When you have a logo or design created, ask for and keep a high resolution copy of the original artwork.
That’s the advice from small town sign maker Wayne LaMunyon. He says it’s the number one complaint of sign and banner makers everywhere. Small business owners get a logo or a business card with a design, then later they want a banner or a big sign. Way too often, they didn’t keep a copy of the original artwork, and Wayne has to rebuild the logo from their tiny business card copy. For a fee, of course.
So, do yourself and your sign maker a favor. Keep several high resolution copies of your logo or design, digital or hard copy.
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Becky started Small Biz Survival in 2006 to share rural business and community building stories and ideas with other small town business people. She and her husband have a small cattle ranch and are lifelong entrepreneurs. Becky is an international speaker on small business and rural topics.
Another option: Many printers will keep a copy of the artwork on file for future jobs. Naturally, you’ll want to keep copies yourself, but having your printer keep a copy as well not only tells the printer “you’ll be back” but also ensures that a copy is stored offsite.
Bob, excellent advice! Thanks for adding to the ideas.
When you ask your designer for the file, ask them if they created the logo in a vector format. If so, ask for copy of the vector file – this will likely be an Illustrator file (.ai) or an EPS file (.eps – this is a more generic format). Not all logos will be created in vector programs, but if yours was, you will be able to resize the logo to any size you want, from business card to semi-trailer.
If the logo hasn’t been created in vector format and you’re asking for ‘high-resolution,’ ask for something which is at least 300dpi, as large as possible. You can size images down cleanly, but you can’t size them up.
Mitten, great technical points, and very easy to understand. Thank you!