Whenever you are producing graphics for print or electronic uses, think about all the possible uses before beginning production. It’s much easier and less costly in the long run to produce what you MAY need in the beginning then continually manipulating existing images.

In a nutshell there are three basic uses you need to consider prior to producing any form of graphics, including logos:

1. How large will this image be used at its largest size, how small at its smallest?

2. Do you think you will ever use this in both print AND electronic media?

3. Will you ever need your image in an outline, grey scale or black and white form?

1. SIZE of the graphic is extremely important. If you need an image for a business card and you produce that image ONLY for business card uses, you may not be able to use the same image for larger applications such as trade show boards or even letterhead. Think of increasing the size of an image as if you were not actually increasing the size but looking at it through a magnifying glass. The larger you view an image meant to be used in a smaller size the more faults you will see. The lines become grainy and edgy, the colors look blotched… and the more you magnify the image the more problems you see.

Produce the original image either to the largest size you will need or create a master image that can be smaller but of a higher quality. Of these two options, the smaller, higher quality is the best approach. This is because if you will be producing the original in an extremely large format (40″ wide for example) you will have the same quality issues when you REDUCE the size for business cards as you did when you increased it from small to large.

In this case, if you will need the image for both the large trade show boards and the smaller business cards, create the master image somewhere in the middle using a higher quality dpi (dots per square inch). Instead of producing one 40″ image as a 300 dpi (dots per square inch) jpeg file, try creating it as a 20″ 600 dpi tif file. This should give you the versatility you need for most uses. You can then move up and down in size and quality (dpi) and even export you image into different formats. Experiment with your options first.

It may be a good idea to create a series of master images at size intervals if you think you will need your image for a variety of uses. It’s always better to do this in the beginning because if you need to enlarge a smaller logo later it will become extremely expensive. That is because the graphic artist will need to go into the image and manually clean up an edges, colors and glitches.

2. As you produce each of the sizes of your finished logo, also save them in GREY SCALE AND BLACK AND WHITE versions. If you can, create black outline copies of each size, too. You never know what you will need them for. An example would be imprinted promotional items. Considering putting a white outline of your image on a red pen? Then you have your image – all you have to do is send it rather than paying per hour to recreate you beautiful full-color image as a black and white outline.

3. If you will use the image for both PRINT AND ELECTRONIC uses, create the print images first. For electronic uses it’s just a click of the mouse and you have saved them as gif files, which are the type of images you see on the internet. These files are much smaller than jpeg files and download faster on websites. You may be alarmed when you see the quality on your computer screen, but remember that you are NOT printing these images, and they will look fine on your website. Test them first by placing them into your site.

For almost every company these are the three issues you need to consider before producing your logo or other image. Being prepared will save you an enormous amount of time and money in the long run. Discussing the options with your graphic artist in advance will save you headaches down the road.