Ask a small business owner for their logo and there is a good chance you will get one of these: a small picture pasted into an email, a photo of a business card, or a file called "logo final FINAL 2.jpg" that someone made years ago.
That file has been doing its best. It has been stretched onto the website, squashed onto Facebook, sent to the sign writer and the printer, and somewhere along the way it started looking a bit rough. Most owners notice it eventually but are not sure what is wrong.
What actually goes wrong
Blurry or blocky edges. A picture file only holds so much detail. Blow it up for a banner or a high resolution phone screen and the edges go fuzzy.
The white box. The logo was saved with a white background behind it. Put it on a coloured header, a dark photo or a vehicle and it sits inside an ugly rectangle.
Stretched or squashed. Someone forced it into a space the wrong shape. Customers may not consciously notice, but it looks off.
Colours that do not match. The blue on the website is a different blue from the sign, which is a different blue from the business cards. Each copy has drifted a little.
The printer sends it back. Sign writers, printers and vehicle wrap companies regularly reject logo files because they will not print cleanly. Each time, you pay someone to fix it, or you get a worse result.
Why it matters more than it seems
Your logo turns up everywhere a customer meets you: the top of your website, your Google listing, your quotes, your van. When it looks sharp and consistent, the business looks established. When it looks a little blurry here and a different colour there, the business looks a little less sure of itself.
That matters most online, where a stranger is deciding in seconds whether to trust you. Why visitors leave without calling covers how small signals like this add up.
There is also a practical cost. Every time a new supplier, printer or web designer needs your logo, someone has to hunt for a decent copy. Often there is not one, and the guessing starts again.
How to tell whether your logo files are a problem
You do not need to know the file types to spot the signs:
- You cannot find the original files, only copies.
- The person who designed it is long gone.
- It has a white box around it on anything that is not white.
- A printer or sign writer has asked you for a "better file".
- It looks noticeably softer on your website than it did on paper.
- You have more than one slightly different version in use.
If two or more of those ring true, your logo files are probably costing you a little every time they are used.
Getting it sorted alongside your website
A website build is the natural time to fix this, because the logo is one of the first things that goes on the new site. It is also why we offer brand work as optional extras, only to people we are already building a site for: a logo refresh at $700, which rebuilds your existing logo properly or creates a new one if it is beyond saving, delivered in every file format you will ever be asked for; a brand guide at $350, so the next person you hire gets your colours and fonts right; and print ready files at $250 for cards, signage and decals. Take all three together for $950.
We did exactly this for Bryony Wildfire: 71 logo files across three layouts and three colourways, plus the brand guide. If you are pulling things together for a new site, what to have ready before a website build lists the rest.
If your logo is a stretched picture someone made a decade ago and your website is due for a look too, tell us about your business and tick the logo option. You will get one price in writing for the lot, and one invoice instead of two.