- A handover has three parts: print ready files, editable source files, and a written specification.
- Vector logo files are the asset that matters most in five years. Raster only logos are a liability.
- A studio’s typeface licence does not transfer to the client. This must be resolved explicitly.
- Colour should be specified as values and references, not described in words.
The value of a design project is realised long after it ends, by people who were not involved in it. What is handed over determines whether that is possible.
This sets out what a complete handover contains and which items cause problems when they are missing.
What does a complete handover include?
Three components: files ready for production, editable source files, and a written specification describing how the assets are used. Files alone are not a handover, because they do not record the reasoning or the rules.
Print ready files
- PDF with bleed and crop marks, in CMYK, with fonts embedded or outlined
- One file per item and per language variant
- Spot colour separations where spot inks are specified
Editable source files
- Native files in the application used, with layers intact
- Linked images supplied at full resolution
- Logo master files in vector format
Written specification
- Colour values in each relevant system, with a physical reference where one exists
- Typefaces, weights and their licence status
- Logo clear space, minimum size and permitted variants
- Paper stock, weight and finishing for each printed item
Which file formats should logos be supplied in?
Logos should be supplied as vector files, since vectors scale without loss and can be reproduced at any size from a card to a building. A raster only logo places a permanent ceiling on what the brand can do.
A practical set covers four situations: a vector master for print production, a vector format for web use, a high resolution raster for contexts that cannot accept vectors, and a version with transparency for placement over images.
Each should exist in the full colour version, a single colour version and a reversed version. The single colour version is the one most often missing, and it is the one needed for foil stamping, embossing and any single ink application. Foil and deboss requirements are covered in print production in Taiwan.
How should colour be specified?
Colour should be recorded as values in each system that will be used, together with a physical reference. Describing a colour in words is not a specification, because two people will not reproduce the same colour from the same description.
At minimum, record a spot ink reference for print, a CMYK build for four colour process, an RGB value for screen, and the hexadecimal equivalent for web. Note that these will not match perfectly, since the colour spaces differ. Where the match matters, the print reference takes precedence and the screen values are approximations of it.
Also record which stock the colour was approved on. The same ink prints differently on coated and uncoated paper, so a colour signed off on one is not automatically approved on the other.
Who owns the typeface licence?
A licence held by the studio covers the studio’s use only. If the identity depends on a commercial typeface, a licence must be held in the client’s name for the client’s use, and this is a separate purchase.
This is the single most common gap found at handover, and it surfaces at the worst moment: when someone internal opens a file and does not have the font, or when a new supplier is asked to produce something and cannot legally install it.
There are three ways to resolve it. Purchase the licence in the client’s name at the specification stage. Choose an open licence typeface, which removes the issue entirely. Or convert the logo to outlines and accept that only the logo, not the wider system, is typographically fixed.
Whichever route is chosen should be recorded in the specification, along with the licence terms, since some licences are tied to page views or the number of users rather than being perpetual.
What rights transfer at the end?
Rights should be stated in the agreement before work begins, not negotiated at handover. Typically final approved work transfers to the client on final payment, while unselected concepts remain with the studio.
Two categories usually do not transfer regardless of the agreement. Third party components such as typefaces and stock photography are licensed to a party rather than owned, and those licences have their own terms. And where a project was produced under a client’s own contractual constraints, for example public sector work, those constraints may limit how either party can display the work afterwards.
How this is handled in a proposal is described in how identity projects are scoped and priced.
How should files be organised?
Organise by use rather than by format, because the person opening the folder in three years is looking for a task, not a file extension. Name files predictably and include the version date.
A structure that works in practice separates logo masters, print ready artwork, source files, and the specification document. Within logo masters, separate by colour variant rather than by format, since the variant is what someone is choosing between.
Avoid folders named “final” and “final v2”. Use dates. This sounds trivial until a supplier prints from the wrong file.
Frequently asked questions
Do we get the working files or only the finals?
This depends on the agreement and should be settled before the project starts. Our default is that source files for approved deliverables are included, since without them the client cannot make future changes. Exploratory files from unselected directions are not usually included.
What if we lose the files later?
Ask whether the studio retains an archive and for how long. Do not rely on it as your only copy. The specification document is the more important thing to keep, because assets can be rebuilt from a good specification but not from files whose rules are unknown.
Can our internal team edit the files?
Yes, if they have the same applications and the necessary typeface licences. The typeface licence is the usual obstacle. If internal editing is a requirement, say so at the briefing stage, because it can influence the typeface choice.
How detailed should the specification be?
Detailed enough that a supplier who has never spoken to the designer can produce the item correctly. That is the practical test. If a question would have to be asked, the answer belongs in the specification.
Written by Howdy Creative, a brand design and cultural planning studio in Taichung, Taiwan. The emphasis on typeface licensing and single colour logo variants reflects the two gaps we most often find when auditing brand assets inherited from a previous supplier.
