Logo file formats?

6sigma · 2010-07-25 20:03:51

My wife is working on some identity matters for her business. Thus far, she’s been working with a print shop focusing on logo, business cards, letterhead & envelopes. However, when she began to ask about getting her new logo in a useful electronic file format, she began to receive pdf files by email.

I thought logo file formats were typically EPS, JPG and/or GIF. I’m not sure when or why one would use one of those file formats over another, but aren’t those the file formats that are typical for logos?

This whole discussion makes me feel old. :-)

(oh…and thanks, as always)

gomedia · 2010-07-25 22:01:28

I would say that the file format is governed by where you want to use it. Print shops tend to work in PDF/EPS etc – i.e. formats used for printing. If you need to put the logo on a website tell them that you require a JPEG or PNG.

It sounds like you are still dealing with the print designers so they should be able to provide what you want. If all else fails you can convert the file format yourself.

6sigma · 2010-08-03 21:04:53

Sorry to re-open such an old thread. However, today I saw her logo files for the first time. It appears to me that this print shop has simply scanned something they printed in order to save the logo in pdf, png, bmp and jpg files. In nearly every case, any change in the size of the logo causes “jaggies.”

My question to you designer types is this, “is there a typical range of sizes that one of these file formats should permit for a logo?” For example, what if she wants to have some ballpoint pens or coffee cups printed, but then she needs a banner printed. Does this require an artist to sit down and redraw the logo every time?

Sorry to sound so ignorant, but these printing people have got her so confused, she’s now confusing me.

[Also, is there any place I can actually post these files so that some of you can take a look at what she’s dealing with? Ideas?]

jakob · 2010-08-03 22:19:20

It depends a little on the nature and complexity of the logo itself and how (and how large) it was created. Generally speaking a vector-based format such as eps, illustrator or a vector-drawing saved as a pdf will scale to large or small sizes without jaggies as they are resolution independent, e.g. they are rasterized or automatically drawn at whatever resolution they are output at (or alternatively cut directly to film for stickers, window lettering etc.). You only start getting problems at very small sizes (e.g. icons) where logos can start to lose details and need some additional cleaning up to look better.

A tif, png, bmp or jpg is a pixel-based format (e.g. consists of a grid of dots) and will start to go jaggy once it is enlarged greater than its native resolution. Programs attempt to do their best to smooth out the differences but the quality gets worse the greater difference in resolution. You get better results downsizing than enlarging. jpg format is really only good for the web or where file size is important: as a so-called “lossy” format, it uses a compression algorithm that changes (degrades) the image each time you save it.

If you can get your artwork as a vector-format (eps, ai, etc.) that is most versatile. If it is only available as a pixel image, then try and obtain it at a good high resolution and in tif format and then resize and output it for your specific purposes. Other things to take into account is that print images are CMYK (e.g. ink-colours), whereas images for the web or screen need to be RGB (light colours).

Scanned images will always be pixel-images. The shop may use PDF simply because their software outputs it automatically or perhaps also for compatibility reasons because they have less problems with people not being able to open their files. You can open a PDF file in photoshop and then re-size it to the size you want. In the case of scanning the resolution question can be more complex and depends on what original they scanned from. Here high-resolution is not always best as scanning a printout at high resolution reveals all the individual dot patterns created by the printing process. When you re-print from such scanned files, you may find that you get interference patterns.

Also, is there any place I can actually post these files so that some of you can take a look at what she’s dealing with?

Imageschack or tinypic maybe?

6sigma · 2010-08-04 00:10:32

I’ve posted three of the file formats here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rodentregatta/sets/72157624648579826/

She’s having a printer produce cards, envelopes, letterhead and the like. However, she wants to be able to use her word processor to paste her logo into short-run pieces that she creates for various needs.

If you take a look at those images, you may notice that it looks as if the images were scanned and saved in the file formats. Maybe she’s dealing with someone who isn’t a graphic artist and only knows enough to cut and paste for the print shop’s requirements.

Anyhow, any further suggestions will be appreciated. And, to those of you who commented already, many thanks!

Edit to add: She doesn’t own or use an image editing package. She teaches music and types documents and emails :-)

Last edited by 6sigma (2010-08-04 00:11:45)

jakob · 2010-08-04 08:25:02

The GIF and PNG formats look like screenshots where text smoothing has been turned off. The jpg could be a scan or something resaved at a very high compression level because it has suffered badly.

The text is no problem to redo – it looks like it is set in Goudy Old Style – and could then scale to any size, but the graphic looks like a hand drawing that has been scanned. If you just need a clean version of the image at the size you have it, e.g. to insert into word etc. you can cobble one together out of the myfonts preview text samples, e.g. like this. But if you want a larger version for a banner, you’ll need to get someone to redraw the keyboard-notes stave as a vector image.

colak · 2010-08-04 09:05:33

this might be of help.

6sigma · 2010-08-04 10:19:22

Thanks for helping me confirm and understand the problems I thought I was seeing. My wife has been frustrated with this experience. Small business owners want their companies to “look” professional, but the local print shops often don’t understand the myriad of ways that a corporate identity must be used.

I really appreciate your willingness to go “off topic” on this issue. Now back to Textpattern…

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#1 2010-07-25 20:03:51

Logo file formats?

#2 2010-07-25 22:01:28

Re: Logo file formats?

#3 2010-08-03 21:04:53

Re: Logo file formats?

#4 2010-08-03 22:19:20

Re: Logo file formats?

#5 2010-08-04 00:10:32

Re: Logo file formats?

#6 2010-08-04 08:25:02

Re: Logo file formats?

#7 2010-08-04 09:05:33

Re: Logo file formats?

#8 2010-08-04 10:19:22

Re: Logo file formats?

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