You may be new to working with a designer on your logo or other artwork. There may be some terms and design concepts that you're unfamiliar with. Not a problem. In this Design Glossary, we'll give you an overview of design phrases and terminology in layman's terms so that you can quickly understand our web site, design pricing or design process.

Client design brief
In order to work with remote clients and to offer all our clients a convenient way of submitting projects, The Logo Factory has designed a group of project submission forms or 'Client Design Briefs'.. More

Preliminary designs
The Logo Factory design process follows a series of steps or 'design phases'. When our designers review your client design brief, or consult with you via phone or e-mail, they will create a number of logos based on the information you've provided.. More

Unique versions
If none of the preliminary designs are to your liking, you may request more unique versions (depending on the particular package you've purchased). A unique version can be considered an additional round of preliminary designs - a completely different series of concepts and design proposals.. More

Design revisions
Once you've selected either a preliminary design or a new unique version as a logo design that's 'almost' what you had in mind, you can then request modifications to that design. You can ask for font changes, design changes, move elements around, or request colour changes.. More

Revision rounds
Generally speaking, anytime a designer has to post new images to your Factory Floor page is considered a Revision Round.. More

Sign-Off (project finalization)
After you've been presented with preliminary designs, requested new unique versions and requested design revisions, you'll end up with the logo design that you wish to use as your new company symbol. At this point you'll Sign-off on the logo.. More

Aspect ratio
The aspect ratio of your logo is the relationship between the height and width, and the 'footprint' (the physical boundaries that are required for reproduction) of the design.. More

Logo footprint
The 'footprint' (the physical boundaries that are required for reproduction) of your logo design is often overlooked when inexperienced designers are developing their first logos.. More

Grayscale
A black and white grayscale version of your logo is a version that is made up of tones which are in turn made up from varying sizes of black dots. A grayscale version of your logo is suitable for BW print reproduction.. More

Black and white linear
A black and white linear version of your logo is a version that is made up of solid black. There are no half-tones (screens) or greys. This is the best type of logo for use on low-resoluton reproduction.. More

Spot colours
Using premixed ink swatches (such as the Pantone Matching System), a designer, client or printer is able to select the exact colour tones desired in a particular logo. This is very similar to selecting swatches of premixed paint to go on your wall at home.. More

Pantone Matching System
A universal colour matching system that allows designers and printers to match colours accurately regardless of the printing job required. Using this method of colour matching allows you to select colours for your logo using a series of pre-mixed ink colour swatches.. More

Four Colour Process
In this method of printing, the design is set up so that it uses percentages of the 4 base inks. These percentages are created using varying sizes and densities of dots - most noticeable in the low resolution printing of most newspapers.. More

Bleed (printing)
When any artwork is placed on a printed piece, and the artwork is located on the absolute edge of the paper, it is said to 'bleed', referring to the artwork 'bleeding' off.. More

Gang run (printing)
When printing items (that have the same parameters such as colour, tonality, stock requirements) they can be printed on the press at the same time, on the same sheet.. More

Template Logos
Rather than a custom design, business owners can select from a library of pre designed images and customize (minimally - usually just a matter of adding your name) for their company. Often the images are low quality.. More

File formats
File formats are the type of digital artwork containing your new logo artwork. There are several different types of file formats and each has its specific use.. More

Source file
The original logo file, generally a Vector based image, from which all other image types, resolutions and formats can be created.. More

Vector artwork
A Vector based image is the raw source file of your logo, created out of Vector shapes. Vector files are also resolution independent, meaning that they can are scalable to any size.. More

EPS file formats
Encapsulated Postscript files are the Vector based source files of ANY logo design project. This is a editable and scalable version of your new logo from which we can create all other formats.. More

Outline fonts
Whenever your logo artwork file (ie: an .eps file) is opened in a computer graphics programme such as Adobe Illustrator, the computer must have access to any fonts contained in the artwork.. More

Pixel (raster, bitmap) artwork
A Pixel based image is made up from a grid of varying coloured pixels that when viewed from a distance form the overall image details. Pixel based images are resolution dependent.. More

GIF file formats
In order to reduce file sizes on the web, image files require file 'optimization' to reduce the number of colours to a web-safe 216. These files are then resaved as Pixel Based .GIFs .. More

JPG file formats
Industry standard for the distribution of high-quality images, while still remaining small enough in file size for bandwidth and download speed concerns. Can be either CMYK or RGB.. More

Resolution
Resolution can be defined pretty simply - the number of dots (pixels) per inch of any image (referred to as DPI). This is particularly important when using pixel based version of your logo, where resolution is critical.. More

DPI resolution
In this context resolution refers to the number of pixels per inch in a bitmap image (.GIF, .JPG, etc.). In digital formats, resolution is also referred to as Pixels per Inch (PPI).. More

CMYK
The standard colour printing method using four inks (Cyan. Magenta, Yellow and Black) that are combined in various percentages to create the colour images found in most printed material.. More

RGB
Standard colour palette of electronic media. colours are made up from percentages of Red, Green and Blue (monitor colours). RGB colours may not translate into CMYK colours accurately.. More

Scalable (image scalability)
The actual image size of a logo can be increased without image degradation. This is a characteristic of Vector and .EPS formats. Pixel based images cannot be scaled up.. More