Resources · Logo & Brand Identity · 8 min
What a logo file pack should contain
Someone handed you a logo. You are not sure whether you got everything.
SVG — the one that matters most
A vector file. It can be scaled to the side of a van or down to a favicon with no loss. If you only get one file, this is the one to insist on, because everything else can be made from it.
If your designer cannot supply an SVG, the logo was probably drawn as a picture rather than as a shape, and it will look soft the first time it is printed large.
PNG with a transparent background
For putting the logo on top of a photo or a coloured panel without a white box around it. Ask for a large one (at least 2000px wide) and a small one.
A PNG on a white background is not the same thing and will betray you the first time it lands on a dark header.
A one-colour version
Solid black, and solid white. This is what gets used on an invoice, a stamp, an embroidered shirt, a faxed form, and anything printed by a supplier who does not do colour.
A logo that only works in its full colour treatment is a logo that will be redrawn by a stranger at a print shop.
A horizontal and a stacked lockup
Wide for a website header, square-ish for a social avatar. The same logo, arranged two ways, so nobody has to improvise a layout at 3pm.
A short usage note
Colour values, the font name, and the minimum size. One page is enough. This is the document that means the next person who touches your brand does not guess.
Did we get everything?
- Is there an SVG (or another true vector file) in the folder?
- Is there a PNG whose background is genuinely transparent, not white?
- Is there a version that works in one colour?
- Is there both a wide and a stacked arrangement?
- Is the exact font named somewhere in writing?
- Could you hand this folder to a printer you have never met?
The one-page file-pack checklist (PDF)
Everything on this page is already above — the PDF is the same thing, printable, to hand to a designer.
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