From Logo to Print-Ready: A Founder's Checklist

Plenty of founders come to us with a logo that looks sharp on their phone but falls apart the moment we try to print it — pixelated on a banner, illegible on a stamp, a different colour on packaging. A logo that's truly "print-ready" passes a few key tests. Here's the checklist.

1. Do you have a vector version?

This is the big one. A vector file (AI, EPS or SVG) can scale from a stamp to a billboard with zero loss of quality. A JPG or PNG from a website cannot. If you only have a raster image, getting your logo redrawn as a vector is the best money you'll spend.

2. Does it work in one colour?

Your logo will sometimes need to print in a single colour — on a stamp, an embossed card, an engraving, a one-colour screen print. Make sure you have a solid black and a "reversed" white version, not just the full-colour one.

3. Is it legible when tiny?

Shrink your logo to the size of a thumbnail. Can you still read it? Fine details and thin lines vanish at small sizes. A print-ready logo stays clear from a stamp impression to a tote bag.

4. Are your colours defined?

• CMYK values for standard printing.
• A spot/Pantone reference if exact colour matching matters.
• HEX for anything digital.

Defining these once means your brand colour looks the same on a card, a shirt and a sign.

5. Do you have clear-space rules?

Decide the minimum breathing room around your logo and its smallest usable size, so it's never cramped or shrunk into illegibility on a layout.

A logo isn't finished when it looks good on screen. It's finished when it looks good as a 2cm stamp and a 2-metre banner — in colour and in black.

We'll get you press-ready

If your logo isn't ticking these boxes yet, we can vectorise it, build the one-colour versions, and define your colours — so every future order, from anyone, comes out consistent. Send us what you've got and we'll tell you exactly what it needs.