Logo Vectorizing for Screen Printing
A problem I hear of a lot from potential clients, is that they only have their logo in a low resolution format. Or worst yet, I don’t even hear it, I am just sent a logo ripped straight out of a website, and asked to create shirts with it.
Just recently, a friend asked that I create shirts for his business ( Rebath - Bathroom Remodeling ). He only had a low resolution .jpg, but needed vectors that could be used for his t-shirt design, as well as camera-ready art for an assortment of vendors (everything from business cards and letterhead, to vinyl graphics on his companies trucks, and signage for his storefront.
Of course, I could have sent him to one of those site on the web that offer to vectorize your artwork for $100, and then provide you with some half-assed file that has been traced with Illustrator. Instead, I offered to the vectorize the logo for him. Now he has an assortment of files, in vector format, that can be used for anything from his website, to billboard advertisements.
So, now I am wondering, do others really require this service, and if so, what are you willing to pay for this? I would to hear your thoughts! Post links to other sites that offer this service, and I will try to match the lowest price that can be found.
Also, feel free to contact me if you are in need of logo vectorizing.
Check out affinityexpress.com
We do some of our artwork in house but it costs more for us to do it than it does to send it to them. The quality of their work is excellent. The challenge sometimes is communicating exactly what you want and them understanding.
August 19th, 2007 at 9:35 amHere’s another site that comes in handy for logos. It’s free downloads and all logos are already vectorized!
brandsoftheworld.com
I vectorize art myself, and find sometimes that tracing in Illustrator doesn’t always work so well. Some art needs to just be recreated, which can end up taking a LOT of time. Thing is, if you have a logo that’s a jpg or a tif in full or spot colors, how do you separate those? Most of the time, the photoshop files are not set up for spot seps.
August 20th, 2007 at 12:23 pmThanks for the links!
Chad: I can see where outsourcing to a large company could be beneficial. I think for design brokers and design houses, it may make more sense to have a company that specializes in digitizing do the grunt work, while you focus on the logistics.
Laura: Great site! Brandsoftheworld.com is one of my best resources. I have used them for years, and they are generally the first place I look if I need a logo. Unfortunately, they did not offer the Rebath logo I needed in this case.
August 21st, 2007 at 10:08 amChad, do you know how to outsource any link building places? any help would be appreciated.
If you need a logo vectorized and i can do it for $40.00 Almost any kind and usually in lest than 2 days.
August 21st, 2007 at 11:38 pmI too can get almost any logos vectorized and I can do them for a lot less. Especially if they are just simple ones.
August 21st, 2007 at 11:40 pmIt amazes me to see how expensive it is to vectorize even simple one color images..
October 22nd, 2007 at 6:58 pmHere in Brazil you’d pay as much as $20 for a vectorized SIMPLE logo.
The economic reality here doesn’t match these kind of prices.
I always do all the work by myself..
If someone wants to trade band logos, please contact.
http://vectormagic.stanford.edu
December 16th, 2007 at 5:31 pmThanks for the link Lyn. I had actually seen that a month or so ago, and meant to do a follow up post about it. I appreciate you bringing it back to my attention.
Josh
December 17th, 2007 at 1:23 pmScreensilk.com
I am the creative director of a Colorado based marketing firm and run into this issue often. I am amazed at what people charge for vectorizing logos. $100 is way too much to pay for a few minutes of work.
+1 on the link to brandsoftheworld.com I use them all the time when I am doing work for a clients client and our client doesn’t have access to the logos or collateral.
February 18th, 2008 at 3:58 pmHi,
I am toufiq hossain khan. i am a freelancer artist & graphic designer. i am working in Bangladesh. i work with full enthusiasm for quality graphic design.
I do any kind of Graphics design, Clipping path,
Photoshop Masking, data entry etc. and many kinds of design
oriented tasks.
I am graduated from the
Institute of Fine Arts, University of Dhaka,
Bangladesh.
I believe and hope that , i can serve you better, and
can work as an extension of your office.
Let us build a working relationship. i am waiting
for your good response.
Thanks,
Toufiq KHAN
July 20th, 2008 at 1:08 amHouse # 52, Road # 16, Level # 5
Nikunja # 2, Khilket, Dhaka : 1229
Tel:88 0175 169167 (m). Bangladesh.
E mail : toufiqhossain@yahoo.com
Two thoughts…
First of all, by offering to undercut any other price for vectorizing, you’ve pretty much proclaimed yourself a whore… Regardless if everyone else is overcharging in your eyes, you’ve reduced it not to “what is this service worth”, but rather “how low can I go”. You’re hurting the entire legitimate graphics community by such a practice, and you should definitely rethink it… You should have an hourly rate for work, and set a minimum, say 30 minutes. That way, simple vectorization is done at a fair price to both you and your client, and complex work is also priced accordingly when it takes you more than half an hour.
Second…
Speaking from experiences similar to yours with Rebath. The client is TOO LAZY to explore the marketing materials offered by his own franchise. There is no way that a national company with marketing and franchises would NOT have vector logos available. He is either too lazy or too dumb to call corporate and explain what he needs. It wouldn’t surprise me if he doesn’t already have a CD of marketing materials that he has no idea what to do with because he couldn’t figure out what the little “,ai” or “.eps” meant… More than once I have been given the song and dance by a client that they don’t have this stuff, and gone to a corporate website, found a toll free number, and within 5 minutes, after explaining what I needed and why, had the correct logo on its way to me via e-mail.
Am I miserable and cynical and bitter? Yes… But clients need to take SOME responsibility…
Dave
August 31st, 2008 at 7:26 am