Logos & Artwork

About Logo Files (Read This Only If You Want To ?)

At Local Church Resources we work with pastors, staff members, and church volunteers who are ordering for their church and often have little or no technical background. You do not need to be a designer to order from us. Please don’t be discouraged, and don’t feel like you have to understand the difference between a “vector” file and a “raster” file.

We also serve a lot of larger churches with in-house graphic designers. When you send us your files, we’ll handle them with the same care and professionalism you do. If you’re working in Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, Express, Canva, or other design tools, the guidelines below are simply there to help you deliver the cleanest, most print-ready files possible.

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Simple Promise

If all you know is, “This is our logo,” just upload it. If there’s a problem, we’ll let you know and explain your options in plain language.

Why We Prefer Vector Logos (For Those Who Like Details)

In the print world, the industry standard for logos is to use vector files. Adobe (the company behind Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, and Express) specifically recommends vector artwork for logos because it can be resized for anything from a business card to a billboard without losing quality.

  • Vector graphics are built from paths and curves (math). They stay crisp at any size.
  • Raster graphics (JPG, PNG, etc.) are made of pixels. When enlarged too much, they start to look soft or jagged.

For small items (like a 3×5 card) we can often get away with a good PNG or JPG, but for larger pieces we really like to use a true vector file so your logo doesn’t look fuzzy.

Best Logo File Types to Send

Ideal file types for logos:

  • .ai – Adobe Illustrator
  • .eps – Encapsulated PostScript
  • .pdf – Print-quality PDF (from Illustrator, InDesign, or similar)
  • .svg – Scalable Vector Graphics

If your logo was originally created in one of these formats by a designer, it’s probably vector and perfect for print. We can also take a real SVG logo exported from Adobe Express or Canva and save it as an AI file on our end for press-ready work.

Adobe Express & Canva Users

If you build designs in Adobe Express or Canva, here’s the easiest way to help us:

  • If your plan allows it, please export your logo as an SVG (not just PNG or JPG). That SVG can often be opened in Illustrator and saved as a proper vector AI file for printing.

If SVG or PDF export isn’t available, send us the highest-resolution PNG you can, and we will do our best with it. Again, if there’s a quality issue, we’ll tell you before we print.

“But I Saved My JPG As .AI or .EPS – Isn’t It Vector Now?”

Sometimes people open a JPG or PNG in a program, then choose Save As → .ai / .eps / .pdf and assume it’s now vector. We wish it worked that way, but it doesn’t.

In that case the file is still just a picture of your logo (pixels) inside a vector wrapper. If we zoom in to 300–400%, we still see the same pixels and the same fuzziness. It hasn’t been converted to real paths and curves.

To truly make a logo vector, a designer has to rebuild or carefully trace it and clean up the paths. That’s a one-time job, but once it’s done, you have a master logo you can use for everything forever.

Transparency (The “No White Box” Issue)

You may have seen this happen: you place a logo on a colored background and a little white box appears around it. That usually means the logo is a JPG, which doesn’t support transparency.

  • PNG files can have transparent backgrounds (great for web and small prints), but they are still pixel-based.
  • SVG / AI / EPS / PDF logos are vector; their shapes can be truly cut out, so the edges stay clean at any size.

If you have a PNG logo from Canva or Express with a transparent background, that’s often fine for smaller printed pieces. For bigger jobs, we still prefer a true vector logo so the transparency edges stay razor-sharp.

What If I Only Have a Small JPG or PNG?

Send it anyway. Here’s what we’ll do:

  • Use it as-is if it’s good enough for the size you’re printing.
  • Let you know if it may look soft or blurry at the requested size.
  • Recommend options (such as having it redrawn as vector) if that’s necessary for high-quality results.

Our goal is to protect your church’s testimony and visual identity. We’d rather have a quick conversation now than print a 1,000 tracts with a fuzzy logo.

Quick Summary

  • If you’re not technical: just upload the logo you have. We’ll help from there.
  • If you have design tools:
    • Best: send a real AI, EPS, PDF, or SVG logo.
    • From Canva/Express: export your logo as SVG if possible, or a high-res PDF.
    • OK: a large, high-resolution PNG (especially for small prints).
  • We work with everyone—from first-time volunteers to professional designers—and we’re happy to help you get the best possible result.