Which logo files should you get when your logo is finished?

By Robert Salisbury

AI, EPS, SVG, PDF, PNG, JPG, CMYK, RGB, Pantone… Here’s what each one is, when you’ll need it, and what to ask your designer for before you sign off.

Your new logo is finished. You love it. Then a zip file lands in your inbox with twenty-odd files in it, half of them with three-letter extensions you’ve never heard of.

Or worse, the zip never arrives, and six months later your sign maker asks for “a vector” and all you’ve got is a JPG you saved off your own website.

This guide explains, in plain English, which logo files you should expect, what each one is for, and what to ask for before a project starts. It’s written for business owners, not designers, so you can check that what you’re paying for actually covers how you’ll use your logo.

The short answer

A complete logo hand-over usually covers four things:

1. Formats: at least one editable vector master (AI, or a vector PDF), plus SVG for the web, PNG for everyday digital use and JPG where transparency isn’t needed. EPS on request for older print workflows.
2. Colour versions: a full-colour version set up correctly for print (CMYK, and Pantone if you’ll use spot colours) and for screens (RGB and HEX), plus one-colour versions.
3. Variants: your primary logo, a secondary layout (for example stacked or horizontal), a compact icon or brand mark, a mono version and a reversed version for dark backgrounds.
4. Instructions: a short usage guide with your colour values, clear space, minimum sizes, and the fonts used.

The rest of this post explains why each of those matters.

Vector or raster: the one difference that matters most

Every logo file is one of two kinds.

Raster files (PNG, JPG) are made of pixels, tiny squares of colour. They have a fixed number of pixels, so if you stretch them bigger than they were made, they go soft and blocky. Adobe’s guide to raster and vector puts it simply: if an image goes blurry or pixelated when you enlarge it, it’s almost certainly raster.

Vector files (AI, EPS, SVG, and most PDFs) store your logo as shapes, lines and curves described mathematically. You can scale them to any size, from a favicon to the side of a building, with no loss of quality. That’s why Adobe describes vectors as the natural format for logos, because the same mark has to fit on “both a business card and a billboard”.

So the golden rule is: your logo should be designed as a vector and you should always have the vector master. You can make a PNG from a vector any time. You can’t properly turn a small PNG back into a clean vector without redrawing or tracing it.

The file types, one by one

A practical tip on sizes: raster files (PNG, JPG) should come in more than one size, for example a small one for email signatures and a large one for presentations. In our file suite, PNGs come at screen-ready sizes, so they’re ready to drop into your website, socials, emails and slides.

What about the favicon? That’s the tiny icon in a browser tab and, often, in Google results. Google’s favicon guidelines say it must be square, and recommend making it larger than 48×48 pixels so it looks good everywhere. A wide logo won’t fit a square, which is one reason you need an icon variant (more on that below).

Colour versions: CMYK, RGB, HEX and Pantone

The same green can look different on a phone, on a printed leaflet and on a vinyl sign. That’s not your designer’s fault. Screens and printers make colour in completely different ways, so your logo needs colour versions set up for each.

RGB (for screens). Screens mix red, green and blue light. Adobe calls RGB an “additive” model: the more light you add, the closer you get to white (Adobe: colour models). Use RGB files for websites, social media, email and presentations.

HEX (also for screens). A HEX code like #1A6B3C is simply an RGB colour written in the shorthand web developers use (MDN: hex colours). It’s what you’ll paste into your website builder, Canva or social templates. It isn’t a separate file, just a value you should have written down.

CMYK (for full-colour print). Printers mix cyan, magenta, yellow and black ink. Adobe calls this “four-colour process printing” and says to use CMYK “when preparing a document for printing with process inks”. Use CMYK files for leaflets, brochures, business cards and most everyday print.

Pantone (for exact colour matching). Pantone is a numbered system of standard ink colours, introduced in 1963 to make colour consistent across printers and suppliers (Pantone). A Pantone colour is a “spot” colour, a premixed ink rather than a mix of CMYK dots. Adobe explains that spot colours are used when only a few colours are needed and precise colour accuracy is critical. They can also hit colours CMYK can’t reach. But each spot colour needs its own printing plate, which adds cost.

You’ll often see a letter after a Pantone number, such as “C” or “U”. Pantone explains that these stand for coated (glossy) and uncoated paper, and that the same colour looks quite different on each. If your brand colour matters, ask for both.

Why this matters in practice. Adobe notes that some colours you can see on a monitor can’t be reproduced by a printer, and vice versa. A good designer picks matching RGB, HEX, CMYK and (if needed) Pantone values deliberately, rather than letting software convert them automatically. Then they write them all down, so every supplier is working from the same numbers.

Do you need Pantone at all? Not always. If everything you print is digital or full-colour litho, CMYK may be enough. Pantone tends to come into its own for things like branded packaging, merchandise, or a colour you want to match closely across suppliers. In our file suite, Pantone references are included whenever you ask for them, so if you know you’ll need spot colours, just say.

Logo variants: why one logo isn’t enough

Your logo has to work in lots of shapes and on lots of backgrounds. That’s why a proper hand-over includes a small family of versions. The names vary between designers, but these are the common ones:

• Primary logo. The main, full version. Use it wherever you have the room: your website header, signage, letterheads.
• Secondary logo. An alternative layout of the same logo, for example stacked instead of side-by-side. Use it when the primary doesn’t fit the space, like a tall poster, the back of a shirt, or a narrow sidebar.
• Icon / brand mark. The smallest, simplest version, often just a symbol or initials. Use it for favicons, social media profile pictures, app icons and anywhere tiny. Most social profile pictures are square or cropped to a circle, so a wide logo shrinks to nothing; the icon doesn’t.
• Mono (one-colour). A single-colour version, usually in black and in white. Use it for one-colour print, engraving, embossing, single-colour merchandise, or when your logo sits beside other logos (sponsor boards, partner pages) and full colour would clash.
• Reversed. A version designed to sit on a dark or coloured background, often white or a light tint. Use it on a dark website footer, on dark vehicles or over photography. Don’t just drop your full-colour logo on a dark background and hope; it often disappears.

Each variant should come in the formats and colour versions above. That’s why the folder gets big. It’s a well-organised folder, not padding.

Where each file goes: a quick reference

Beyond the files: four things people forget to ask for

1. Written colour values. A one-page sheet with your HEX, RGB, CMYK and Pantone values. Without it, every supplier guesses, and your brand drifts.

2. Basic usage guidelines. Clear space (how much room to leave around the logo), minimum size, which version to use where, and a few “don’ts” (don’t stretch it, recolour it or add effects). A logo project can include a short version of this. A growing business working with several suppliers may want full brand guidelines, which also cover typography, imagery and tone.

3. Fonts. Ask which typefaces the logo uses and which ones you’re free to use in your own documents. Designers often convert the lettering in a logo to shapes (“outlines”) so the logo displays correctly without the font installed (Adobe describes this as an export option). But if you want to set your own headings in the same font, you may need your own font licence.

At Salisbury Media, we buy commercial licences for every typeface we use. If you need to get a licence yourself for anything outside that licensing, we’ll give you guidance on how.

4. Ownership, in writing. This is the one that catches people out. Under UK law, when you commission a piece of creative work, the first owner of the copyright is the person or business who created it, not you, “unless you otherwise agree it in writing” (GOV.UK: Ownership of copyright works). Make sure your agreement says when ownership of the final logo passes to you. This is general information, not legal advice. Speak to a solicitor if you’re unsure about a specific contract.

At Salisbury Media, ownership of all assets transfers to you once the project is paid in full.

What to ask your designer before you start

Copy these into your first email or call:

1. Will I get the editable vector master files (AI and/or vector PDF), not just PNGs and JPGs?
2. Which formats are included as standard: SVG, EPS, PDF, PNG, JPG?
3. Will I get print (CMYK) and screen (RGB/HEX) versions, and will you specify Pantone references if I need them?
4. Which variants are included: primary, secondary, icon, mono, reversed?
5. Will I get a usage sheet with colour values, clear space and minimum sizes?
6. Which fonts does the logo use, and do I need a licence to use them myself?
7. When does ownership of the copyright pass to me, and is that in writing?
8. How will the files be organised and delivered, and can I come back for an extra size or format later?
9. How will I access my files in five years’ time, and what happens if I lose them?

If the answer to the first question is “no”, think carefully. Without a vector master, every future job (a sign, a van, a shirt) starts with someone redrawing your logo.

What you get from a Salisbury Media logo project

We don’t just email you a zip file and hope you don’t lose it.

Every client gets a link to their full file suite, hosted for life at no additional cost. Whenever you need your logo, whether that’s next week or in ten years, it’s there.

If we work together again, the new files are added to the same suite automatically, so it grows with the relationship. A new sign, a set of social templates, a refreshed leaflet: it all lives in one place.

And if you lose the link (or the files), just ask. We’ll resend it, and everything will still be there.

So what’s actually in it? Everything this post covers. The suite, on our own server, includes your logo as AI, EPS, SVG, PDF, PNG and JPG files, in CMYK, RGB and HEX colour versions (plus Pantone references when you ask for them) and every variant (primary, secondary, icon, mono and reversed). It also comes with brand guidelines that explain how to use them, so you, your printer or your web developer can pick the right file for the job without guessing.

Getting it right first time

Your logo is going to live on a lot of things: your website, your van, your shirts, your invoices, a sign above your door. Getting the right files at the start costs nothing extra in time, and saves a lot of hassle (and redrawing) later.

If you’re about to commission a logo and want all of this sorted from day one, have a look at how we approach logo design in North Wales. If a new logo is part of a bigger refresh (colours, fonts, templates, the lot), brand identity is the place to start.

Already have a logo and not sure your files are up to the job? I’m based in Wrexham and work with businesses across North Wales and the UK. Start a project and tell me what you’re trying to fix. Or, if you’d like a broader look at your brand first, take the free Brand Health Check, a questionnaire that pops up on our homepage.