signs / sign tips / design tutorials / getting official logo files

Getting Official Logo Artwork Files 

The next time you are in need of a logo, instead of looking at logo sites or published logo collections which usually have unofficial recreations of logos, try finding an official version by locating an Adobe Acrobat Portable Document File (PDF) that includes it. These files are often available at their respective company websites.

Most PDF files can be opened or imported into illustration applications such as CorelDRAW and Adobe Illustrator, as well as most sign making applications. Once opened, the various elements in the PDF can be easily extracted. Often, high quality vector versions of official company logos and other graphics will be present in the PDF document.

You will need to have Adobe Reader installed on your system and an illustration or sign making application capable of opening a PDF file.

Here are the steps:

1. Go to Google.com and enter (logo name) filetype:pdf as your search keywords without the parenthesis and substitute the name of the company for "logo name". For example, to find Esigns PDF files, you would enter: Esigns filetype:pdf. The results of the search will list links to any PDF files available for the company name entered.
2. When the search results page appears, scan the links for the company's website. Click the link and look for the logo you are seeking. Use the zoom feature in Adobe Reader to see if the logos you find are vectors. Bitmap versions will appear pixelated when zoomed in and vector versions will be clean and sharp.
3. Once you find a page with the logo you need, make note of the page on which it is located and save the PDF file to your hard drive.
4. Open or import the PDF file into your illustration or sign making application. You will often have to enter the page number when opening a PDF if your application is not capable of opening multiple pages. Locate the logo and select it, then copy and paste it into a new page or workspace and save it to your hard drive.

If you experience numerous extra nodes in the vectors pasted to the new page, this is most likely happening in the copy and paste part of the procedure. If this is the case, simply delete everything else on the original that you opened, leaving just the logo, and Save As whatever you want to name it.

When producing trademarked logos on signs and banners, you are well advised to seek permission from an authorized agent or representative of the owner of the logo owner. In many cases, they can supply you with both permission and an official version of the artwork. The purpose of this tip is intended to be a time saver when you a certain you have proper permission but no artwork file is readily available from your client.