How to prepare your logo for print (and what to send if you can't)

Let’s start with the useful part: you don’t need a print-ready logo to order from us. Send whatever you have, even a photo of your signboard or an old bag, and our designer sets it up for print at no cost. You see a mockup before you pay.

Still, it helps to know what “print-ready” means. It will save you time with any printer, and it will help when your designer or agency asks what format to send.

Vector or not vector

This is the big one.

A vector file describes your logo as shapes and lines, not pixels. You can scale it to the size of a visiting card or a hoarding and it stays sharp. Vector files usually end in .ai, .eps, .svg or a .pdf saved from a design program.

A raster file is made of pixels. .jpg, .png and screenshots are raster. They look fine on screen but get blurry or jagged when enlarged, and they can have a box of white or a pale halo around the logo.

If whoever designed your logo is still around, ask them for the vector file. It’s usually called something like “logo final.ai” or “logo outlines.pdf”.

If nobody has it, don’t worry. We redraw logos from a JPG or a photo all the time.

Colours: screen vs paper

Your screen mixes red, green and blue light (RGB). Printing mixes cyan, magenta, yellow and black ink (CMYK). Some bright screen colours, like a glowing electric blue or a neon green, can’t be made exactly with CMYK ink, so they print a little duller.

For brand colours that must be exact, printers use Pantone (PMS) shades: a specific mixed ink with a reference number. If your brand guide lists Pantone numbers, send them. If it doesn’t, tell us what matters most (“the red must match our signboard”) and we’ll get as close as the material allows.

Paper matters too. The same ink looks different on white board, on kraft and on tissue. We point that out in the mockup.

Size and detail

Logos get printed small more often than people expect: on a cocktail napkin, a sticker or the side of a cup. Very thin lines, small taglines and fine gradients can fill in or disappear.

Some practical rules:

• Keep text in the logo readable at small sizes. A tagline under the logo is often best dropped on small items.
• Avoid hairline strokes. They can break up, especially on napkins and soft papers.
• Have a simpler version. Many brands have a full logo and a short mark or monogram. The short one is perfect for napkins, stickers and cup lids.
• Gradients and shadows look good on screen but are harder to print cleanly on packaging. Flat colours are safer.

Send what you have on WhatsApp. We send back a mockup.

Fonts

If your file contains text, the printer needs the fonts or the text needs to be converted to outlines (shapes). Otherwise the printer’s computer swaps in a different font and your design changes. When we set up your file we convert text to outlines so this can’t happen.

Light and dark versions

Your logo will sit on different backgrounds: a white cup, a black box, a coloured napkin, kraft paper. Having a version in one colour and a reversed (white) version gives you a lot more freedom. If you only have a full-colour logo, we can make the one-colour versions as part of the setup.

What to send us

The best case:

• Your logo as .ai, .eps, .svg or vector .pdf
• Brand colours, ideally Pantone numbers
• Any brand guide you have

The also-perfectly-fine case:

• A .jpg or .png from your phone or website
• A photo of your signboard, menu, bag or box
• A sentence like “the green from our signboard”

Either way, we set the logo up for each product, place it where it will be seen and send you a mockup to approve. You can also try your logo on products yourself in the Try-On first.

When you’re ready, send it on WhatsApp to +91 98210 32163, or read how to get an accurate printing quote so we can price it in one go.