More than a logo file: what a brand identity delivers
You paid for a logo and received one image. The files, versions, colour codes, typefaces and rules a full identity project should hand over.
The designer sends your new logo over WhatsApp: one image on a white background. It looks good on the phone, and you approve it. A month later the sign maker asks for "the open file", the print shop says the image is too small for a banner, and your web developer needs a version for a dark header.
A logo image is one piece of a brand identity. A complete project hands over files and written rules, so that any printer, developer or new employee can reproduce your brand without calling the designer. Here is that set, how to test it, and what to agree before work starts.
The delivery list
Use this table when the designer says the project is finished. The sections below explain each line.
| Item | Received? |
|---|---|
| Logo as vector files: SVG, PDF and the editable source file | |
| Logo as PNG files with a transparent background | |
| Horizontal, stacked and icon-only versions | |
| Versions for light and dark backgrounds, and one single-colour version | |
| Colour codes for screen and for print | |
| One Arabic and one Latin typeface, with licences | |
| Usage rules: clear space, minimum size, what not to do | |
| A short guide document | |
| Templates: business card, letterhead, invoice, email signature, social profile images, sign | |
| Written transfer of the source files and the rights |
Logo files and versions
A vector file stores the logo as shapes and curves instead of dots, so it can be enlarged to a building sign or reduced to a pen without losing sharpness. It is usually what sign makers and print shops mean by "the open file". Ask for three: SVG for websites, PDF for print, and the designer's editable source file, which the next designer will need. PNG files, with a transparent background, are for everyday use by your staff.
One arrangement does not fit every space. You need a horizontal version for a website header or a letterhead, a stacked version for squarer spaces such as a shop sign, and an icon-only version where the name cannot fit, each for light and for dark backgrounds. A single-colour version covers whatever is printed in one ink: the company stamp, a receipt, a carrier bag.
Colours and typefaces
A colour described as "our blue" comes out differently at every supplier. The identity should give each colour as codes: HEX and RGB values for screens, CMYK values for print, and a spot-colour reference if your print shop uses one. With codes, the card, the sign and the website can be matched closely.
Most of what a company publishes is text, so the typefaces matter as much as the logo. Expect one Arabic and one Latin typeface that match in weight, so that a bilingual page looks like one company wrote it. Typefaces are licensed like software: ask which licence covers which use (print, website, app) and whether it is in your company's name.
Arabic and Latin designed as one mark
A common story in Iraq: the logo was drawn in Latin letters, and when the shop sign needed Arabic, somebody typed the name in whatever Arabic font was at hand and placed it beside the logo. The two halves differ in stroke thickness and height, and they read as two companies sharing one sign.
Ask for both scripts to be drawn together from the first sketch, with matching weight and proportions and with defined arrangements: Arabic alone, Latin alone, and both. Your sign, stamp and invoices will probably lead with Arabic, while the website may carry both. Page layouts that run right to left need the same care, as described in true RTL is not a checkbox.
Usage rules, the guide and the templates
Files handed over without rules are soon misused. The rules can be short:
- Clear space: the empty room that must surround the logo.
- Minimum size: the smallest size at which it may be printed or shown.
- What not to do: no stretching, no recolouring, no shadows, no busy photograph behind it.
They belong in a short guide document, usually a PDF of a few pages, with the colour codes, the typefaces and examples. It is the file you send to a print shop or give a new employee.
Ask also for the applications you will need in the first month, as templates your staff can edit: a business card, a letterhead, an invoice template, an email signature, social profile images and a sign. Designing them also tests the identity on real objects, where problems show up that a presentation slide hides.
Four tests before you approve
Run these on the proposed logo before you say yes. None of them needs special equipment.
- Favicon size. Shrink the icon to the small square shown in a browser tab. If it turns into a smudge, it carries too much detail.
- One colour, as a stamp. Print it small in black only, as it will appear on your company stamp, then photocopy the page. A logo that depends on gradients will not survive.
- The round frame. Place it inside a circle, the way social networks show a profile picture. A wide logo squeezed into a circle cannot be read, which is why the icon-only version exists.
- Across the street. Print it, tape it to a wall and walk back as far as a customer on the opposite pavement. Thin strokes and the small dots of Arabic letters are the first things to disappear.
Ownership, and questions to ask before starting
Do not leave ownership to assumption. Ask for a written statement, in the contract or in a signed handover note, that the source files and all rights to the identity pass to your company on final payment. Then keep the files in a shared company folder, and not only in a WhatsApp chat.
Before any work starts, put these questions to the designer or agency:
- What exactly will I receive at the end, and is that list written in the quote?
- Will the Arabic and Latin versions be designed together?
- Which typefaces will you use, and who holds the licences?
- How many directions will I see, and how many rounds of changes are included?
- Which templates are part of the price?
- Will the source files and the rights be transferred to us in writing?
If you already have a logo but hold only an image of it, you may not need a new identity. A designer can often redraw the existing mark as a vector and build the missing versions, colours and rules around it, which is a smaller job and keeps what your customers recognise.
PearlFibers designs brand identities to work in Arabic and English from the first draft, with the Arabic type chosen and tested alongside the Latin. Projects are quoted from a written brief at a fixed price for named deliverables, and end with brand guidelines, source files and templates, delivered as files you own. The branding page describes the process, and the Ghimar site shows a design made in Arabic first and mirrored in English. To start, even with only a name, use the contact page.