You company's logo, brand and image are valuable assets at the core of customer recognition. Your marketing, messaging and signage should incorporate your image in a consistent manner to bolster recognition. In this week's article, we present pitfalls and advice to maximize brand recognition and minimize the cost of signage production. We're frequently asked to design signs for customers that don’t have, or don’t know where to find their company logo in a suitable format for incorporation in their sign. This is most often an issue with small to medium sized companies, but even with larger companies, the person responsible for procurement may not know whom within the organization is responsible for maintaining the company's artwork. When asked for their company logo, we're frequently directed to the company's website where a small, low resolution and JPG compressed version of their logo is visible on the home page. If you've followed our articles published in recent months, you are likely now aware that this is not a suitable logo format for incorporation in a sign. In short, it may look fine on your monitor at 1" square, but when scaled to the size needed, the roughness around the edges and artifacts resulting from JPG compression will become readily apparent when printed. Here are some helpful tips in finding a suitable format of your company logo:

• Ideally, your logo should be in vector format. That doesn't mean just a file with an .EPS extension as this file format can contain both vector and bitmap images.
• If your company logo was created by a graphic artist, ask them for the artwork in an electronic format.
• If the preferred vector format artwork is not available, a bitmap may be your only option, but the logo artwork should be high resolution at the size you intend to have printed. Check with your sign manufacturer for what the minimum resolution should be for the sign being created. By way of example, artwork for incorporation in a banner should be at least 100 Dots Per Inch (DPI) when scaled to the size you intend to print on the banner. If printing a poster, at least 300 DPI might be preferable as it likely will be viewed much closer.
• If you don't have a graphic artist or don't know how the artwork was created, you might check with the printer that printed your business cards and letterhead.
• If you work for a larger company, your marketing department will be your best source for tracking down the required artwork. The use of your company's brand, image and logo is not taken lightly by large organizations, so be sure you procure any required approvals for your signage project.
• In addition to the artwork for your logo, inquire about any special requirements or constraints in using or printing the logo. For example, if there are specific colors that must be used in production, you'll need to communicate this to your sign manufacturer.
• If you are unable to find suitable artwork for your logo, you may need to work with a graphic designer or your sign company to have your logo recreated. Of course there will be a cost associated with logo recreation. If you incur the expense of having your logo recreated, make sure that the resulting artwork files are included in the deliverables so you don't incur the expense again on your next project. If your company doesn't already have a designated person responsible for maintenance of such assets, consider making this assignment.

About Spectrum Signs Spectrum Signs is an independent, locally owned, full service sign manufacturing company located in south Orange County - Mission Viejo, California. We are affiliated with over 240 independent sign companies with access to resources nationwide. This affiliation provides significant discounts from sign suppliers, and allows us to offer competitive pricing without compromising in quality and service.

---

For more information, contact: Spectrum Signs 23382 Madero Suite L Mission Viejo, CA 92691 (949) 297-3800

---