Every Format You Need
Including the ones a signwriter and a printer will ask for.
Small Business Branding
Small Business Branding You Can Apply Yourself
A logo is only useful if you can put it on things. Most small businesses are handed a folder of files in formats they cannot open, with no guidance about which one to use where. Small business branding should end with you able to apply it — on a van, a form, an invoice and a social profile — without calling anyone.
We Hand Over Something Usable
A brand you cannot apply is a brand you do not have.
Plain Instructions
Which file for which job, in ordinary language.
Works Everywhere
A vehicle, a shirt, a form, a phone screen.
Simple System
A few colours and one or two typefaces you can actually get.
You Own It
Full rights and the source files, in your possession.
Small Business Branding, Explained
What Do You Actually Need?
Four things, and none of them is a brand book.
Discuss Your Brand →- 1
A Mark That Scales
From a vehicle down to a social avatar.
- 2
The Right Files
Vector for print and signage, images for screen.
- 3
A Small Palette
Two or three colours with the values written down.
- 4
Usable Type
Typefaces you can install and license.
What Small Business Branding Covers
A mark, a small system, and files you can hand to anyone.
The website itself is covered by small business web design.
How We Brand Small Businesses
Find out where it needs to go, then make sure it works there.
List the Applications
Vehicle, uniform, signage, forms, screen.
Design the Mark
Tested at every one of those sizes.
Build a Small System
Colour and type you can obtain.
Package the Files
Named and organised so it is obvious.
Hand Over Properly
With instructions and full ownership.
Handover
Why the File Package Is the Deliverable
Most small business brand problems are file problems.
What goes wrong at handover?
A folder of files with technical names, in formats the client cannot open, with no indication of which is for print and which for screen.
So they use whichever one opens — usually a low-resolution image — and it appears blurry on a sign, a shirt and every document from then on.
The fix costs nothing: correct formats, obvious file names, and a one-page note saying which to send to a printer and which to use online.
Why does owning the files matter?
Because without the source files you cannot change the logo, adapt it for a new application, or work with a different designer.
Some arrangements deliver only flat images and retain the editable originals, which makes future work dependent on the original supplier.
You should hold the source files and full rights. It costs nothing to arrange at the outset and is difficult to recover afterwards.
Questions,answered.
Small business branding delivers a logo that works at every size you need, a small colour and type system, and a complete file package with plain instructions on which file to use where.
Vector files for print, signage and vehicles; image files for screen and social; and a version that works on dark backgrounds. Named clearly enough that the right one is obvious.
Almost always because an image file was supplied to the signwriter instead of a vector one. Vector files scale to any size; image files do not.
You should, including the editable source files and full rights. Arrangements that deliver only flat images make all future work dependent on the original supplier.
A short document is enough at this size — which file where, the colour values, and the typefaces. A full guidelines book is overhead a small business does not need.
Still deciding if small business branding is right for you?
Talk to UsThey Sent the Signwriter a JPEG
A brand handover arrives as a folder of files with names like final_v3_export. Some are for print, some for screen, and nothing indicates which is which.
When the van gets wrapped, the owner sends the signwriter whichever file opened when they double-clicked it — an image, sized for a website.
It goes on the van at two metres wide, visibly soft-edged, and stays there for the life of the vehicle. The correct file was in the folder the whole time, under a name that meant nothing.
Free Consultation
Talk Through Your Branding
Tell us where your logo needs to appear. We will make sure it works there and that you have the files to do it.
Claim Your Free Marketing Audit
Enhance Your Brand Potential At No Cost!
- Expect a response within 24 hours
- NDA available upon request
- Dedicated product specialists