What Are All These Different Logo File Formats for, and Why Do I Need Them?
A logo design file guide
When you’re looking for a designer to work with on your branding, you’ll probably hear a lot of designers tell you, “you’ll receive files for print and web,” or, “you’ll receive .jpgs, .pdfs, and .pngs,” etc. Since everyone seems to be offering some variation of this, it must be important, right? Well, it is! Every professional designer will spend time saving your logo in multiple file formats.
So, it’s great that you’re getting what you need, but it’s also great to understand what each of these file types are for and how to use them. Below I’ve broken down some standard file types, which I always include in my branding packages, and their functions.
Why are there different files for print and web?
An example of how the same colors tend to look on a printed piece versus on a screen
Before I dive in, I’ll take a moment to explain why print and web require different file types. Print files use either PMS (described below) or CMYK colors.
Technical talk:
Prints are created by printing ink (CMYK, or cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) onto a white background. The addition of each color on top of white reduces the brightness of the white.
RGB (red, green, and blue) color space is used for web files. Since computers use light to produce imagery, the image begins as black and the addition of color/light adds to the brightness, which is the opposite of print.
Web colors tend to look brighter and more saturated than print colors. Because they’re created using different formulas, it’s important to adjust logo files accordingly and have a set for print use & a set for web use. Using the wrong color space can make your color look incorrect.
Print files:
Print files are used for, well, printed pieces. If you’re creating postcards, brochures, signs, shirts, or other physical materials, you’ll want to use one of these files.
What are these Pantone colors everyone talks about?
My Pantone color book, which was actually previously my mom’s! (She used to work as a graphic designer, too.) The color codes don’t change, even after 20+ years!
PMS VS. CMYK
PMS stands for “Pantone Matching System.” The Pantone system assigns codes to almost 2,000 colors, allowing designers and printers all over the world to use the same colors based on those codes. A professional designer will almost always start your logo design with a PMS color in mind.
Here’s a little deep dive into why you’d ever want to use your PMS color:
As mentioned above, standard printers mix four colors (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) together to create other colors whenever you print something. In commercial printing this is called digital printing, and it can be varying degrees of accurate depending on who prints your piece. This isn’t usually a huge deal for most small businesses unless your brand colors end up looking drastically incorrect. You can, however, usually ask your printing rep to try to match your PMS color. Sometimes (heavy on the “sometimes”) they can adjust the printer’s settings to match more closely.
There’s another type of printing called offset. Instead of the printer calculating how much of each color to use, with offset printing ink will be mixed to match a desired Pantone color code exactly, then loaded into a printing press. Because these codes are so widely used across the design & printing industry, this mixing process ensures that the color is going to look exactly the same no matter who mixes it or where it’s printed.
While more expensive, if it’s very important that your logo’s color(s) looks exactly the same on everything you print, you can ask about offset printing.
Now onto file types!
.JPG
This is a pretty common image file type. .jpgs always have solid backgrounds, so if you use your .jpg file on a printed piece there will be a white box around your logo.
.PDF
Another well-known file type, .pdfs allow your logo to be saved without a white background so that you can use it on a print piece without having a box surrounding it. I save .pdf files with transparent backgrounds for all of my branding projects.
.EPS
While most folks can open .jpgs and .pdfs on their own computers, many people (except for designers with design software) will not be able to open .eps files. If you’ve ever heard a designer say anything about the “vector file” of your logo, this is it. It includes the original editable artwork, and while no one should be making any edits to your logo itself, there are times when a designer will prefer to work with the vector artwork if they’re designing something that has your logo on it. If anyone ever says, “send me the vector file of your logo,” send the .eps file!
.jpg version of my logo on top of a photo. .jpgs will always have a solid color background.
.pdf version of my logo on top of a photo. I save all .pdf logo files with transparent backgrounds.
.eps version of my logo, opened in Adobe Illustrator design software.
Web files:
Naturally, web files are used for anything that lives on a screen, including your website, social media images, videos, and web banners.
.PNG
Similarly to a .pdf, this file format does not include a white background. This is a very common web format that allows you to use your logo anywhere online without a white box behind it.
I always save .png files at four different sizes: 2000px wide, 1000px, 500px, and 200px wide. The wider pixel dimension, the larger the file. The larger the file, the longer it can take to load on a website. It’s important to have a few sizes for web use because you can always shrink the logo and the .png will probably still look fine, but you can’t enlarge the logo or it will look blurry. So, if you’re looking to have your logo take up a really large space on your website, you may want to use the 2000px wide version. If you’re just using it in the top corner of your site, you’d probably be fine with the 1000px or 500px version.
.SVG
Similar to an .eps file, an .svg will usually only be used by a designer to access the original vector art, or by a web developer to embed your logo on a web page.
Phew! I hope this helps clear up any confusion about what all the logo file formats your designer gave you are for. They each have an important use and help ensure you can effectively use your logo for many different things. Feel free to refer to this guide if you find yourself creating a piece and need to know which file to pull out!
Ready to get started on your branding project?
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