[Jellytussle]

Hi all. My company has just had a designer make us a new logo. All the printed stuff has been done, but i'm replacing the old one in a few odd places eg our FileMaker DBs, webmail, fax headers etc. All i was sent were 72dpi jpegs, so i asked for eps files so i could embed them into FileMaker and have them print nicely. Instead i've got 300dpi TIFFs. I just wondered what formats you pro's out there would normally provide this sort of stuff in?

[art_director]

EPS, EPS and EPS. That's what you want.

[th3ph17]

honestly, i would give you whatever you ask for if that is what you paid for...i would also research the different apps you are using in order to find out the best format for each usage.

An EPS will certainly be the most useful in the long run, but some apps won't know what do do with one. As long as you or someone else at your company can open and save an EPS out into various formats you will be fine.

there is--of course--another issue...if the logo itself isn't Vector art an EPS won't be any different for you than a high res jpeg or a Tiff.

[art_director]

Originally Posted by th3ph17

honestly, i would give you whatever you ask for if that is what you paid for...i would also research the different apps you are using in order to find out the best format for each usage.

An EPS will certainly be the most useful in the long run, but some apps won't know what do do with one. As long as you or someone else at your company can open and save an EPS out into various formats you will be fine.

there is--of course--another issue...if the logo itself isn't Vector art an EPS won't be any different for you than a high res jpeg or a Tiff.

You're right in that there are multiple uses / needs for a brand mark. However, for printing, an EPS file is the best option. Other files may be supplied as time goes on.

Just last week I took on a small client (something I prefer not to do). They had a designer give them a JPEG of the logo she designed. Then she skipped town and failed to leave contact info. So, to provide this new client with what he requested, I was forced to recreate his logo as an EPS file and charge him a second time for what he already paid someone for.

My point? Clients should ALWAYS get an EPS file. And by that I mean a vector file of their logo.

[art_director]

Originally Posted by th3ph17

honestly, i would give you whatever you ask for if that is what you paid for...

If we, as an industry, go about handing off file formats that don't do the job long term we're going to be shooting ourselves in the foot. Clients, for the most part, are not well versed in file type and reproduction. It's your job, as a designer, to give them what they need. Sometimes that's what they ask for, sometimes not. As the design professional it's your job to cover your client's azz.

[Jellytussle]

Well, the logo itself would vectorize perfectly. It's very simple blocks of colour, and some text. I hope the guy did it in Illustrator or Freehand, otherwise he made himself work. I expected eps, but just wanted to confirm that i should, 'cos i don't want to hassle the guy.

Thanks for the info.

[Severed Hand of Skywalker]

Next time be sure to outline what files the designer owes you for the money you are paying him.

[art_director]

Originally Posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker

Next time be sure to outline what files the designer owes you for the money you are paying him.

I just need to tell you that you have the effing coolest screen name on MacNN and perhaps the internet as a whole.

[Severed Hand of Skywalker]

Originally Posted by art_director

I just need to tell you that you have the effing coolest screen name on MacNN and perhaps the internet as a whole.

Oh thank you That was my first one.. the rest came later.

[Chad A Wright]

I cannot tell you how frustrating it is to take on a new client (and most of mine are small) that doesn't have a quality .eps file of their logo. The upside is I've made a fortune recreating logos for clients, but like you said, I'd rather them put that money to new ideas, no old logos.

[scottiB]

Originally Posted by Jellytussle

Well, the logo itself would vectorize perfectly. It's very simple blocks of colour, and some text. I hope the guy did it in Illustrator or Freehand, otherwise he made himself work. I expected eps, but just wanted to confirm that i should, 'cos i don't want to hassle the guy.

Thanks for the info.

Make sure you get a version that's grayscale or looks good on black as well as the color version.

Dude, hassle him. You're paying him.

[art_director]

Originally Posted by scottiB

Make sure you get a version that's grayscale or looks good on black as well as the color version.

Dude, hassle him. You're paying him.

Good point. An all black version and a reversed (white) version as well.

You should also request the Pantone (PMS) numbers for the colors used in your identity.

[production_coordinator]

Originally Posted by art_director

Good point. An all black version and a reversed (white) version as well.

You should also request the Pantone (PMS) numbers for the colors used in your identity.

It's also good to have them give you CMYK and RGB builds of those colors along with a identity sheet [if you can afford it].

I've been at a number of smaller companies, and I'm amazed at how many brutally mutilate their logo on a whim. I REALLY pissed a bunch of people off when I went through the system and deleted HUNDREDS of versions of the logo and replaced them with a "master set" in just about every configuration I could think of. There were logos with different colors, wrong perspectives, wrong line widths, wrong fonts, etc. etc.

I've been called a logo nazi at work... and I'm OK with that.

[art_director]

Smaller, less sophisticated clients tend not to understand the value of maintaining the integrity of their brands. That should be a crime.

[th3ph17]

why worry about brand integrity when you can just ad a big starburst with beveled, embossed, glowing text?

[art_director]

you got me there....

[I WAS the One]

ok, first things first... if you don't know anything about art design (and we as graphic artists usually forget that small detail sometimes) you need all the formats you will be asked for. for example, the artist (if he's a good one) will deliver your logo in three different medias:

1) 2 CD-Roms ( one for your back up porpuses and one for your reproduction needs)
2) Zip Disks (believe it or not, I know a lot of print shops out there that still receiving this kind of media from 100mb, 250mb and 750mb) I personally give my clients one of 100mb.
3) an Ftp back-up (sometimes is 1 month free and if you want more time you will be charged a minimun monthly fee)

with that said, now I will tell you the files you will need inside of them.

1) Two high quality JPEGS (one full color and one Black and white) why?
• sometimes you will be working with Word or other type of word processing apps and maybe you'll want to add your logo to a letter or something like that, the color will fit for an ink jet printer and the black and white will be perfect for faxing.

2) Three Vector files: one Illustrator file (old version prefered, not everyone had always the latest versions installed) one freehand file (some people always ask for hard to find files like this one) and a generic EPS for any other application needs.

3) Three Raster files: one RGB .TIFF file, one CMYK .TIFF file, and one RGB .PSD file with layers for editing porpuses

4) Extras Files: .PNG, .GIF etc, etc why?
• people expect to have everything they need inside the media they paid for. and it doesn't matter that we all know how to doit all in PhotoShop, or Preview not everybody knows thouse programs, that's why they are asking for our help. they need everything. I'll delivered everything. and sometimes if it easy for me to do and its a good client, I'll drop a Flash animation too, for future use.

5) Phisical Proove: Photo prints of their logo, samples of business cards, whatever they want to see. full color and B/W, line art and embosed ones,

that's it!
that's a good service. if you don't received that kind of service, maybe it was a friend who helped you or you pay for a cheap work.

any questions I will be happy to help you.

[art_director]

ZIP disks, Freehand files? What planet are you from again?

[art_director]

Didn't the Smithsonian ask for all their ZIP disks back for the exhibit on shitty media?

Two weeks ago I threw away 50 ZIP disks. I hate those damn things.

[I WAS the One]

Originally Posted by art_director

ZIP disks, Freehand files? What planet are you from again?

whoa man, I was giving a serious advice here, I make a living with doin graphic designs, and I don't know about you but I preffer to deliver a complete package. and I do hate Zip disks, but people ask for them, so what do you want me to do? laugh at them like you did when I give my advice to someone who need it? and Illustrator is the vector app of choice, but sometimes I received clients asking for FH files too.

before I help somebody here, I will ask first if it's a joke or not.

I'm really pissed.

[art_director]

For the record:

sarcasm |ˈsärˌkazəm| noun the use of irony to mock or convey contempt : his voice, hardened by sarcasm, could not hide his resentment. See note at wit . ORIGIN mid 16th cent.: from French sarcasme, or via late Latin from late Greek sarkasmos, from Greek sarkazein ‘tear flesh,’ in late Greek ‘gnash the teeth, speak bitterly’ (from sarx, sark- ‘flesh’ ).

IOW, relax, I was joking. Either you missed it completely or someone left a #11 X-Acto blade on your desk chair again.

[I WAS the One]

Originally Posted by art_director

For the record:

sarcasm |ˈsärˌkazəm| noun the use of irony to mock or convey contempt : his voice, hardened by sarcasm, could not hide his resentment. See note at wit . ORIGIN mid 16th cent.: from French sarcasme, or via late Latin from late Greek sarkasmos, from Greek sarkazein ‘tear flesh,’ in late Greek ‘gnash the teeth, speak bitterly’ (from sarx, sark- ‘flesh’ ).

IOW, relax, I was joking. Either you missed it completely or someone left a #11 X-Acto blade on your desk chair again.

ok, got it. sorry about that, I was too serious on that reply that I lost it.

we're cool.

[bluedog]

Where I work there is a client who wanted to have small cover-up labels for 20,000+ ZIP disks they purchased and would like to resell (I presume). The cover-up was to relabel the disks as "PC formatted" over the original printing of "Mac Formatted"!!!! As IF that really matters in today's world with OSX natively reading this and any other platform.

I just cannot imagine a setup where they would like to reformat all those disks, opening the cases and formatting them. Unless it was a manufacturing error and they really were just mislabeled and are trying to salvage them.

In the past year we have received only ONE zip disk. The year before about THREE (and these three were from the same customer). Enough already with the old formats. Blank CD-Rs are SO cheap!

[art_director]

Originally Posted by bluedog

Where I work there is a client who wanted to have small cover-up labels for 20,000+ ZIP disks they purchased and would like to resell (I presume). The cover-up was to relabel the disks as "PC formatted" over the original printing of "Mac Formatted"!!!! As IF that really matters in today's world with OSX natively reading this and any other platform.

I just cannot imagine a setup where they would like to reformat all those disks, opening the cases and formatting them. Unless it was a manufacturing error and they really were just mislabeled and are trying to salvage them.

In the past year we have received only ONE zip disk. The year before about THREE (and these three were from the same customer). Enough already with the old formats. Blank CD-Rs are SO cheap!

Tossed all my ZIP disks and my ZIP drive. Moving forward I'm not taking them anymore.

This goes against my 'service the client' attitude but it's in the best interests of my business and my clients' businesses. ZIP was / is a crap media and the sooner it goes away the better. I said and did the same with Syquest (sp) disks many years ago. That was one of the better moves I've made. The clients I squeezed on this point agreed in the end.

[I WAS the One]

the flash drives are so huge and so cheap, I think every client can have one and use it for an specific art file in and out, don't you think. like if an old client got to remake a logo he just got to send me the flash drive and thats it. cool

[art_director]

flash drives are the dope. just got a couple 2GB flash drives for next to nothing.

may the zip disk rest in peace. or pieces.

[chris v]

Originally Posted by art_director

Two weeks ago I threw away 50 ZIP disks. I hate those damn things.

Dude. Ebay. People will buy anything.

(I just sold 150 Zip disks for something like $75.00.)

[art_director]

Originally Posted by chris v

Dude. Ebay. People will buy anything.

(I just sold 150 Zip disks for something like $75.00.)

That was the original plan. Then, when I went through to make sure they didn't have any sensitive data on them, I discovered most were shot. In the end it would have cost me more in billable time than I would have made by selling the whole lot.

Brutal reality of working for yourself.

[chris v]

I hear ya. I did spend some time erasing the contents of the ones I sold. (intermittent spare-time project over a month or so) I probably broke even.

[art_director]

Originally Posted by chris v

I hear ya. I did spend some time erasing the contents of the ones I sold. (intermittent spare-time project over a month or so) I probably broke even.

if only there were a fast way to do it.

[zmcgill]

Strong refrigerator magnet?

[art_director]

now there's a fine idea.

[I WAS the One]

LOL