Our Extandon logo is featured in The Big Book of Logos 4 by David E. Carter. "From over 11,000 logos submitted by the top design firms in the country, Carter has selected 2,500 of the very best to feature here." Needless to say, we're excited to be part of this collection.

Fonts Converted to Outlines
Typically logos are done in a vector drawing program like Adobe Illustrator and delivered as a vector file (.ai or .eps file extension) with fonts converted to outlines. This allows someone to work with the logo in Illustrator without needing to have any fonts used in the logo installed on their system. We think that in general the logo font(s) shouldn't be used outside the logo since that might dilute the effectiveness of the logo.

The hello on the left is editable and you can change the text in Illustrator if you have the original font (in this case Myriad) installed. The hello on the right was created by converting the hello on the left to outlines where each letter is its own separate object and even if you have Myriad installed you won't be able to change the text (although you will still be able to scale the text up and down and change colors as needed). Logos are routinely delivered with fonts converted to outlines to avoid problems with someone not having the font installed on their machine.

Raster vs. Vector
We specialize in vector logos (typically a file with an .ai or .eps file extension that can be modified using a drawing program like Adobe Illustrator). Vector logos give someone who knows Illustrator maximum flexibility in terms of being able to scale the logo up and down as needed (small for a biz card and large for a tradeshow booth graphic) or recolor the logo (for instance if you need it on a black background) and also makes it easier to incorporate the logo into marketing pieces like business cards, brochures, etc. Professional printers and design firms are used to dealing with vector logos.

Photographs are raster/bitmap (think photoshop elements), not vector, and our logos normally don't include photos because they tend to limit your flexibility. A photo could optionally be added to a logo for a specific purpose (such as a web site masthead) but wouldn't be considered part of the base logo.

Complexity
Traditionally a logo should be designed to work well in both small and large sizes and in color as well as black and white. So normally it's best to avoid fine detail that might get lost on a business card or in a small web graphic. Sometimes it's helpful to have a "mini-me" version of a more complex logo. Keep in mind that a base logo can always be embellished for situations like a web site masthead or a painted sign outside a shop.