Logo design file types explained. Discover how to effectively deploy your brand identity across customer touchpoints with our comprehensive guide.
Picture this - you spent the last few weeks or months perfecting your business's new logo design, color palette, and font selection. The files have just been delivered to you, and it's time to share your business's new identity with the world. Where do we begin?
Welcome to this week's article. Below is a playbook for successfully rolling out your new logo design, color palette, and font selection across customer touchpoints. Let's get started.
We'd like to quickly review the file types you're seeing in your new folder of files. We understand logo design files can sometimes be a bit confusing, so we'll make this short and precise.
.svg = Stands for "scalable vector graphic." This file type can be scaled up and down infinitely without losing quality. We made an Instagram video about this here. Use this file type whenever you can.
.png = A rasterized image that can have a transparent background. Rasterized means the image has a defined number of pixels (image size), so it cannot be scaled up or down. It will get very blurry.
.ai = Stands for Adobe Illustrator, the design software for creating logos. AI is a great file type to send to a designer because it will contain additional design-related information that will be handy. The contents of this file are vector-based so that they can be scaled up and down.
.jpg = Not suitable for logos or graphic design pieces. They are best for photograph files. JPG is a rasterized file type, so these cannot be scaled up or down.
.pdf = A multipurpose file type. It could be an invoice, document, or even a logo file. PDFs can be vector-based (scaleable) or rasterized (not scalable).
.eps = Another form of vector. Very similar to SVG. Desktop-based applications typically use them. We use SVG's more often because they're more compatible with web browser-based applications.
Now that we understand our file types. Let's start by updating our profile picture on all digital platforms.
To do this, we need a version of our logo that features a square, colored background, with the logo centered. If this is included in your Brand Kit, great. If not, we'll show you how to make one using Canva or Illustrator.
Having a consistent profile picture across platforms creates a sense of familiarity as users interact with your brand. This creates brand recognition.
If you're in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and could use help creating photo and video content for these platforms, check out our Content Marketing program. It's great.
With our profile pictures set, we're off to a great start. As you were setting those pictures up, you probably noticed that some platforms give you the ability to have a rectangular banner image on your profile.
Banner images can have a wide range of designs. It could be a photo of your team. It could be a graphic design-based image. At Launch Kit, we change our banner images once a year or so. Here's a link to our Facebook page to see our current image.
There's no right or wrong answer here. You could upload a photo. If you want to create a design using Canva, Adobe Illustrator, or Photoshop, look up the exact dimensions of the banner image you want to make. They change every so often, so do a Google search like "Facebook business page banner image dimensions" to get the latest sizing.
Letterhead and stationery used to be the first place your logo went. It seems that digital profiles have taken the throne these days. But we still want to create on-brand documents. This could be items like memos, estimates, invoices, and contracts.
When it's time to order any form of merchandise, digital or print, you and your supplier will be thankful you have a properly formatted brand kit. This makes the process a breeze.
It's best to send your supplier a few file types to accommodate their workflow. We like to send/receive the following:
Lastly, we want to keep track of these precious brand identity files. For file storage, we strongly recommend keeping your Brand Kit folder in a cloud storage space that is easily shareable and secure.
At Launch Kit, we use Google Drive for all file storage. It's great because it can be accessed via any device and easily shared with internal and external staff members. For example, if you need a copy of Launch Kit's brand kit, I could link it like this.
If your company uses Microsoft, OneDrive is a great solution as well.
One last tip for you today if you want to be an overachiever.
Create a web page on your website called Brand Assets. Design a layout that displays your brand identity items in a fun way and includes links to download each asset.
We did that for Launch Kit (see here), and it's been a great way to share assets easily. When designers need your logo file, they will often search for "brand name logo download." If you have a page for this, you ensure that they get the most up-to-date, high-quality version of your logo. This ensures your logo is used correctly and displayed in a high-quality manner.
Slack did a great job building a page for this (see here.)
There you have it. A comprehensive look at how to get started using your new brand identity files. This is an exciting time for your business. Congrats on taking the first step to professionally presenting your business online and offline.
Launch Kit provides an excellent brand development service, so if you are missing any file types or would like to design a new brand identity, email me (kevin@launchkitdesign.com). Also, check out this page here to view our different packages and pricing.
I appreciate you taking the time to read this week's article. I hope you found it insightful and learned a thing or two. I write these to hopefully help at least one small business owner optimize their business. We'll cya next week.
