Where to Find Logos
Recently I discussed solutions for finding imagery. Now let's talk logos.
One of my personal pet peeves is seeing things like this...
There are at least 5 major things wrong with the above logo. Can you spot them?
I'm a bit of a stickler for using crisp, current logos. I kind of see it like making sure you spell your client's name correctly. But it can be a real challenge, even for professional designers, to get your hands on real logo files.
If you are working with a graphic designer, or if you're handy with Adobe Illustrator, your first stop should be brandsoftheworld.com where you can find the vast majority of brand logos in vector format. You can also try EPSLogos.net, logotypes.ru and logotypes101.
Once you obtain the EPS logo file, you want to convert (or have your designer convert) it to either a .PNG or .WMF format. Why not a JPEG? a JPEG has a tendency to degrade in quality as a file is saved, resaved and compressed. Additionally, a JPEG cannot be transparent the way a .PNG can (and often should) be. Transparency means that a logo can be "cut out" and placed over any background, and you should always try to save logos with transparency to give you the most flexibility.
The .WMF format is even more preferable in many cases as it is a Windows vector format that can be inserted into Microsoft applications. A .WMF can be exported from Adobe Illustrator and results in an image file that is tiny in size, infinitely scalable and which will never degrade as a file is compressed and saved. Additionally, once brought into PowerPoint or Word, it can actually be recolored and manipulated just like any other shape created natively in those programs. The one negative to a .WMF is that the curves it creates can be a little rough, and this may be apparent if the logo is used at a large size on the page.
So, what do you do if you don't have access to professional designers or software? While you always want to visit the brand's website to confirm their current logo, you want to avoid copying their logo from the page's header where it probably has been placed over an awkward background and might have an unnecessary tagline. (Additionally, you could be bringing over to PPT link or other problematic html info that could cause issues in PPT.) Instead, head to Wikipedia where you often can find a .PNG logo for the brand to download to your desktop, then insert into your presentation.
If Wikipedia can't help, your next best bet is a Google image search where you'll most likely find a decent JPEG of the logo. But again, make sure the logo is current. Other options include scouring the brand's site for a downloadable logo (try the "media" link) or finding an investor or other presentation from which you might be able to copy the logo. Finally, if you're presenting to a company and have a contact, just ask them to send you one suitable for a presentation. Don't be embarrassed.
Sometimes, a good version of a logo just isn't possible to find (although I seem to have a knack for finding them by scouring for and then extracting from PDF documents). Pharmaceutical logos are notoriously hard to find, owing to fears of counterfeiting.
But just as someone's name is most precious to them (see Dale Carnegie...), so too a company's logo is something to be treated with care. Especially if you want their business.
Update
on 2012-05-14 18:01 by Nolan Haims
WMFs, EMFs, EPSs...
Since I first wrote the above, I've shifted away from using anything but PNGs for logos in PowerPoint. (I still like to use EPS files in Keynote.)
If I need to bring in a vector object that will need editing (like an icon or chart built in Illustrator), I now use an EMF over a WMF as I find them smoother. But for logos, it's all hi-res PNGs, all the time. And I've found a few logo resource sites. Here's an updated list of where I look for logos if I don't get them from company sites or out of PDFs.
