Logo File Formats Explained: What Your Designer Should Hand Over

When a logo project ends, you should get a folder, not a single image. At minimum: a vector master file (SVG, plus PDF or EPS for printers), transparent PNGs for everyday use, versions for light and dark backgrounds, a square icon version, and a note of your exact colours and fonts. If you only received one JPG, you don't really have your logo yet. You have a picture of it.

It's a common problem when a small business starts a new website: the only logo anyone can find is a screenshot of the Facebook profile picture, and it goes blurry the moment it's made bigger. It's easy to avoid if you know what to ask for. This is the list.

Vector and raster: the one idea that explains everything

Every logo file is one of two kinds.

Vector files store your logo as shapes and lines described by maths. You can scale them to the size of a business card or the side of a building and the edges stay sharp. SVG, EPS, AI and most PDFs from a designer are vector. This is your master copy.

Raster files store your logo as a grid of coloured pixels. They're fine at the size they were made for, and they get blurry or blocky when enlarged. PNG and JPG are raster. They're what you'll use day to day, but they should be exported from the vector master, not the other way round.

You can always make a good raster file from a vector. You can't make a good vector from a small raster without redrawing it.

The files, one by one

SVG. Vector, made for screens. This is what a web designer wants for your website header, because it stays sharp on every screen and the file is tiny.

PDF. Usually vector when it comes from a designer. Printers, sign makers and anyone sending something to print can open it. A good all-purpose file to hand to suppliers.

EPS and AI. Vector files for professional design software. AI is Adobe Illustrator's own format. Older print shops, embroiderers and sign makers sometimes ask for EPS. You may never open them yourself, but you should have them.

PNG. Raster with a transparent background, so the logo can sit on a photo or a coloured background without a white box around it. Use it for documents, presentations, social media and email signatures. Ask for a large size (at least 2000 pixels wide) and a small one.

JPG. Raster with no transparency. It always has a background, usually white. Fine for photos, poor for logos. If your only logo file is a JPG, that's the first thing to fix.

Icon or favicon files. A small square version for browser tabs, app icons and profile pictures. More on that below.

Colour versions

Your logo will appear on white backgrounds, dark backgrounds and photos, and sometimes it'll be printed in one colour. You need:

• Full colour for most uses
• One colour, black for documents, stamps and low-cost printing
• One colour, white (reversed) for dark backgrounds, photos and dark mode
• Sometimes a one-colour version in your main brand colour

If your logo only works in full colour on white, it will look wrong in half the places you need it.

Colour codes: why your logo looks different in print

Screens and printers make colour differently, so your colours need to be written down in more than one system:

• HEX and RGB for screens: your website, social media, email
• CMYK for normal printing: business cards, flyers, brochures
• Pantone (spot colour), if your designer specified one, for when the colour must match exactly every time: signage, vehicle wraps, printed bags, merchandise

A bright blue on screen can come out duller in CMYK print. That's normal, and a good designer will have chosen colours with that in mind and given you the codes for each. Without the codes, every supplier guesses, and your blue ends up slightly different on the van, the shirts and the website.

Layout versions

Logos rarely fit every space in one shape. Ask for:

• Horizontal (symbol beside the name) for website headers and email signatures
• Stacked (symbol above the name) for square spaces, signs and printed material
• Icon or symbol only for profile pictures, favicons and anywhere very small

The icon matters more than people expect. Your Instagram profile picture, your WhatsApp Business photo and your browser tab are all tiny circles or squares. A long logo squeezed into a circle is unreadable. A simple mark or monogram isn't.

Where each file goes

• Website header: SVG
• Browser tab (favicon): the icon version, as ICO, PNG or SVG
• Social profile pictures: the icon version, as a square PNG
• Email signature: PNG, because many email programs don't show SVG
• Documents and slides: PNG
• Business cards and flyers: PDF or EPS, in CMYK
• Signs, vehicles and merchandise: PDF, EPS or AI, with Pantone if you have one
• Embroidery: a vector file, often a simplified version

Two small free tools of mine help with the screen side. Jinverse Icon turns your logo into a favicon set for your website, and Jinverse Sign builds an email signature with your logo that displays properly in Gmail, Outlook and Apple Mail. Both run in your browser.

The brand sheet: one page that saves arguments

Ask for a simple one-page guide, even for a small project. It should say:

• Which fonts the logo and brand use, and where to get them
• Your colour codes in HEX, RGB, CMYK and Pantone if relevant
• How much empty space to leave around the logo
• The smallest size it should be used at
• A few things not to do: stretching it, changing the colours, adding shadows

This is what lets a printer, a sign maker or a future web designer use your logo correctly without asking you every time.

Ownership: get it in writing

Having the files isn't quite the same as owning the logo. Before you pay the final invoice, ask your designer to confirm in writing what rights you get and that you can use the logo anywhere, for anything, without asking again. Also ask:

• Are the fonts licensed for business use? Fonts are software and some need their own licence. You should know which fonts are used and whether you need to buy anything.
• Is any part of it from a template or stock library? Templates can come with limits on use. You want to know before it's on your van.
• Can I have the source files? The working file the designer used, not only the exports, so someone else can make changes later.

Then keep everything in a cloud folder in your own account, not only in an old email thread or on the designer's drive.

What if you only have a JPG?

You have three options:

1. Find the original designer and ask for the files on this list. It's often a five-minute job for them.
2. Have it redrawn as a vector. A designer can rebuild a simple logo cleanly from a decent image. It's worth paying for this if you're happy with the logo itself.
3. Use the moment to fix it. If the logo was never quite right, if it doesn't work small or looks different everywhere it appears, this is the cheapest time to refresh it: before the new website, signs and cards are made around it.

The third option is brand identity work, and I quote it separately from websites. It covers the logo, colours, fonts and the guidelines above, designed to work on a website, in ads, on packaging and in video.

The checklist to send your designer

Copy this into an email before your logo project ends:

1. Vector master files: SVG, PDF and EPS (and AI if available)
2. Transparent PNGs, large and small
3. Full colour, black and white versions
4. Horizontal, stacked and icon versions
5. Colour codes in HEX, RGB, CMYK and Pantone if specified
6. Font names and licence details
7. A one-page brand sheet
8. Written confirmation of the rights I receive

Building a website next?

Your logo files are one of the six things I ask every client for at the start of a website project; the rest are in my website content checklist. My packages start at US$800 for a one-page site, US$1,200 for a redesign and US$2,000 for a custom service website (pricing), and the website cost calculator shows which fits.

If you already have a site and wonder whether your logo and colours are holding it back, my free website audit looks at visual design and brand consistency along with the rest. You'll get 3 to 5 practical improvements. If you're ready for a new look, start a project.