What is a highres (high resolution) logo
Every now and then we come across an assignment where the client has to supply several logos for print applications. For experienced graphic designers and web-developers ‘a high res logo’ is simple as 1 2 3. But we have noticed that most people don’t have a clue. We often receive GIFs, BMPs or JPEGs saved from the website, or even a PDF generated from a GIF, with low file sizes. Eventually we end up redrawing the logo as a vector to solve the problem.
So just to make things clear…
The ideal high-res logo: Vectors
If you had your logo designed by a professional design-firm they should have supplied you with a vector-image of your logo, or you should be able to ask it to them.
A vector-based logo
definition: vector files are made with lines and curves rather than dots and are not resolution dependent. Because vector files are not resolution dependent, they can be scaled endlessly. The logo will still be crisp and clean, even when you enlarge it to 20 by 20 meters.
filetype: Illustrator .ai, .eps or PDF
software: Adobe Illustrator
example of a scaled vector bases logo:
The go-between that might work: A rasterized logo
definition: In computer graphics, a raster graphics image or bitmap is a data structure representing a generally rectangular grid of pixels, or points of color, viewable via a monitor, paper, or other display medium. Raster images are stored in image files with varying formats
filetype: jpeg, bmp, tiff,
software: adobe photoshop, the gimp, paint, windows picture manager, …
example of a scaled rastered logo:
You don’t have a vector logo at hand?
What to look for when checking your digital files in search of a logo suitable for print:
Resolution: High resolution= This refers to the resolution of an image, indicating the number of dots per inch (dpi). The range can be from 300 dpi to 2,500dpi.. The term ‘highres’ is often used for short.
A high res logo should have a minimum resolution of 300 dpi
You don’t have a clue how to check if the resolution of your logo is ok?
Other parameters to check.
Filetype: Go on the lookout for jpegs or Tiff’s. Sometimes bmp’s will do, but most of the time the quality isn’t great. Gif’s, png’s are filetypes mostly used for web-applications and often will be too small.
File size: The bigger the file size the more likely you can use the logo
Image size: Open the image. Is it very large on your screen (say approximately 20 x 40 cm) ? The larger the image, the more likely we will be able to resample it tho the correct resolution.
Image Resizing: Changing the size the image will print without changing the number of pixels in the image.
Image Resampling: Changing the number of pixels in the image.
These 2 are correlated:
By ‘resampling’ the image from f.e. 72 to 300 dpi, the image will be ‘resized’ from fe. 20 by 30 cm to 5 x 7,5 cm
Conclusion
So, in conclusion you should keep the following things in mind:
- Check if you have a vector-based logo
- You only have a rasterized version of your logo
Check the following:- Filetype: jpeg or tiff
- File size: anything above 1 Mb might be usable, depending on how large the logo has to be displayed
- Image size: The larger the image is on your screen the better
Splend-ID
If you can’t find a file that meets any of the parameters stated above, your last resort will be to have your logo redrawn from scratch.
Splend-ID does this as follows:
- You supply us with an image of your current logo
- If available you supply us the font-type used for your logo and the color-codes (Pantone or CMYK)
- We will redraw the logo in Adobe Illustrator keeping as close as possible to the original.
- If you don’t have the font-type and color-codes of your current logo at hand, we will search for a font-type that resembles the font used in the logo. Colors will be selected together with you by consulting a Pantone selection-guide.
In the end Splend-ID will supply you with a vector-based logo, scalable above and beyond with hair-fine lines and crisp colors perfect for all your print-applications!
Contact us if you want us to check if your logo-files are usable for print or if you want a free of charge offer for a redrawing of your logo
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