# Graphic Designers: help needed working with logo **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 4, 2010, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graphic-designers-help-needed-working-with-logo/527681 "2010-02-04T16:09:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bootis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@Bootis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootis)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graphic-designers-help-needed-working-with-logo/527681/1 "2010-02-04T16:09:16Z")
I do basic graphic design,among other things, for a company. They had a logo made for them a few years ago and for some reason have no illustrator or scalable eps file. All there is is a 600x200 photoshop file, which consists of a vector smart object. The logo is plain black. I need to make this considerably bigger, but I’m not sure about the best way to do it without compromising the logo in any way. Does anyone have any advice? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graphic-designers-help-needed-working-with-logo/527681/2 "2010-02-04T16:12:40Z")
If it’s a vector smart object, just resize it. If there’s any fixed-size bitmap content in any layers, resize to whatever you like, then refill appropriately. Better still, do you have CS3/4? If so, you could copy the smart object layer into an Illustrator file (or even open the PS file using Illustrator) and then treat it like an Illustrator vector, then save as an EPS in a way that would be future-proofed. ---
**Author:** ![Bootis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@Bootis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootis)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graphic-designers-help-needed-working-with-logo/527681/3 "2010-02-04T16:19:22Z")
I was hoping it would be something that easy. I just havent worked much at all with vectors. When I scale up the vector smart layer, its gets soft. Is there a different method to resizing a v.s. layer besides transform-scale? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graphic-designers-help-needed-working-with-logo/527681/4 "2010-02-04T16:24:31Z")
> [@Bootis](#): > > When I scale up the vector smart layer, its gets soft. This surprises me. Hold on and I will check. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graphic-designers-help-needed-working-with-logo/527681/5 "2010-02-04T16:26:10Z")
I just scaled a smart object from 200 px to 9000 px, and it was crisp at both sizes. Strikes me that there’s something else going on there, if it blurs. Can’t determine what without seeing the file, though. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graphic-designers-help-needed-working-with-logo/527681/6 "2010-02-04T16:37:53Z")
This is advice from an amateur, but whenever I get images from clients that are flat and need to be blown up (and this happens more than I would like! … “I need your logo” “ok here it is on a PDF”)…I just painstakingly draw over it in Photoshop with my own layers, shapes and fonts, then use that one to blow up. ---
**Author:** ![Bootis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@Bootis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootis)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graphic-designers-help-needed-working-with-logo/527681/7 "2010-02-04T16:46:32Z")
Yeah, I suppose that’s what I’m going to have to do. I dug around and found older versions of the logo in the same format, and those scale perfectly. I guess there’s just something wrong with the new version ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graphic-designers-help-needed-working-with-logo/527681/8 "2010-02-04T16:48:55Z")
Do you have Illustrator though? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graphic-designers-help-needed-working-with-logo/527681/9 "2010-02-04T16:53:36Z")
Aha, I may have a workaround. 1. Select the smartobject. 2. Go to the “Paths” tab on the “Layers” box. 3. Click the dropdown menu and choose “Save path”. 4. Delete the smartobject layer. 5. Make a new layer. 6. Resize the image using “Image” =\> “Image size…” 7. Select the path. 8. Fill as required. ---
**Author:** ![Bootis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@Bootis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootis)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graphic-designers-help-needed-working-with-logo/527681/10 "2010-02-04T17:29:50Z")
Thanks- I’ll try that now. (We do have illustrator, though I’m not proficient with it. I’m basically a video editor who knows some photoshop. I tried bringing in the psd file to illustrator, and same problem- also tested it with their earlier version files which scaled fine, which has me thinking they made this new one wrong somehow. Ill try your workaround) ---
**Author:** ![Bootis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@Bootis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootis)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graphic-designers-help-needed-working-with-logo/527681/11 "2010-02-04T18:07:31Z")
The smart object has no path, the only way I know to do it make a work path from selection, but that quality is very jagged at lowest tolerance, and at higher tolerance, the path alters from the original. Very frustrating. I think I’m just going to have to trace the thing by hand, and of course the logo is composed of two words, 19 letters in a stylized font ---
**Author:** ![Bootis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@Bootis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootis)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graphic-designers-help-needed-working-with-logo/527681/12 "2010-02-04T19:19:50Z")
I found another solution: Illustrator’s live trace function works great, at least for a sharp black and white logo. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graphic-designers-help-needed-working-with-logo/527681/13 "2010-02-04T19:22:52Z")
> [@Bootis](#): > > The smart object has no path Ah. It’s not a genuine smart object then (to the best of my knowledge) - probably a corrupt file. In that case, you’re donald ducked. Live Trace in Illustrator seems like the best bet. ---
**Author:** ![Simmerdown](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simmerdown/32/14859_2.png) [@Simmerdown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simmerdown)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graphic-designers-help-needed-working-with-logo/527681/14 "2010-02-04T20:20:37Z")
If I need a scalable logo from a company that has a web presence, I will often do an advanced Google search for file type .pdf. If it finds anything, there’s a chance that the .pdf contains a vector version of the logo. Open the .pdf in Illustrator, and if it’s not password protected, you can extract the logo there. Sometimes you have to sift through a lot of files before you find one that has a suitable logo, and you may not find any at all, but it’s sometimes worth a shot. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graphic-designers-help-needed-working-with-logo/527681/15 "2010-02-04T21:42:34Z")
Conversation with a partner company last month: Can I have a vector graphic of your logo? - A vecwhat? A vector graphic. - I don’t know what one of them– OK, do you have an EPS. - Yeah, we have an EPS. Great! Send that! Then I receive a 300 px wide jpeg saved from photoshop as an EPS, with no vector information at all. The sad thing is that this person has apparently been a graphic designer for 25 years. ---
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graphic-designers-help-needed-working-with-logo/527681/16 "2010-02-04T21:43:14Z")
> [@Simmerdown](#): > > If I need a scalable logo from a company that has a web presence, I will often do an advanced Google search for file type .pdf. If it finds anything, there’s a chance that the .pdf contains a vector version of the logo. Open the .pdf in Illustrator, and if it’s not password protected, you can extract the logo there. Sometimes you have to sift through a lot of files before you find one that has a suitable logo, and you may not find any at all, but it’s sometimes worth a shot. I’ve had some luck doing this as well. [brandsoftheworld.com](http://brandsoftheworld.com) is also a good resource. ---
**Author:** ![Simmerdown](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simmerdown/32/14859_2.png) [@Simmerdown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simmerdown)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graphic-designers-help-needed-working-with-logo/527681/17 "2010-02-04T21:49:18Z")
> [@B.Serum](#): > > I’ve had some luck doing this as well. [brandsoftheworld.com](http://brandsoftheworld.com) is also a good resource. - Brandsoftheworld\* is still in my bookmarks toolbar, but I mostly use it as a 2nd choice (I won’t say last resort). Some of the artwork there is clearly redrawn by amateurs, and I figure you can’t go wrong by going directly to the source. Annual reports and brochures work well. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graphic-designers-help-needed-working-with-logo/527681/18 "2010-02-04T22:52:57Z")
I strongly advise doing it in Illustrator, rather than Photoshop. Oh, and save yourself a lot of future problems by converting the fonts to outlines (but keeping the font version). It’s insane that some people need to have a particular font to use their logo . . . or a particular version of that font. ---
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graphic-designers-help-needed-working-with-logo/527681/19 "2010-02-04T23:13:10Z")
> [@Simmerdown](#): > > - > > Brandsoftheworld\* is still in my bookmarks toolbar, but I mostly use it as a 2nd choice (I won’t say last resort). Some of the artwork there is clearly redrawn by amateurs, and I figure you can’t go wrong by going directly to the source. Annual reports and brochures work well. I agree–you totally have to evaluate what you’re getting. Even retrieving logos from online PDFs can be tricky if you need accurate color, since certain PDF settings can change the color of objects. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graphic-designers-help-needed-working-with-logo/527681/20 "2010-02-05T05:28:06Z")
I spent the last 3 years replicating movie-title logos for store displays. Thousands. I’ve tried every suggestion on offer. Cut your losses. Trace it–carefully–in Illustrator. It’ll save scads of time over the long run. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/graphic-designers-help-needed-working-with-logo/527681.md?page=2)