How would you deal with a low res logo file?

[FireSprint.com]

Say, "No problem, I can work with that!"
-Bury the $20 it will cost to get it vectorized in the installation or print cost

Then, my invoice would look like this:

 

[jfiscus]

We quote the amount of hours it will take to recreate the artwork, most customers miraculously find it after that. If not, they pay for the rebuild.
However, on jobs like fleet wraps we can usually just include it in the design fee if it is a simple logo/design.

 

[FireSprint.com]

My example would assume the logo is fairly simple and could be vectorized for a few dollars or in a few minutes as many are.

 

[rjssigns]

My example would assume the logo is fairly simple and could be vectorized for a few dollars or in a few minutes as many are.

If it's only a couple minutes I just do it. You will waste more time with emails/text/calls trying to resolve it. Most times customers don't know how to fix it or come back with something worse.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

Say, "No problem, I can work with that!"
-Bury the $20 it will cost to get it vectorized in the installation or print cost

I'm never a fan of that. Just the optics that come to my mind when reading it, I'm just not a fan of my doing that. If it is a legitimate cost, there is no need to bury it. Now, I could understand why the need to bury it since you said that you could work with it from the get go when you really couldn't, that I think is where it started. Not only that, but doing it this way, also feeds into the customer belief that anything should be able to work, no matter how bad the file is. Sure some cheapskates will still go on somewhere else, personally, I'm just not a fan of the thought of having to bury a legitimate cost.

Bare in mind as well, I sometimes even have to have discussions over logos that are perfectly done vectors, strokes outlined, fonts converted, no masks upon masks etc, that still have issues with perfect 1:1 conversion. So for me, every logo could have the potential for this discussion, not just low rez logos.

 

[Pauly]

IF you offer the service, it is what it is. They have the option to say no, just print it.

 

[myront]

I agree with most everyone else. Sometimes a quick trace will get it done. Sometimes a quick redraw if simple geometric shapes and generic fonts.

Another method is doing an advanced google search using the company name and specifically a pdf. 9 times out of ten the logo is embedded within a doc as vector. I've even gotten lucky by going to the company website and the logo is in svg format right from the home page. Sometimes you can get a particular font name from viewing the website source code. I've even just emailed the web designer/company listed at the bottom of the home page for the logo. Working right now with a local Coca Cola bottling co. who will be listed as a sponsor on a sign. The person ordering the sign has no affiliation with them personally and just nabbed the first image they found from a google search. All they ask is what the logo would be used for. I included A png file of the proposed layout. They'll have to clear it thru corporate but...

Over the years I've been able to establish a rapport with other local vendors for logos. (newsprint co., t-shirt co., military historians, etc.)

 

[mpn]

Don't work for free ...... ever. Legitimate charity donation excluded.

 

[Solventinkjet]

My first job in the industry included recreating low res logos in vector and digitizing art work for commercial Solo cup boxes. We charged $65 per hour and that was around 2005.

 

[FireSprint.com]

There are alot of great points here. Many valid ways of doing business.

I'm a big fan of telling a customer what something costs before they ask. Especially with something like graphic design. This can save you alot of heartache.

It's also why I believe if you are going to offer a cheap/economy option, make sure you offer the premium and middle of the road option side by side. This, more than anything, helps to establish appropriate expectations.

 

[IsItFasst]

I am upfront with the customer about art cost. As others have said a lot of times the customer will find a vector or high resolution image once they realize it will cost them money to turn the low resolution into what we need. Other times you end up dealing with customers back and forth trying to do an online conversion that just makes things worse. If they have an overly complicated job I send them directly to an outside source so I don't have to be the in between for them and the artist. Also as others have said, if it's simple enough and only takes a few minutes to clean up I just do it for free if I feel the back and forths will take more time than just redrawing.

 

[CanuckSigns]

We have a few clients that we engrave awards for, there particular awards usually have multiple logos on them, they never have the vector logo, it's always the first jpeg they found online.

I've told them it's $30 extra for every logo I need to redraw, they are fine with it. I just send them off to one of the Indian vector places we've been using for years, they have it next day, never paid more than $12 for any logo redraw.

Other clients it's a case by case, if i feel the person I'm dealing with has no idea what a vector file is, ill just send it to India and make up the cost somewhere else, sometimes I've spent more time emailing back and fourth with clients as they email me every single bitmap. Pdf file on their computer, it's actually less expensive to just pay to have it done.

 

[gnubler]

I just send them off to one of the Indian vector places we've been using for years, they have it next day, never paid more than $12 for any logo redraw.

...ill just send it to India

This is not a personal slam against you at all, but this is why printing and prepress/graphic design is a dead and dying trade: the internet. The commercial skill set has been totally devalued because most of the big print houses outsource a bulk of their prepress/layout work to Asia, or people just have someone on Fiverr do it for a few bucks..

Is this the future of signage in urban areas? I wouldn't be surprised at all.

 

[Boudica]

If you have the skill set, recreating a very simple logo for the purposes of producing a graphic for them is not giving anything away. It's part of the job and expertise. If it's not simple for an experienced designer to recreate (like 30 min or less) - then you need to charge accordingly and be upfront about it.
If you don't have that skill set, and don't employ someone with said skills, then it's the cost of business to outsource. Many people are getting into this trade, because technology has made it easy for the entrepreneur who has no graphic skills, to make money making signs. They have the production experience from their last job, but they didn't do the graphics part... so that's beyond them. And It's cheap to outsource to companies that employ their folks from countries with a much lower cost of living.

 

[CanuckSigns]

This is not a personal slam against you at all, but this is why printing and prepress/graphic design is a dead and dying trade: the internet. The commercial skill set has been totally devalued because most of the big print houses outsource a bulk of their prepress/layout work to Asia, or people just have someone on Fiverr do it for a few bucks..

Is this the future of signage in urban areas? I wouldn't be surprised at all.

No North American graphic designer is getting upset because they missed out on the opportunity to trace a low resolution jpeg of Jim's Plumbing and Taxidermy for me, trust me.

I could do it myself, however I don't enjoy that work, and I earn more for the company doing other tasks in that time than the $12 it cost to have someone else do it, there are only so many hours in a day, I would rather spend them producing profitable, enjoyable work, rather than figuring out what generic sans serif font was used in a logo.

I could hire a graphic designer and pay them $150 in wages to do the same job, but they would find it just as boring of a job as I do.

 

[Boudica]

I earn more for the company doing other tasks in that time than the $12 it cost to have someone else do it, there are only so many hours in a day, I would rather spend them producing profitable, enjoyable work, rather than figuring out what generic sans serif font was used in a logo.

Yep - I happen to have the skill set, and it's very convenient for my boss, because I'm good, and quick. but I'm more valuable to him with production work. my time is more valuable running the machines - producing. because I'm good, and quick, he just wraps the design part into the cost, or not, depending on the customer, and the complexity of what needs to be done. He'll state the design fee upfront with a new customer. If they really need our help/services, they will pay. but we offer design to a point. Like Canuck said - I'm more valuable making stuff, not designing it.

That said, we have some large customers who are regulars, and they keep coming to us for the quality work, and because I've been building their artwork for years. I know what they need, and come through every time, and it doesn't take me long, because of my background. they don't care what it costs, they know they are getting quality.

I know, I know, you all wish you had me on staff. too bad, I'm spoken for

 

[WildWestDesigns]

...than the $12 it cost to have someone else do it, there are only so many hours in a day....

Imagine what it is like when dealing with embroidery digitizing when things can take all day and they want it for $30 bucks or less (and that is for your realistic animal embroidery jobs as well, not just corporate work). Typical logo crests use to go for $75 dollars or so, now I see a lot of flat rate $10 and $15 dollars for LCs(quality is all over the place, some are really really well done, some are crap, but I digress).

A lot of corners are cut, not just in terms of what it takes for a living wage, but there are corners that are cut and those corners are worse then what happens with vectors.

....figuring out what generic sans serif font was used in a logo.

Going back to embroidery digitizing, this is when those programs are actually better are vector recreation then your traditional design programs. While one could use the bezier pen tool (if totally manual approach versus primitives and pathfinding tools, but both are doable) in those programs, it takes far longer time for precision then using the tools in embroidery programs (when talking about getting the basic outline shapes for more indepth work have to use a tradition design program, but the main hard part is done at that point). That's why a lot of embroidery digitizers also have vectorizing services as well (just in case some on here didn't realize that) and are able to be even cheaper, not just because they may be able to survive on a lower wage or using cracked software, but they are also far quicker as well, at least with the grunt part of the main work, which is getting those outlines. Reason why I mention it here is because it really does take out the need for finding out what font a design uses (unless one is needing more copy then what is on the logo) and just recreate it.