A logo delivery is a small package with a long life. The files you send this week will be opened by a printer next month, a web developer next year, and a marketing hire in four years who has never heard your name. So the job is not just to export the logo but to organise and label it so that a non-designer picks the right file without help. This article covers which files to deliver, which variants, a folder structure and naming convention that survive being forwarded, a one-page guide for the client, and how to send the whole thing so it does not get lost.
Which files to deliver
You need fewer formats than most delivery folders contain, but you need the right ones.
| Format | What it is for | Include |
|---|---|---|
| SVG | Websites, apps, modern slide software, anything on screen that should stay sharp at any size | Always |
| PNG, transparent | Word, PowerPoint, Google Docs, email signatures, anywhere people paste a picture | Always, exported at 2x |
| Printers, sign makers, and anyone who cannot open SVG; vector, so it scales | Always | |
| EPS | Older print workflows and some embroidery or engraving suppliers | Only if asked |
| JPG | The rare form or CMS that rejects everything else; no transparency | One, full colour on white |
| AI master | The editable Illustrator source | See below |
SVG is the file people should use most and understand least, so label it plainly as "for web". PDF is the safe answer for print because every print shop can open it and it keeps the vectors. A transparent PNG at 2x, meaning twice the pixel dimensions of its displayed size, looks crisp on high resolution screens and in projected slides. The single JPG exists so that when a supplier portal rejects PNG and SVG, you do not get an email.
The AI master is a separate decision. The client owns the final logo, so a clean, outlined master is reasonable to deliver; your layered working file with the rejected directions is yours. Decide this in the contract.
Which variants
Deliver the variants the identity actually has and no more; inventing a stacked version on delivery day is how weak lockups get into circulation.
The usual set is the full logo (mark plus wordmark), the logomark alone and the logotype alone. Where the design has both a horizontal and a stacked lockup, include both. Each exists in full colour, black and white. White is the one clients forget to ask for and need most, because it goes on photographs, dark websites and coloured merchandise. If a variant is restricted to one use, such as the logomark alone as an avatar, say so in the guide described further down.
A folder structure a non-designer understands
There are two sensible ways to organise the folder, and both work. Pick one and keep it shallow, no more than two levels below the top.
The first is by variant, then format. This suits designers and developers, who think of "the horizontal white version" first.
acme-logo/
full-logo/
colour/ svg, png, pdf
black/ svg, png, pdf
white/ svg, png, pdf
logomark/
colour/ black/ white/
logotype/
colour/ black/ white/
source/
acme-logo-master.ai
The second is by use case. This suits everyone else, because the person ordering business cards does not know what a lockup is but does know they are printing something.
acme-logo/
print/ pdf and eps, all variants
web/ svg, all variants
documents/ transparent png, all variants
social/ square png of the logomark
source/
For small clients with no in-house designer, the use case structure produces fewer wrong-file mistakes. For clients with a developer or an agency, the variant structure is cleaner. Either way, put a short guide at the top level.
File naming conventions
File names get separated from folders the moment someone drags a file into an email, so each name should describe the file on its own. A dependable pattern is brand, element, lockup, colour, in that order, all lowercase, words separated by hyphens, no spaces.
acme-logo-horizontal-colour.svg
acme-logo-stacked-white.png
acme-logomark-black.pdf
acme-logotype-colour.svg
Brand name first, so the files sort together anywhere. Colour last, so variants sit next to each other. No version numbers in the client's copy, because "v3-final-FINAL" is a promise you will not keep; keep versions in your own archive and give the client one current set. Use the same words in file names, folder names and the guide, so that "white" is never "reversed" in one place and "knockout" in another. If your export tool takes file names from artboard names, name the artboards this way first.
Sizes for social profiles, if you include them
Profile picture specifications change with every platform redesign, so avoid hard-coding dimensions that will be wrong within a year. The durable approach is one square PNG of the logomark at 1000 by 1000 pixels, with the mark centred in roughly the middle sixty percent of the canvas so it survives being cropped to a circle. Add a version on the brand's primary colour as well as one on white, since a transparent avatar shows whatever background the platform chooses. Cover images and post templates are a separate deliverable.
A one-page "which file when" guide
Put this at the top level of the folder and paste it into the delivery email. It is the page the client will actually read.
| You are | Use this file |
|---|---|
| Adding the logo to the website | The SVG in web/, colour version |
| Putting it in Word, PowerPoint or Google Slides | The transparent PNG in documents/ |
| Sending it to a printer or sign maker | The PDF in print/, and EPS only if they ask |
| Placing it on a photo or a dark background | The white version, in the format above |
| Setting up a social profile | The square PNG in social/ |
| Ordering embroidery, merchandise or signage | The PDF in print/, plus the Pantone and CMYK values from the guidelines |
| Unsure | Send the whole folder link to the supplier and let them pick |
Alongside the table, list the colour values and the font names, so one page answers the three questions people ask most: which logo, which colour, which font.
How to send it
A link beats an attachment. Mail servers strip large attachments, zips get flagged, transfer links expire, and whatever does arrive sits in a downloads folder until the laptop is replaced. Even when the zip arrives intact, it gets unzipped onto one person's desktop and the rest of the company never sees it.
Send a link to a folder or a hosted page you control, keep the link stable, and tell the client to bookmark it and forward it to their printer, developer and whoever runs their social accounts. When you update a file, update it behind the same link. A hosted brand page, such as one published with Anchr Portal, goes further: each logo variant with a download per format, the colour values and the fonts on a single page, so the client forwards the link instead of the files.
Whatever you send, keep a dated copy of what the client received.
A delivery email template
Keep it short. It will be forwarded to strangers for years, so it should make sense without the surrounding conversation.
Subject: Acme logo files
Hi Dana,
The final Acme logo files are here: [link]
Which file to use:
- Website or app: the SVG in the web folder
- Word, PowerPoint, Google Slides: the transparent PNG in documents
- Printers and sign makers: the PDF in print
- On a photo or a dark background: the white version
Colours and fonts are listed in the guide at the top of the folder,
with licence details and where to buy the fonts.
Please forward this link to your web developer and your printer.
If anyone needs a format that is not there, send them my way.
Best,
[Your name]
Questions
Should I send the Illustrator file?
Send a clean, outlined master of the final logo if the contract says the client owns the mark, which it usually should. Strip it first: outline the type, delete unused artboards and swatches, name the layers. Your working file with alternatives and exploration stays with you. Put the master in its own folder so that nobody opens it when they wanted a PNG.
Do I need to include an EPS?
Not by default. PDF covers every modern print workflow and keeps the vectors, and most suppliers who once asked for EPS now accept PDF or SVG. Include EPS when a specific printer, embroiderer or engraver asks for it, and note in the guide that it is there for that reason.
What resolution should the PNG be?
Export at 2x, meaning twice the pixel dimensions of the size at which the logo will typically be displayed. A logo shown at 300 pixels wide should be delivered at 600, so it stays sharp on high resolution screens. For a general purpose delivery, a PNG around 2000 pixels on its longest side covers slides, documents and most web uses without being unwieldy.
Should I include the logo on a coloured background?
Yes, for the social avatar and for any case where the transparent version would show an unpredictable background. Otherwise deliver transparent files and let the white and black versions handle contrast. A flattened logo on the brand colour is useful in exactly one place and a problem everywhere else, so label it clearly as the social version.
Do it in one click
Anchr Ship, part of the Anchr Tools Illustrator extension, does the export part of this article in a single pass. Bind three artboards for the logomark, the logotype and the full logo, and it generates black and white flat variants as new artboards, then exports every artboard as SVG, PNG at 2x with transparency and PDF into one folder, with consistent file names taken from your artboard names, up to 27 files. It does not build folder trees or icon sizes, so the structure above is still yours to arrange. Anchr Portal then publishes the set as a hosted page with one download per format, so the link in your delivery email never goes stale. Details at /ship and /portal.