Logo Redraw for a Sponsor Wall at Three Sizes
A regional cycling event asks you to rebuild a sponsor's logo as vector art. The client supplies only a 240 px wide JPEG on a white background, saved from a website. The logo will appear at 40 mm on printed bib numbers, at 1.2 m on a start-line banner, and at 96 px in an email footer. The sponsor insists the mark must stay 'pixel-crisp' everywhere. You have the original JPEG, a color picker, and no brand guide. The event prints at 300 ppi for the bibs and 150 ppi for the banner, which is viewed from about 10 m. Deadline is in two days.
1. What is the correct first move, and why is simply tracing the JPEG's edges a weak plan?
Read the worked answer
Do not auto-trace the JPEG and call it done. At 240 px wide, anti-aliasing and JPEG compression have blurred every edge, so an auto-trace follows noise and produces lumpy, uneven curves that look wrong at 1.2 m. Correct sequence:
- Rebuild geometrically. Use the JPEG only as a reference. Recreate letterforms with the Pen tool on straight segments and true arcs, or substitute a close match and convert to outlines.
- Use symmetry and guides. Draw one half of a symmetrical mark, then reflect it. Set guides at the cap height and baseline so the mark is optically consistent.
- Sample color deliberately. Average several pixels inside a filled area rather than one pixel, because compression shifts color near edges.
- Check at extremes. Zoom to 800% to fix anchor handles, then view the artboard at banner scale to confirm smooth curves.
A traced JPEG will pass at 96 px and fail at 1.2 m; a geometric rebuild passes at all three.
2. The mark must be delivered for print and screen. How do you structure the files and color so nothing breaks at any of the three sizes?
Read the worked answer
Separate the concerns: one master, several outputs.
- Master: a single vector document with the mark on its own layer, all text converted to outlines, and colors defined as named swatches (spot or CMYK values recorded, plus RGB values for screen).
- Print outputs: supply PDF or EPS with the vector intact. For the bibs at 300 ppi and the banner at 150 ppi, the vector scales freely, so ppi only matters for any raster elements (none, if the rebuild is clean).
- Screen output: export a PNG or SVG at the exact pixel size needed (96 px) rather than downscaling a huge raster. SVG keeps it sharp on high-density displays.
- Small-size legibility: at 40 mm and 96 px, thin strokes can fill in or drop out. Test a proof at actual size and thicken hairlines if needed rather than scaling the whole mark.
Keep the master editable and archive it; deliver flattened formats only as derivatives.
3. The sponsor's contact says the new mark 'looks slightly different' from the JPEG. What do you check, and what do you document?
Read the worked answer
Expect small differences and verify they are intentional, not errors:
- Proportions: overlay the rebuild on the JPEG at 50% opacity and compare cap height, stroke weight, and corner radii. Compression will never match exactly; aim for optical agreement, not pixel agreement.
- Color: confirm the sampled swatch against the sponsor's actual preference. A JPEG on white may have been saved with a slightly warm cast; ask for the intended value rather than trusting the file.
- Spacing: check letter spacing and the gap between symbol and wordmark at 100%.
Document the decisions in a short handoff note: source was a 240 px JPEG, colors were sampled and confirmed, text was outlined, and files were produced for print (vector PDF) and screen (SVG/PNG). That record protects you if a later print run is questioned.