes you ask for, free, before you order. Our Visual Proof™ article explains how to request one.
Who prepares each Visual Proof™ at Hotline?
Each Visual Proof™ is made by our own in-house design team, who have years of branding and design experience between them. No proof is passed to an outside design agency, and every design is checked by the team to make sure your logo looks its best on the product you've chosen.
You upload your logo and tell us anything that matters to you, such as a preferred version of your logo or where it should go. A designer does the rest, from the size and position of your logo to the overall layout.
Is a Visual Proof™ made by a person or by software?
A person makes every Visual Proof™ at Hotline. Each proof is made by our in-house design team rather than assembled by a template, so it shows your logo on the actual product, at the size and in the position it'll print.
Because a designer makes your proof, they'll tell you before you order if your logo won't reproduce well on the product, whether that's because the print area is too small or the artwork is too detailed for the branding method. Your proof also shows the price for your quantity and the delivery date, so everything you need to decide is in one place.
What do Hotline's designers check on your proof?
Our designers check your logo against the product, its colour and the branding method before your proof comes back. If they think it could work better another way, they show you the options on your proof.
| What they check | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| Size and position | Your logo fits the print area, at a size people can read and in a position that suits the product |
| Detail | Artwork that's too detailed for the branding method is spotted before anything's printed |
| Colours | Print colours are matched to your logo, or to any Pantone references you give us |
| A single-colour version | With screen printing and pad printing, a one-colour logo can give a cleaner result at smaller sizes and may keep the cost down |
| Product colour | A different product colour might show your logo better |
Pantone references are the standard colour codes many brands use to keep their colours consistent. A printed colour can still look slightly different from its reference colour, depending on the material it's printed on, as our terms and conditions explain, so check the colours on your proof carefully before you approve it.
Our guide to branding methods explains screen printing, pad printing and the other ways a logo goes on, including what happens with Pantone colours.
What if your logo isn't ready to print?
Upload whatever you have, and our designers will check it. A vector file, such as an SVG, AI, EPS or PDF, gives the best result, because it can be resized without losing quality. A JPEG or PNG is fine too.
In many cases, our designers can clean up or redraw artwork that needs some work, as part of the Visual Proof™ process. They'll tell you if they need anything from you before you order.
If you don't have a logo, tell us the text you'd like on the product. Our designers will set it out to suit the product and the branding method, and you'll see it on your proof before you decide.
How do your changes reach Hotline's designers?
Click Request Changes on your Visual Proof™ and tell us what you'd like changed. Your request goes straight to our design team, who make the changes and send you an updated proof.
You can ask for as many changes as you need, free, and the price on your proof is held for 14 days while you decide.
If someone else needs to approve the order, you can share your basket with them, and they'll see exactly how each product will look with your logo, alongside the quantities, prices and delivery dates. Wessex Volleyball Club used its proofs to get sign-off for its 50th anniversary order: "The Visual Proof™ service made it easy to share designs with our Board before ordering."
What do customers say about Hotline's design team?
Customers often mention how quickly our designers respond when they ask for changes.
- "Incredibly prompt responses and edits to my design. Thank you very much." (verified customer, September 2026)
- "Very good as I kept going backwards and forwards. Great price and very efficient." (verified customer, September 2026)
- "Very happy with the visuals and easy to make changes to the order." (verified customer, September 2026)
- "Very good and fast service on design tweaks and on delivery of my Orders." (Trustpilot review, September 2026)
Brain Research UK, which we sponsored with branded wristbands and flags at the 2026 TCS London Marathon, said:
The Visual Proof™ stage was especially helpful. It gave us real confidence in how the final products would look and ensured everything aligned perfectly with our branding before going into production.
For more of what our customers say, read what 6,000 customer reviews say about Hotline and why we ask every customer for a review.
What happens after you approve your proof?
Add the product from your proof to your basket and check out online, and your artwork and order details come with it. Your delivery date is shown before you order, and on Standard and Express delivery you get a guaranteed delivery date.
We partner with factories across the UK and Europe to put your logo on our products. Your approved proof is the record of how your branding should look, and if what arrives doesn't match it, we'll replace or refund it.
To see your logo on something, choose any product in our full product range and request a free Visual Proof™.