Send vector artwork if you have it — an SVG (or the EPS/AI file your logo designer built) prints crisply at any size. If you only have a raster file, send the largest, cleanest PNG or JPG you own, ideally with a transparent background. Frontline Frames accepts PNG, JPG and SVG, and the builder shows your logo on the frame at true scale before you order.
What logo file formats do you accept for plate frames?
PNG, JPG and SVG. SVG is the best of the three because it is vector artwork — it redraws mathematically at any size and never pixelates. PNG is the strongest raster option because it supports transparency. JPG works but always has a solid background, which shows as a visible box on a colored frame.
Transparency is the reason to prefer PNG or SVG over JPG. A transparent file lets the frame finish show through around the logo shape; a JPG always carries a background color, and on any frame that is not pure white that rectangle is obvious.
What is the difference between vector and raster artwork?
Vector artwork stores shapes as mathematical paths, so it scales to any size with perfectly sharp edges. Raster artwork stores a fixed grid of pixels, so enlarging it spreads those pixels and produces soft or jagged edges. For anything printed at a physical size you do not control in advance, vector wins.
The practical test: open the file and zoom to 800%. If the edges stay razor-sharp, it is vector. If they turn into visible squares, it is raster and its usable print size is capped by its pixel count.
How large does my logo file need to be?
For raster files, work back from print resolution. Print artwork is generally prepared at 300 DPI, so a logo printed 2 inches wide wants roughly 600 pixels of width, and 3 inches wants about 900. A 200-pixel-wide logo pulled off a website will not hold up at any usable frame size.
Screen graphics are the usual trap. Website images are optimized for 72–96 PPI displays and look perfect on a monitor while carrying a fraction of the pixels a printer needs. The file that looks fine in your email signature is often the file that prints fuzzy.
Where do I find a usable version of my dealership logo?
Three reliable places: the original designer or agency who built the identity, your OEM's brand portal if the logo includes manufacturer marks, and your sign or print vendor, who almost certainly received a production-grade file when they made your building signage or your window banners.
The file you want is usually named with an .ai, .eps or .svg extension and lives in a brand folder nobody has opened in three years. Ask for "the vector logo files" by name — that phrase gets you to the right archive faster than "a good copy of the logo."
Can you recreate my logo if I only have a low-resolution file?
Redrawing a raster logo as vector is a real service in the print trade, usually called vectorizing or logo redraw, and it is a manual tracing job rather than a button. Ask your supplier before you assume it is included. If a redraw is not available, simplify: strong text-only frames outperform a blurry logo every time.
Before paying for a redraw, check the obvious sources one more time. A usable vector file exists for almost every dealership logo, and it is usually sitting with the vendor who made your building signage.
What logo colors work best on a plate frame?
Colors with strong contrast against the frame finish. A dark navy logo on a black powder-coat frame disappears at ten feet, which is exactly the distance from which a frame is read in traffic. Light marks on dark frames and dark marks on light or chrome frames both read well.
| Frame finish | Reads well | Reads poorly |
|---|---|---|
| Black powder-coat | White, silver, bright brand accent colors | Navy, charcoal, deep maroon |
| Standard or polished chrome | Black, deep saturated colors | Pale gray, white, pastel tints |
| Antique pewter | Black, white, high-contrast accents | Mid-tone grays and silvers |
| Plastic in a brand color | White or black | Anything close to the frame color in value |
How much detail can a plate frame logo hold?
Less than you expect. The printable band on a frame is roughly an inch tall, and the logo shares that space with text. Fine linework, thin outlines, small tag lines, drop shadows and tight gradients all collapse at that scale. Simplify to the strongest recognizable element of the mark.
A useful test: shrink the logo on screen to about an inch wide, step back six feet, and look at it. Whatever you can still identify is what will survive on the frame. Everything else is detail you are paying to print and nobody will ever see.
What are bleed and safe zone, and do they matter here?
Bleed is artwork extended past the trim edge so no unprinted sliver appears after cutting. Safe zone (or safe area) is the inset margin where critical content is guaranteed not to be trimmed or obscured. On plate frames the safe zone matters most: text and logos crowded to the outer edge risk being cut into by the frame's curve.
Can I use my manufacturer's logo on a dealer plate frame?
Only within your OEM's brand guidelines, and those rules are real. Most manufacturers publish exact specifications covering logo lockups, minimum clear space, approved colors, and whether a dealer may place the mark alongside their own name. Check the brand portal before you design, not after you order.
Co-op advertising money often depends on the same guidelines. If part of the frame spend is reimbursable, the compliance check is not bureaucracy — it is the condition of getting paid.
What is a proof, and what is a mockup?
A mockup shows the design in context so you can judge how it looks. A proof is the version you formally approve before production, and it is the reference against which the finished product is judged. On a self-serve builder the live preview does both jobs — what you approve at checkout is what gets manufactured.
Treat that preview like a proof, because it is one. Check spelling, phone digits, the domain name, and whether the logo is centered and scaled the way you want it.
What is Pantone matching, and can you match my brand color exactly?
Pantone (PMS) is a standardized spot-color system that lets a printer mix one exact ink instead of simulating a color from CMYK process inks. It exists because process printing cannot reproduce every color reliably. Whether a given supplier offers PMS matching on a given material and process is a question to ask before you order.
Expect some variance across substrates regardless. The same PMS number can read slightly differently on a matte plastic and a chrome-plated metal because the surface underneath the ink is reflecting differently.
What is the fastest way to get artwork right the first time?
Gather the vector logo, write the exact top and bottom text in a document, then build the design in the builder and look at the preview at full size. Most artwork problems are not technical — they are a phone number nobody double-checked and a logo nobody looked at small. See the FAQ for the basics on uploads.