How Should I Provide My Logo Artwork When Buying Promotional Merchandise?

If you have ever purchased promotional merchandise from Firefly, you will already be familiar with our requirements for providing us with your logo artwork file. If you are yet to make your first purchase, however, this article will help you understand what is needed from the outset and why. We totally get that it can feel a little daunting, but have a quick read through here to remove some of the confusion. And should you still be left with questions or need a little more explanation, we are only ever a phone call or email away!

What format should I supply my logo artwork in?

Whether you’re after some fun promotional merchandise to give out at a corporate event, want your brand to be associated with high end luxury gifts, or need some clothing proudly emblazoned with your company brand, having a logo that looks sharp and professional is a must.

We can help you with all of the above; we just need you to provide us with your logo artwork. However, and this is an important however, not all artwork file formats are created equal. So, what exactly do we need from you?

In short, you need to provide your logo artwork as a vectored EPS with all fonts rendered. Unless digital files are your thing, you may be scratching your head with a somewhat baffled look on your face right now. Don’t panic! Should you not already have your logo in this format, any graphic designer worth their salt will be able to work with you to create an EPS for you.

What is a vectored EPS?

You now know the file name we need, but what actually IS this?

EPS stands for Encapsulated PostScript. It is a vector file format for graphics widely used in the printing industry.

Vector graphics are resolution independent. This is just a fancy way of saying you can scale them to any size without them losing quality or becoming pixelated. This is because vector graphics comprise mathematical formulas that describe each element’s shape, colour, and position in an image.

But all you really need to know is that this particular file will allow us to print your logo in the quality it deserves, regardless of the size of the print area. You could print it on the side of a house, and it still wouldn’t distort or become fuzzy around the edges.

Vectored EPS files can be created and edited in vector editing apps like Adobe Illustrator or Inkscape. I’m sorry to break the news to you, but you cannot create a vectored EPS in Canva.

Will a JPEG or PNG file do?

Nope. No. ‘Fraid not. Just no…

And don’t try and catch us out by creating artwork in these formats and then saving it as an EPS – WE. WILL. KNOW.

You just read about vectored EPS files being perfect for resizing to any scale? You can’t do that with a JPEG or PNG file. They are raster based graphics and, as such, have a fixed resolution. Once scaled up past a certain point, they will become pixelated, and they will look low quality. We’re confident that you do not want your brand to be associated with low quality. So, make the effort now, and we will be able to provide you with promotional merchandise that radiates the quality you want to be known for.

How do I provide you with my brand colours?

The colours used within your branding are an incredibly important part of your organisation’s identity. They enable greater recognition and recall of your brand, and it is, therefore, imperative that when your logo adorns any promotional merchandise, it does so in your exact colour scheme. Blue won’t do – we need to know what blue. Red ranges from scarlet to burgundy – you need to tell us precisely what red.

But how do you do that? How do you communicate to us those exact shades and tones of colour that are so important to your brand identity? By providing us with your Pantone colours, that’s how!

Pantone Colours

Pantone (pan and tone) means ‘all colours’. This is the colour distinguishing system we use to ensure the colours we print onto your promotional merchandise are spot on.

Those golden arches aren’t just ‘yellow’; they are Pantone 123. The instantly recognisable Coca-Cola red? Pantone 1788. You won’t find any colour variations, only absolute consistency. You see those specific shades, and immediately your mind flies to thoughts of hamburgers and coke. Consistency is equally crucial for your business, no matter the size. And it is important to us that we get this right for you. Supplying us with your Pantone colours will ensure that we do.

If your organisation already has brand guidelines, this is where your Pantone references will be listed. If not, then now is the time to set those colours and ensure that everybody sees the same thing every time they spot your logo – be it in print, on merchandise, displayed on your website (you get the picture).

So, these are our non negotiables. This is what we need so that we can do the very best job for you. Of course, we also welcome any additional information you think is relevant to share with us, and we will always provide you with proofs to enable you to see just what your finished branded products will look like.

Hopefully, this has provided a brief overview of what we need and why. There’s a plethora of information out there, so should we have piqued your interest, you could use the following resources to expand your knowledge:

https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/file-types/image/vector.html#vector

https://www.shutterstock.com/blog/pantone-colors-overview