Quick answer
A finished logo project hands over three vector masters (AI, EPS, SVG) and high-resolution raster exports (transparent PNG + JPG), each in full colour, all-white and all-black versions, plus, in better handovers, a simplified icon variant and a one-page usage sheet. That’s roughly fifteen files. If you received one JPG, you received about 7% of a logo project, and this checklist is how you collect the rest (or rebuild it for £39 if the designer’s gone).
The checklist
| File | Format | What it’s for |
|---|---|---|
| Vector master | AI | The editable original, every future designer works from this |
| Vector exchange | EPS | What printers, signwriters and embroiderers ask for by name |
| Web vector | SVG | Razor-sharp on websites at any screen size, tiny file |
| Transparent raster | PNG (high-res) | Everyday use: documents, presentations, social, email signatures |
| Flat raster | JPG (high-res) | Photo-style contexts and anywhere transparency isn’t needed |
| Colourways | All of the above × 3 | Full colour, all-white (dark backgrounds), all-black (single-colour print) |
| Icon / mark-only variant | All formats | Profile circles, favicons, app icons, embroidery, where the full logo won’t fit |
| Usage sheet | PDF, one page | Colour codes (HEX/CMYK/Pantone), fonts used, minimum sizes, spacing |
Why each part earns its place
The vectors are the asset itself, mathematical curves that scale from favicon to building sign without quality loss, and the only thing a vinyl cutter or embroidery digitiser can work from. Our file formats guide covers the mechanics. The colourways exist because the real world isn’t white: the day your logo needs to sit on a navy van or a photograph, the all-white version is the difference between professional and a white box. The icon variant matters more every year, social platforms crop profiles to small circles, and a wide logo with a strapline becomes unreadable confetti in one. The usage sheet is the cheapest insurance in branding: exact colour codes mean your printer’s navy and your web developer’s navy are the same navy, and named fonts mean next year’s flyer doesn’t approximate your brand with whatever was installed.
How to ask for missing files without souring anything
If your project is recent or the designer is reachable, the direct route works more often than people fear. Keep it short, specific and blame-free: “Could you send over the source files for the logo, the AI/EPS/SVG masters plus white and black versions? Happy to cover a small export fee if that helps.” Naming the exact files signals you know what a complete handover looks like, which changes the conversation; offering a token fee (exports take a designer minutes, £10–£30 settles most) removes the friction excuse. What to avoid: legal-sounding demands on day one, copyright reality is more nuanced than most template letters assume (see our ownership guide), and a friendly ask usually beats a firm one at this stage. Two unanswered chases spaced a week apart is the reasonable limit; after that you’re in rebuild territory, not negotiation territory.
A worked example: what each missing file costs in real life
Take a typical trades business a year after a £40 marketplace logo. The signwriter quotes the van and asks for vectors, none exist, so either the signwriter redraws at £40 (files stay with them) or the job waits. The embroiderer needs the same thing for polos: another £25 digitising surcharge on traced-not-clean artwork, with visibly softer results. The new website needs an SVG; the developer improvises from the JPG and the header looks faintly fuzzy on retina screens for a year. Then a flyer printer bounces the artwork for resolution. Four small frictions, maybe £100 in surcharges, weeks of accumulated delay, and a brand that never quite matches across surfaces, versus one £39 redraw that would have ended the whole sequence at step one. That’s the checklist’s value expressed as a year of small invoices.
The two lines that belong in writing
Files are half the handover; rights are the other half. Under UK copyright law, copyright in a commissioned logo stays with the designer unless assigned in writing, a detail most owners learn at the worst moment, covered properly in our copyright and trademark guide. So the handover should include: “All source files are delivered on completion” and “copyright is assigned to the client on final payment.” Reputable studios volunteer both. If you’re commissioning now, put them in the brief, our designer briefing guide shows where they fit.
Grading the handover you actually got
Got everything above? Store the pack in two places, send suppliers copies, done, you’re the well-served minority. Got vectors but no colourways or icon? You’re close: any competent designer (including the original, if reachable) can export the variants from the master quickly and cheaply. Got only PNGs/JPGs? First ask the original designer for source files, politely and in writing; many oblige, since exporting costs them minutes. No response or long gone? A £39 professional redraw rebuilds the entire pack from your best copy within 24 hours, the full price landscape for that fix is in our logo file conversion cost guide.
The digital extras worth requesting while you’re at it
Beyond the core pack, three additions cost a designer minutes during the project and save you hours later. A favicon/app-icon set: your icon exported at the standard sizes browsers and phones expect, the full size list is in our favicon guide, and generating it from the master takes moments. Social profile crops: the logo pre-composed for the circular profile slot and each platform’s cover dimensions, so nothing gets amputated by an automatic crop. And an email signature version, a small, correctly-compressed PNG at exactly the display size, because the number of businesses sending 2MB logos at the bottom of every email remains a quiet national scandal. None of these is standard in cheap handovers; all of them are the difference between a logo you have and a logo that’s deployed.
Commissioning right now? Paste this
If you’re briefing a designer this week, one paragraph secures everything this article covers: “Deliverables to include vector masters (AI, EPS, SVG) and high-res raster files (transparent PNG, JPG), each in full-colour, all-white and all-black versions, plus a simplified icon variant and a one-page usage sheet with colour codes and fonts. All source files delivered on completion; copyright assigned to me on final payment.” A professional will recognise it as the standard it is, our own £129 logo service delivers exactly this list without being asked. Anyone who pushes back on it has told you what their price really buys.
Why cheap jobs skip the pack (and what it really saves)
The £15–£30 end of the market omits handover files for two honest-if-unflattering reasons: exports and colourways take time the price doesn’t cover, and some sellers hold source files back deliberately as a paid upsell later. The result is a logo that works until the first real-world request, a signwriter, an embroiderer, a printer, at which point the saving unwinds: £30–£50 artwork charges per printer per job, or the £39 rebuild, or eventually a proper £129 redesign with the pack done right. The checklist above is the difference you’re actually buying when you pay professional rates; every one of our prices for filling the gaps is on the price list.
Keep it complete forever (30 seconds)
Cloud folder named “BRAND, MASTER FILES”, the full pack inside, a copy emailed to yourself, suppliers get duplicates never originals, and the folder goes into any staff or agency handover. Businesses that do this never appear in our rescue queue; businesses that don’t, reliably do.
Further reading: Identify a typeface (WhatTheFont) · Marketplace order recovery (Fiverr help).
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Frequently asked questions
What files should I receive when a logo is finished? +
Vector masters (AI, EPS, SVG), plus raster exports (transparent PNG and JPG at high resolution), each supplied in full colour, all-white and all-black versions. Better handovers add a simplified icon version and a one-page usage sheet. A single JPG is not a finished logo project.
Why do I need vector files if the PNG looks fine? +
PNGs are fixed grids of pixels; they blur when scaled and can't be used for vinyl cutting, embroidery or large-format print. Vector files scale infinitely and are what every printer, signwriter and embroiderer works from. The PNG is for everyday screen use; the vectors are the master asset.
My designer only gave me a JPG — is that normal? +
It's common at the cheap end and it's not acceptable practice. Ask for the source files first (many designers hand them over on request). If they're unavailable, a professional redraw rebuilds the full pack for £39 in about 24 hours.
Should the handover include copyright? +
Yes — in writing. Under UK law copyright stays with the designer unless assigned, so the handover should include a line assigning copyright to you on final payment. It matters most if you later want to trademark the logo.
What are white and black versions of a logo for? +
The all-white version goes on dark backgrounds, photographs, coloured vans and cut vinyl; the all-black version is for single-colour printing, stamps, engraving and faxes-of-the-modern-age like forms. Without them, someone eventually stretches the colour logo onto a navy background and hopes.
