Do not print from the website logo. Find the original vector artwork, usually held by the designer or a sign maker, and keep a kit with print and screen versions and the colour definitions written down.

Jagged edges at two metres

Home show season is starting, and the business has booked a booth. The printer making the banner stand asks for the logo, and someone in the office saves it from the website.

The banner comes back two metres tall with fuzzy, stepped edges around every letter, and the company's bright orange has turned a muddy brown.

The printer did what was asked. The file was simply never meant to be printed at that size, or in those colours.

Pixels on the website, shapes in the original

A logo on a website is a small image made of pixels, often a few hundred across. That is plenty for a screen, where it appears a few centimetres wide.

Stretched to a banner, each pixel becomes a visible square, and curves turn into steps. No printer can add detail the file does not contain.

The original logo was almost certainly drawn as vector artwork: shapes defined by lines and curves rather than pixels, which stay sharp however large they are printed, on a business card or across the side of a truck.

Screen colour and print colour

Screens make colour from red, green and blue light. Printers make it from cyan, magenta, yellow and black ink, and some colours that glow on a screen cannot be printed the same way.

A web logo carries only the screen definition. The printer's software converts it, and bright oranges, greens and blues often come out dull or shifted.

The designer who made the logo will have chosen print definitions: ink values, and often a spot colour from a standard matching system that printers mix exactly. Those numbers belong in the kit.

What a complete logo kit holds

A complete kit fits in one folder and answers almost any request:

Name the files plainly, with the format and colour in each name, so a printer, a sign maker or a web designer can pick the right one without guessing.

Where the original files usually are

Start with the designer who created the logo. Designers usually keep client artwork for years, and many will send the files on request.

Then look for anyone who has printed the logo large or cut it from vinyl. Sign makers and vehicle lettering shops work from vector files, and may still have yours.

Search old email for attachments from the original design work, and check with the printer who makes your business cards. One of them usually turns up a usable file.

What to ask a former designer for

Ask for the original vector artwork, not a larger image. Name the formats you want, and ask for every version made: colour, black, white and any stacked or horizontal layout.

Ask for the colour definitions in writing and the names of the typefaces used. A short, polite request with the logo attached usually gets a quick reply.

If the original files are truly gone, a designer can redraw the logo as vector artwork from the best image you have. Checked carefully, the redrawn logo becomes the master from then on.

A worked example

A concrete cutting company in the Lower Mainland saws, drills and cores concrete for contractors, and cuts door and window openings in foundations for homeowners adding basement suites.

It booked a booth at a spring home show to meet those homeowners. The office manager saved the logo from the website and sent it to the printer for a banner stand and a table cover.

The proof showed blurred edges and a dull orange. The printer flagged it, and the office could find no other file anywhere in its records.

The trucks had been lettered by a local sign shop, which still had the vector file. The original designer, reached by email, sent the colour definitions and the typeface names.

The office now keeps a logo kit in one shared folder: vector masters, print and screen versions, one-colour versions and a page listing the colours and fonts.

The banner was printed from the vector file in the spot colour, and the orange on the stand now matches the trucks parked outside the show.

Keeping the kit where people can find it

Store the kit in one place the whole office can reach, with a backup copy elsewhere. A kit only a departed office manager could find is no kit at all.

Send the right file with every request: vector for print and signs, PNG for websites and email signatures. Ask suppliers to check with you before using any logo they find online.

Ask for a proof

Ask the printer for a proof before anything large is printed, and look at it at full size on screen, zoomed in on the edges of the logo.

Where the colour matters, ask for a printed sample and compare it with your signs or vehicles in daylight. Colours on a monitor are only a guide.

The counter-case

Not every job needs vector artwork. A small sticker, a flyer printed in the office or a logo in a slide presentation will look fine from a good-sized PNG file.

Some logos are plain words in a common typeface, and a printer can reset them accurately from the font name and the colour.

But anything printed large, cut from vinyl or embroidered needs the original artwork, and finding it now costs far less than a reprinted banner a week before the show.

Building the kit before the next show

  1. Ask the original designer for the vector files.
  2. Check with sign makers and printers you have used.
  3. Collect every version: colour, black, white and each layout.
  4. Write down the colours for print and for screen.
  5. Note the typefaces and the clear space.
  6. Keep the kit in one shared folder with a backup.
  7. Ask for a proof before any large print job.

Step four keeps the brand consistent. With the colours written down, every printer and sign maker matches the same orange instead of guessing from a screen.

Out-of-date logos also linger on the sponsor pages of events you have supported, which thanking sponsors without a wall of logos considers from the event's side.

Frequently asked questions

Why did my banner print with jagged edges?

The logo came from the website, where it is a small image made of pixels. Enlarged to banner size, each pixel shows as a square and curves turn into steps.

What is a vector logo file?

Artwork defined by lines and curves rather than pixels, usually saved as EPS, AI or PDF. It stays sharp however large it is printed, even on a truck.

Why does the colour look different in print?

Screens mix light and printers mix ink, and some bright screen colours cannot be printed the same way. Print needs the ink values or spot colour the designer chose.

Where can I find the original logo files?

Ask the designer who created the logo, then sign makers and vehicle lettering shops you have used, the printer of your business cards, and old email from the design work.

What if the original artwork is lost?

A designer can redraw the logo as vector artwork from the best image available. Once checked carefully against the original, the redrawn file becomes the master.

What belongs in a logo kit?

Vector masters, print versions in process and spot colours, screen versions with transparent backgrounds, one-colour versions, the written colour definitions and the typeface names.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

Only the website copy of your logo?

Send us the best file you have, and we will track down or redraw the original and assemble a complete logo kit.

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