6 Essential File Formats that you Should Know
SCENARIO:
Client: My designer sent me all these different formats for my logo and I really don’t know what they mean!
Same Client (2 Months later): Hello designer, I’m trying to get my logo printed on some shirts. Could you send it to me in vector format?
Designer: But I already… Nevermind…
This request pushes me to the breaking point every time! However, it is my job to educate the customer on the purpose of their final logo formats. Whether they will be used for print, web, animation or otherwise, it is important that the client has access to these files. To help save your relationship with your future designer, here are 6 essential formats for your logo that you should know and when they are necessary!
RASTER IMAGES (MADE OF PIXELS):
JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group)
JPEGs might be the most common file type you run across on the web. They are known for their “lossy” compression, meaning that the quality of the image decreases with the file size. These are used for Web or Documents and not for printing!
PNG (Portable Network Graphics)
PNGs are perfect when you need a graphic with no background. They are amazing for interactive documents such as web pages, but are not great for print. Like JPEGs they lose quality when altered.
GIF (Graphics Interchange Format)
GIFs are great formats for simple web animations. They are commonly seen on the side of webpages as a flashing ad or an animated meme.
VECTOR IMAGES (THESE ARE THE FILES YOU WERE LOOKING FOR…):
PDF (Portable Document Format)
PDFs are the best format for printing. They are by far the best universal tool for sharing graphics. If a designer saves your vector logo in this format, you can view it without any design editing software (as long as you have any Acrobat Reader software). Unfortunately, they can be quite large.
EPS (Encapsulated Postscript)
EPS is a file in vector format that has been designed to produce high-resolution graphics for print. No matter how large or small you distort the image, they will maintain quality. Whenever requesting your logo, make sure you have this format. You will eventually need it!
AI (Adobe Illustrator Document)
AI is, arguably the most preferred image format by designers. It has the benefits of vector properties as well as printing capabilities. Highly considered the industry standard when it comes to vector files, you absolutely need this version of your logo! The only drawback is, if you don’t have Illustrator, you can’t view this file.
These are 6 Essential formats that you need for your logo. You should always know where they are and what they are for! So the next time you get a logo made, request these files from your designer. I guarantee they will be impressed!
