This has to be at the top of my hit list for how to treat your logo, like a potato chip – nice and crispy.
If you have a brand guide, (let’s revisit that later), you’ll have noted that your logo should never appear pixelated or blurry. Having a low-quality rendering of your logo is a number one no-no for brand character. It would be equivalent to you showing up to work in sweat pants.
Logo Format Breakdown
One way to make sure your logo is rendered at its best possible quality, is to inquire or consider how your logo will be used. For example, if you are sponsoring an event and the event planner asks for your logo to give your company some recognition, ask them if it is for print advertising or digital advertising. This will help you determine which version of your logo to send.
Digital Logo
So, as per our example, you find out your logo is going to be used on a website for display purposes. The two appropriate formats of your logo could be the following:
- PNG – transparent background, ≥ 300 kb file size
- JPG – white square background, ≥ 300 kb file size
Now, when you don’t have control over how the web page looks, I tend to prefer PNG formats because they have the ability to adapt better to colored backgrounds. If you put a JPG on top of a page that has a light blue background per say, that white box is going to show up around your logo and might make it look clunky. *thumbs down*
Print Logo
Say your logo is going to be printed on a large banner that will hang on a fence, you are surly going to want to make sure it looks the same quality at 2 feet wide as it does 2 inches wide. That’s when these files come into play:
- EPS – vector file with transparent background, ≥ 1 mb file size
- PDF – portable document file in vector, transparent background, ≥ 1 mb file size
My preference is always an EPS because it preserves the most native data from the file and is most respectably re-sizable to any dimensions in the world. Should you need a logo for a billboard or a building sign to be seen from the freeway, EPS is your go-to.
Owning Your Logo Files
Lastly, it’s super important for when you work with a designer or studio that once you’ve completed the process, you ask for all the different formats of your logo. You’ll want to do this right away, because people tend to get busy and having both the digital and print versions of your logo is part of the package. Or should be. Never work with a designer who says that they own the logo files. It’s your business, you paid for the services, therefor you have the right to your logo and to use it for future projects.
Period.