Every now and then we aim to give you little gems. Things that might make a positive difference to you when you are looking to buy promotional gifts. This tip looks at artwork. Make sure you have control of your artwork files for your company logo. If you’re getting a logo created, or if you already have a logo, read our advice on how to ensure you get the ‘right’ files from your supplier
Here at RT Promotions we work with all sorts of businesses and companies, ranging from Sole Traders, to vast Multi-Nationals; from start-up businesses, to long established ones; from charities, clubs and associations, to High Street blue chip companies; and they all have one thing in common, they have an ‘identity’. They have a ‘look’, a brand or a logo. Generally speaking, when you are buying promotional gifts or printed clothing, it’s your logo that will feature most prominently, but do you have the right artwork file, and do you know where to find it?
From this point, and for the purposes of this ‘top tip’ – our clients now fall broadly into two categories: Start-ups and established companies, and each has its own set of challenges when it comes to getting your hands on the right type of artwork files.
Start Up Companies
You’ll be in talks with someone who will be helping you design your logo, and depending on the type of business you operate, you’ll be requiring your logo for a few common purposes. These days, most people we meet primarily needed their logo for a website. It’s increasingly common for clients we meet to not have any artwork files, other than the ones used to put their logo onto their website. The sort of files you’ll have for website artwork are: jpeg, giff, png, and tiff. All of these are perfectly fine for low resolution website work, but simply aren’t good enough for most other things. Promotional gifts, business cards and letterheads won’t print well with these types of files, and often, the colours wont match.
Our advice to you couldn’t be simpler. When you are getting your logo created, ask for it to be given to you in a variety of formats. Any professional designer will find it simple to do this, and even though you may not need these files right now, at least you’ll have them all to hand when the time comes. The sort of files you should ask for are: eps, ai, and pdf.
Established Companies
Here, the challenges are slightly different. Your brand is up and running, and more often than not, you’ll not even know where to go to find the files you require, or, maybe all of you have are some simple low resolution images on your website, as that’s all you asked for when you started the business. All is not lost….
If you’re a large company, ask your marketing department for the artwork files, but also ask them what the ‘rules’ are for using them on promotional gifts, ask them what you are allowed to do if printing in just a single colour instead of the full range in the logo. Then store the files in a separate folder on your computer.
For those of you without the luxury of a marketing department, the choices are as follows:
If you’re lucky, you may already have these files on your computer, its just that you’ve never used them, and may not even be able to open them, so you’ve ignored them. So go have a look, they may be sat there!!!
Speak to the designer (if known, and as long as you haven’t fallen out) who did the original work.
Speak to the company that prints your stationery, business cards, or brochures. They will probably have this file, and again, as long as you haven’t fallen out, will send it to you.
A common thread here is ‘as long as you haven’t fallen out’. We talk to clients every week who HAVE fallen out with either their designer or printer, and who as a result, can’t go back and ask for these files. So our strongest advice to you on this subject is this:
Go and get hold of these files right now, even if you don’t need them right now, and then store them on your computer, in a brand new folder (company artwork is a good one), so you can find these things when you need them in a hurry. Keep control of your corporate artwork in all its various formats.
1. Re-think you’re branding. Pens have a limited amount of space to customise.
Promotional branded gifts can add massive value to your marketing message and create brand memories that are both engaging and impactful.
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If you’re from further afield, call or email us for friendly, unbiased advice about what promotional gift would work best for your campaign!
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