Artwork · 4 min read
The sponsor logo problem, and how to avoid it
Permission, files and placement
A sponsor is paying for visibility, so a badly reproduced logo is worse than no logo: it is a visible failure attached to the person funding the kit. Almost all of the failures are avoidable and almost all of them come from the same three places.
The order to do it in
- 01
Get written permission first
Before anything else. A forwarded email from the sponsor naming the team and the season is enough, and it protects everybody.
- 02
Ask for the original file
Not the one on their website. Ask for the AI, EPS or SVG their designer made. Most sponsors have it and nobody thinks to ask.
- 03
Agree the placement in writing
Chest, sleeve or back is a commercial decision, not a design one. Settle it before the mockup rather than during it.
- 04
Send the mockup to the sponsor
They should see it before production. It costs one email and prevents the only conversation nobody wants to have.
What happens to a logo on fabric
A logo designed for a screen is designed to sit on white, at a fixed size, perfectly flat. On a jersey it will be stretched across a curved surface, in a colour that may fight the kit, at a size the designer never considered. Logos with fine detail or thin outlines lose both.
We redraw raster logos to vector free of charge as part of the mockup, and the practicalities are covered in our guide to what a file needs before it reaches production.
The awkward case is a sponsor whose brand guidelines forbid changing their colours, on a kit whose colours clash with theirs. There is no technical fix for that — it is a conversation, and it goes better before the kit exists than after.
What a sponsor actually cares about
Most sponsor complaints are one of these four, and all four are avoidable before production.
The colour
A corporate colour is usually a Pantone in a brand guide, and a sponsor will notice it being wrong faster than they notice the placement. Ask for the guide rather than pulling the logo off their website.
Clear space
Brand guides specify a minimum margin around the mark. Crowding a logo against a seam or a number violates it, and it is the complaint that arrives in writing.
Proportion
A logo squeezed to fit a panel is a distorted logo. If it does not fit at the correct ratio, the panel is wrong, not the logo.
The version used
Most brands have a full-colour, a single-colour and a reversed version, each for a specific background. Using the full-colour version on a dark jersey is the most common way to get this wrong.
Get the file before you design the kit
The sequence matters more than anything else here. A kit designed first and a sponsor logo added afterwards produces a logo squeezed into whatever space is left, which is how the four problems above happen.
Ask for vector artwork and the brand guide at the point the sponsorship is agreed, before any design work starts. Sponsors expect the request — it is a normal part of their marketing process — and the file usually arrives within a day. What they do not expect is being sent a proof with their mark redrawn by hand from a low-resolution image, which is the alternative.
If a redraw is genuinely unavoidable, send it to the sponsor for approval as a redraw rather than presenting it as their logo. The distinction takes one sentence and prevents the conversation that otherwise happens after delivery. What we need to work from is listed in the artwork requirements.
Quick answers
Can we print a sponsor logo without asking them?
Do not. Even a supportive sponsor can object to a placement or a reproduction, and asking first costs one email.
What if the sponsor only has a JPG?
Send it. We redraw it. That is normal and it is free.
How large can a sponsor logo be?
Check your league rule first — many cap the size or the placement, and a few forbid sponsors entirely at youth level.
What file should we ask a sponsor for?
Vector artwork — AI, EPS or SVG — plus the brand guide. Ask at the point the sponsorship is agreed rather than when the kit is being designed. Sponsors expect the request and the file usually arrives within a day.
Can you work from a logo taken off their website?
We can redraw it, and a redraw should go to the sponsor for approval as a redraw rather than being presented as their logo. That one sentence prevents the conversation that otherwise happens after delivery.
Which version of a logo goes on a dark jersey?
The reversed or single-colour version, which most brands provide specifically for this. Putting the full-colour version on a dark garment is the most common way to get sponsor artwork wrong.
What is clear space and why does it matter?
It is the minimum margin a brand guide requires around the mark. Crowding a logo against a seam or a number violates it, and it is the complaint most likely to arrive in writing rather than in a phone call.
Can a logo be stretched to fit a panel?
No. A logo squeezed to fit is a distorted logo, and if it does not fit at the correct ratio then the panel is wrong rather than the logo. Resize the space, not the mark.
Should sponsor logos be printed or stitched?
Printed, in almost every case, because sublimated colour holds the corporate colour exactly and does not lift at the edge. Embroidery is the right answer on a jacket, where texture is part of the point.
Can we add a sponsor to kit we already own?
Locally, yes, and it will not match. A logo added later by a different method, with a different placement tolerance and a different fade rate, is the usual reason a set stops looking like a set.
How many sponsors can go on one jersey?
Fewer than most programs first propose. Each mark needs its own clear space, and a jersey carrying four logos gives none of them enough room to be legible at match distance — which is not what any of the four paid for.