You need professional file formats to use ANY logo effectively

In order to understand our logo repair service (and the effective use of your logo in general), we'll need to introduce you to the two different file formats that you'll need your logo to be available in.



Vector based formats
The first, and most important format you'll need is a vector version, a file format that many of you may not be familiar with (though every logo you see will, or should, have started life as a vector). This is the default format of professional design software as well as the choice of format for most print applications. A vector based image is the raw source file of your logo, created out of various vector shapes, which can be filled with accurate colour through the Pantone Matching System. Vector based images are the format for ALL logo design and logo repair projects at The Logo Factory.

A vector can be thought of as a shape made up of rubber bands that are wrapped around nails (vector points) pushed into a peg board. If the nails (or in this case points) are moved, the shape will change. This allows designers to be able to edit artwork relatively easily. Vector files are also resolution independent, meaning that they can are scalable to any size. Vector based logo formats can be printed as spot colour OR four colour process depending on your requirements and the number of colours in your logo. You can identity vector formats by their file extensions - EPS (Encapsulated Postscript), CDR (Corel Draw) and AI (Adobe Illustrator). Other vector based formats can be tagged as SWF - a vector based Flash animation



Bitmap based formats
The second logo format is a bitmap, pixel or 'raster' version - one that you're probably more familiar with. It is the default format of practically every image on the web, as well as the format used in your own digital images and those taken by your camera. A bitmap 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 can be CMYK or RGB colour palettes (though need to be RGB for use on your website). Pixel based images are resolution dependent and must be prepared specifically for the usage planned. A 72 dpi pixel based image can be used in electronic media (web) while a 266 (or higher) dpi image is required for print. Due to the number of colours required to create images most Pixel based images will require four colour process printing, rather than the much more economical (and accurate) spot colour printing using Pantone colours.You can identify pixel based formats by the extensions .gif, JPG, TIF and PS (Adobe Photoshop). In order to maintain consistency in the use of your logo, these images should be created using the vector version described above as a source file.

If you're serious about utilizing your logo in the most professional manner possible, you'll need a variety of pixel and vector versions. See here for more information on logo design file formats. See here for a glossary of design terms that are used throughout our logo repair section.

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Vector Based Images - the Genesis of any logo repair project

Vector based images should be the starting point of any logo design project. These images are created by professional design software such as Adobe Illustrator and are the industry standard for any professional results when it comes to printing anything with your logo on it. Vector images are also importable by most artwork software, and their wire frame digital construction make them animation friendly. Vector files are relatively small in size, so they're easier to distribute via the web and e-mail than their bitmap counterparts. Vector images are incredibly small, scalable and editable images that allow designers unlimited freedom when it comes to logo design and illustration. Some less experienced designers may design logos as bitmap graphics, using software like Adobe Photoshop, but even these files will have to be repaired if you want to use your logo in any full-scale manner.

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Bitmap logos are necessary for some applications, useless for others

If your new logo was created in a ‘paint program’ (i.e.: non-vector based) or in a word processing document like Microsoft Word, chances are it’s in a 72 dpi (dots per inch) RGB (Red Green and Blue) bitmap format. This format is ONLY usable in electronic reproduction on the web, though it CANNOT be animated into Flash Logos. It CANNOT be used to create stationery, business cards, signs or other forms of artwork. It cannot be printed using traditional methods (without massive loss of quality and unnecessary expense) and even logos that feature two colours require four-colour process printing, when a properly formatted version of the same logo can utilize the much more economical spot colour printing. Similarly, if your logo was sketched by hand (i.e.: the time honored ‘napkin doodle’) you’ll need to have digital files created before you can reproduce ANYTHING. Perhaps your logo was created years ago, and you've lost the original artwork, only having access to low resolution versions that suffer from the same restrictions as outlined above. What to do?

Your logo needs to be carefully cleaned up and converted into, at a minimum, these formats. In order to accomplish this, we need to create a Vector based version of your logo. That's the short version of our Logo Repair service. See here for anatomy of a logo repair - a step-by-step demonstration of the process.

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