You’ve had that beautiful logo designed and now you’re ready to get things  printed. One of the first questions you’ll get asked is: “Do you have a logo?”

“Yes!” you reply proudly, I had one specially designed for me.”

“Great. Please provide it to us in vector format along with the Pantone colour references.”

Victory what? And this pantomine reference? “Um, my designer has it – I’ll get him to pass it on.”

All too often we leave our precious artwork with whomever designed it for us. That’s fine, but always insist that you get copies as well. You’ve paid for it and it’s your property. Besides, what happens if the designer leaves town, or the printer who prepared it goes bankrupt? Also bear in mind that there might be additional charges each time you request your designer to forward your artwork to a printer or sign company. Various suppliers will have individual technical requirements and you could get charged whenever your designer has to provide the artwork in the requested format. It shouldn’t have to happen that way, but unfortunately it does.

The best way to avoid such costs and complications is to ensure that you will be provided your logo artwork when you begin negotiating with a designer or design company. A reputable design company will automatically incorporate that into their design package.

So, what can you expect to receive?
Your artwork will be needed for a variety of purposes: paper printing, screen printing (t-shirts etc), signs, and for website use.

Flexibility and adaptability is therefore critical. All graphic images come in two types: vector and bitmap. It’s essential that you get your artwork in vector, as this can be resized without losing resolution and thereby quality.  Bitmap logos are resolution-based and as such cannot be resized without sacrificing image quality. Never accept just a JPG version.

The best vector file type to have is an EPS  which which can be imported into a variety of graphic design software. Bitmap versions should be .tiff, .psd and .jpg

Finally, protect your artwork by storing it not merely on your hard drive, but a flash disk or CD as well. Make a least two copies and keep them in separate places in case of fire or theft.

Neville Sherriff is the owner of Merely Marketing, a website providing practical marketing advice for the small to medium business. http://www.merelymarketing.com