How come I don’t actually have my logo files?

Often when you are asked about your logo files is easy to think that any file with your logo would do, so of course you have a file with your logo.

But what the marketing or design professional is really asking you is for the source files of your logo. A design software file format in which your original logo was designed.

A JPG or PNG, or something inside an office document, is not really your logo but a photo or image of it. The source files are the DNA of your brand, they preserve all the original details and specifications of your logo with 100% fidelity for 1:1 replication.

Think in the source files like the architectural plans of your house. When you need to consult for a remodeling you can’t get away with just a photo of the facade, the architect will ask you for the plans, and more than likely, to have a look at the real thing.

For graphic professionals the plans and the real thing are both the same: the logo source files.

What is a logo redrawing?

The logo redrawing process is rebuilding every element of your logo independently, concretely, trace every individual part based on the best quality source available.

Low quality sources complicate the process because you are tracing less and guessing more, specially when logos have fine details like angled lines, patterns or faux effects; Formulating colors can get tricky too.

Still, every single element is traced trying to be as identical as possible up to the detail available from the source file. Beyond that we ask feedback for the owner who might have a better recollection of how the original looked.

Approved and finished designs serves as the new source for a logo manual: A doc with the new specification with the variations, colors, fonts and all the other individual components detailed for future reference.

A set of high resolution bitmaps are also created for immediate use, like any other of our logo developments.

Who needs a logo redrawing?

This quick and affordable job is for any entrepreneur o business that has a logo in any format but is missing professional source files to standardize its corporate image.  

It doesn’t just apply to standard-form logos with a symbols and typography only.

A brand can be anything that identify you or your business, so we can trace a signature, calligraphy, home and building shapes, a doodle, faux fingerprints, the print of a seal that you hand carved manually when you were castaway on an island, you name it.

As long as it can create a mark that can be digitized, it can be traced.

So what’s the problem with the photo of my logo?

In a not so distant past, the source files were indispensable for any kind of print development and critical if those prints were in big formats.

An this is still true, but the main media-format has changed and we have to think about screens firstly now.

And as you have noticed, the resolution and screen sizes just keep getting bigger. Did you know that 16K screens are already specified and 32K screens exist? Exactly.

The screen based media has freed designers into a more forgiving and flexible media, but at the same time makes harder keeping a logo sharp across all the possible combinations of format, DPI and screen size.

Having your logo source files goes all the way to cover any actual or future needs in regards to size and format.

Why is the brand uniformity important?

The purpose of a logo is create and layout a set of elements (graphic, typographic, symbolic, chromatic) composing with them a single element with unified identity.

This unified element must be reproduced across a great variety of media and technologies, some centuries old and others as new as a couple years, so for the logo to look exactly the same everywhere you’d have to start with source files that cover any current technology and are the starting point of covering any future need.

Not having a logo specification or the means of generating new versions on-demand exposes you to logos that get trimmed, blurred, pixelated, stretched, washed, blown-up, or become downright unreadable.

What happens when I don’t have the original files for my logo?

If you don’t have the source files of your logo any competent designer or producer will have to redraw or trace the logo before starting the design you are asking in itself.

They will either charge you for it, or it will take time from the other creative tasks.

Worst of all is, for this unexpected job you will have no voice or vote into whats being redrawn to suggest improvements or point errors.

This is when the designer is not lazy and will actually manually trace your logo, others just auto-trace and say “good enough”, which more likely wont be either good or enough.

And it can get even worse, some negligent providers will just blow the image (photoshoping-in more resolution) and break the logo even more.

Having my logo SFs can I DIY my branding?

Sure. Just by giving you the high resolution bitmap “photos” of your freshly traced logo you can get onto updating your brand in everything that you have in reach like office software, social networks and other platforms.

Having your logo source files is the cornerstone of all your promotional communications. A serious brand positioning work can’t be done without these files.

Although source files are more targeted to graphic pros, if you are geeky and familiar with design software you can use the source files to create new bitmaps or quick variations. Just remember to back up the originals, version your creations and ask professional feedback if unsure of anything.

Would my designer and producer love me more if I have the source files?

Sure. Any designer or creative pro will be thankful to have these files. The time savings are not insignificant and this adds up to the final quality of the design.

Creative folks like, you know, to be creating stuff, and redrawing a logo is more like trying to reinvent a wheel that will always look squared to you.

I’d say tracing is a love or hate issue for designers, I personally love it, if it has to be done, it has to be done with care, no shortcuts.

So yes, it helps the designer to focus on what’s new that actually needs to be developed right away.

In general, you’d be in a position to demand more attention to detail and finish, and any mistake with your branding is not going to get covered out of your pocket.