Last week a client came to us wanting some business cards. He’d run his business for years, and had just moved it up from Tasmania to set up on the Sunshine Coast. It sounded like a small job.
To make the cards, we needed his logo file, his brand colours and his fonts. He didn’t have any of it. He wasn’t in touch with whoever had designed the logo originally, and all he had was a slightly pixelated version he’d saved off his old website.
This isn’t an unusual way for a project to start. It’s one of the most common things we see, and it’s worth talking about, because most people don’t understand the real cost of a DIY logo until they need to fix it, or why it happens in the first place.
What We Usually Find When We Open the File
The pattern is almost always the same. The file is a PNG, usually pulled from a website rather than handed over as a proper working file. It’s low resolution, and it goes pixelated the moment you try to use it for anything beyond a screen. There’s no source file to open and adjust, so we end up redrawing the whole logo from scratch.
There’s rarely a brand style guide either, so nobody can tell us the actual colour codes. And the fonts are almost never known, which usually means the licence to use them was never bought in the first place. A lot of people don’t realise that’s even a thing you need to do.
How It Actually Happens
There are really two ways people end up here.
Starting Lean, and Staying That Way
Plenty of businesses start on a tight budget, which makes complete sense. They’ll put a logo together in Canva, or these days maybe with ChatGPT, and get on with running the business. At that point nobody’s thinking about needing a vector file for a sign writer or a vehicle wrap, or the difference between CMYK, RGB and Pantone colours. Why would they? They just need something to get started with.
People tend to come to us once the business has a bit more traction and they’ve got the budget to invest in getting it done right.
Losing the Thread Over Time
The other version is what happened with our client from Tasmania. Somebody built his logo years ago, and over time the files simply went missing. He moved states, moved office, and the person who’d done the original work wasn’t contactable anymore. It’s nobody’s fault exactly. It’s just what happens to files after ten years.
What It Actually Took to Sort Out
For that job, we redrew his logo in Illustrator from the pixelated version he had. We couldn’t find the exact original font, so we sourced the closest match and bought the licence for it, because that’s not something to skip. We rebuilt his colour palette so it was consistent and documented. And because we were already doing all of that, we put together a simple brand style guide for him, so the next person who touches his branding, including him, has something solid to work from.
By that point, the job wasn’t really about the business cards anymore. It was about making sure he owned what he’d already paid for once.
Why It’s Worth Sorting Before You Need It in a Hurry
The value of that work won’t show up this week. It’ll show up the next time he needs signage for his new office, or wants his website to actually match his printed material, or hands a job to a printer who asks for a vector file he can now hand over without a scramble. It’s the same reasoning behind a proper logo design project on the Sunshine Coast rather than another quick patch job: get the foundations right once, and everything built on top of them gets easier.
There’s something less practical in it too, but just as real. It’s his company, and he’s entitled to have his own files. I think it can leave people feeling genuinely flustered when they realise they don’t have access to something they’ve already paid for. Sorting that out tends to change how people feel about their own branding, not just what it looks like.
The Real Cost of a DIY Logo, in the End
The real cost of a DIY logo usually isn’t the logo itself. It’s everything that has to be rebuilt around it later: the source files, the colour system, the font licence, the documentation nobody thought to ask for the first time. None of that is expensive to sort out early. It’s the redo, years later and often in a hurry, that costs more than getting it right the first time would have.
If you’re not sure what’s sitting behind your own logo, it’s worth having a look before you need it in a hurry. We can usually tell within a few minutes what’s missing and what it would take to put right. If you’d rather check the whole picture first, our free brand clarity guide is a reasonable place to start.
FAQs
How do I know if my logo file is good enough to use for print or signage?
If all you have is a PNG or JPEG, particularly a small one saved from your website, it’s worth getting someone to check it properly rather than guessing from how it looks on screen. A file can look fine at business card size and fall apart the moment it’s blown up for a sign or a vehicle wrap.
What file formats do I actually need for my logo?
At minimum, a vector file (EPS or AI) for anything printed large or produced by a sign writer, and a high-resolution PNG or JPEG for everyday digital use. A PDF version is handy too, since most people can open one without special software.
Do I need to buy a font licence separately from my logo?
Usually, yes. Most fonts used in a logo are licensed for use, not owned outright, and that licence is separate from the design work itself. It’s one of the things people are often surprised to learn.
What’s the actual difference between CMYK, RGB and Pantone colours?
RGB is for screens, CMYK is for most standard printing, and Pantone is a fixed colour matching system used when a colour needs to be exact, on packaging or signage, for example. A colour that looks right on screen can shift once it’s printed if it hasn’t been set up properly for each of these.
What is a brand style guide, and do I actually need one?
It’s a short document that records your logo files, colours, fonts and how they should be used. It doesn’t need to be elaborate. It just needs to exist, so anyone working on your branding later, including you, isn’t starting from guesswork.
Can you recreate a logo if I’ve lost the original files completely?
Yes, that’s a fairly normal part of what we do. We can usually rebuild a logo, a colour palette and a font system from an existing image, even a low-resolution one.
What should I do if I’ve lost touch with whoever originally designed my logo?
Start with whatever you do have, even a screenshot or an old business card, and get it properly assessed. It’s usually possible to rebuild from there without needing the original files or the original designer.
Is it worth fixing this if I’m happy with how my logo looks?
If the design itself is working for you, this isn’t really about redesigning it. It’s about making sure you actually have proper access to it, in the file formats you’ll need, whenever you need them.