What logo files should I get from a designer, and who owns the logo?

A finished logo is six files: the vector master (SVG or AI), a vector PDF, transparent PNGs, a one-color version in black and one in white, the color codes written down, and the font names with their licenses. If everything in the folder ends in .jpg or .png, you have pictures of the logo, not the logo. The usual way to find out is when the embroiderer asks for a vector file, or the new website needs a version without the white box. Below: where each file gets asked for, how to check the folder you've got, how to get the rest from the last designer, and who owns the drawing.

1. 01

   SVG or AI: the master

   The vector file. It's made of lines and curves rather than pixels, so it scales from a business card to a shop wall without going soft. The sign shop, the wrap shop and the embroiderer all start from this one. AI is Adobe Illustrator's format; SVG opens in almost anything. Either one is the master, and everything else on this list is exported from it.

2. 02

   PDF

   A vector PDF is what most print shops and sign shops ask for by name, because it opens on any computer and keeps the shapes sharp. Check that it was exported from the vector master. If you zoom in and the edges go blurry, it's just a PNG saved as a PDF.

3. 03

   Transparent PNG

   The web file. A PNG with a transparent background sits on a colored website header, a Google Business Profile, a Facebook page, or a photo without a white box around it. Have it at a large size; a small one scaled up goes soft on a website header.

4. 04

   One color in black, one color in white

   Vinyl is cut from one sheet and embroidery charges by the thread color, so the sign shop and the shirt shop both want a version that works in one. The black version goes on light surfaces and the white version goes on a dark truck door or a dark shirt. If the logo only exists in full color with a gradient, the sign shop redraws it and bills you for the time. The one-color test is worth running before the next order.

5. 05

   The color codes

   The exact colors, written down: a Pantone number for print and vinyl if there is one, the CMYK values for a printer, and the hex code for the website. Without them the truck, the shirts and the site end up three different blues, and it reads as three different businesses.

6. 06

   The font names and the license

   The name of every typeface in the logo and on the brand sheet, and where it came from. If a font was bought, its license says who can use it and on what; a license a designer bought for their own machine may not cover your shop's next sign. Free fonts have licenses too. Read the license, or ask the designer to confirm in writing that your business can keep using the font.

Open the folder, or the email, and look at the file extensions. If everything ends in .png or .jpg, you have pictures of the logo and nothing else. A few more checks:

• Zoom in. Pixels along the edges mean it's a picture; clean edges at any zoom mean it's vector.
• Check the size. A logo PNG a few hundred pixels wide is a web thumbnail, not a production file.
• Drop it on a colored background. A white box behind the logo means a JPEG or a flattened PNG, and the transparent version is missing.
• Try to change a color. If you can't select a shape and recolor it, the file isn't vector.
• Ask the last sign shop what they used. A shop in Omaha or Bellevue that redrew the logo to cut it may still have that vector on file, and it's worth asking for a copy.

The logo itself may be fine; the designer just never sent the rest. A PNG can be traced back into a vector, so you're not starting over. A logo refresh on our price sheet is $75 to clean up the mark you have, and a rebuild is Spark at $150. Either way you get the vector master, the PDF and PNG exports, the one-color versions, and the color and font list on one page.

Designers often keep the working files. Send one short email that lists what you want by name, so there's nothing to interpret:

• The editable master, AI or SVG, with the text converted to outlines, plus a second copy with the text still live
• A vector PDF
• Transparent PNGs at a large size, in full color, in black, and in white
• The color values: Pantone, CMYK and hex
• The font names, and a copy of or a link to each font license
• A short note confirming the copyright in the logo is assigned to your business

Some designers charge a small fee for digging out files from a job three years back, and that's fair. If the answer is no, or the files are gone, a rebuild is Spark, $150 on our sheet, and the same files come with it.

In the US, the person who creates a work is its author and owns the copyright from the moment it's made; the U.S. Copyright Office says so on its What is Copyright (opens in a new tab) page. Paying for the work is not the same as owning it. The Copyright Office's Circular 1 (opens in a new tab) describes the exception, a "work made for hire", where the party that hired the creator is treated as the author and the owner, and gives two ways that happens: the work was prepared by an employee within the scope of their employment, or it is one of a short list of specially commissioned kinds of work and the parties expressly agreed in a signed written instrument that it is made for hire.

A freelance designer isn't your employee, and the written route is narrower than it sounds. Circular 30 (opens in a new tab) says a commissioned work counts as made for hire only if it falls into one of nine listed kinds of work, things like a contribution to a collective work or part of a motion picture, and the parties signed a written agreement saying so. A logo on its own doesn't appear on that list.

So the practical route for a logo is an assignment: the designer transfers the copyright to your business, in writing. Circular 1 says a transfer of copyright generally has to be in writing and signed by the owner. A line in the contract or on the final invoice saying the copyright in the logo is assigned to your company on payment is what to ask for. If all you have is a verbal agreement, or nothing, ask for it now; it is a one-line request. For anything beyond that, talk to a lawyer.

Copyright is one thing and a trademark is another. Registering the name or the logo as a trademark is a separate process with its own rules; check with the USPTO or a lawyer before spending on it.

Spark, Ignition and Top Fuel all include the files, and you own them; for a website that includes the live site and its source, handed over when the last invoice is paid. It's written down in the FAQ, and the branding page shows what the starter kit includes. Spark is $150 for the logo and the starter brand kit. Ignition is $375 for the logo, a one-page website and the Google Business Profile setup.

• One folder named after the business, in a cloud drive you pay for, not the designer's
• Subfolders: MASTER, PRINT, WEB, ONE-COLOR, FONTS, with the color and font sheet at the top
• Send the sign shop and the embroiderer a link to the folder rather than an attachment from your phone
• When a new file gets made, it goes in the folder the same day

If you want a second opinion on what you have, send the folder as it is, a photo of the truck, and the name on the Nebraska LLC. We'll tell you whether it's a $75 refresh, a rebuild, or whether the files are fine and you just need the one-color version added. Same email if you're starting from nothing: Spark is $150 and the files come with it.

THE FILES COME WITH EVERY BUILD. A REFRESH IS $75 IF ALL YOU HAVE IS THE PNG.