The five worst source files we see.
Most jobs that VectorWiz declines are not because the work is too hard. They are because the source file is too far gone — there is not enough information in the pixels to redraw faithfully. Here are the five we see most often, ranked from "we can probably save it" to "we will respectfully decline."
5. Screenshot of a logo on a website
72dpi at small display size. Usually 300-600 pixels on the long edge. Workable for simple wordmarks at Tier 1 pricing — we have a baseline to work from. But complex marks lose detail in the JPEG compression. We will ask if there is a higher-res original.
4. Phone photo of a business card
JPEG compression artifacts, lens distortion, lighting reflections, and a non-uniform background. Recoverable if the design is simple and we can get a square-on shot. Painful if the logo wraps around card edges or has gloss spot-UV that catches the flash.
3. PDF that turns out to be a wrapped raster
Someone exports a logo "as PDF" from Word or PowerPoint, sends it over expecting vector content, and the PDF is actually a JPEG embedded in a PDF wrapper. The file size is small but the content is raster. Tell-tale: zoom to 800% and you see pixels, not paths.
2. Faxed scan, scanned again, emailed
Each transmission step adds noise. Each compression adds artifacts. By the third hop, the letterform edges are fuzz and the colors have shifted. We can sometimes redraw clean lines from the silhouette, but fine detail (serifs, ornaments) is gone forever.
1. 100-pixel JPEG with no original anywhere
The classic. A logo so small that individual letterforms are 8-12 pixels tall. There is no way to tell whether a curve is a curve or an angled line. We decline these — the redraw would be invention, not redrawing.
How to avoid sending one
Ask the brand owner for the original source. Usually an AI, EPS, PDF, or high-res PNG from a brand kit. If it does not exist, ask for the highest-resolution scan available — flatbed scan at 600dpi, square-on. Send us what you have →
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