Your logo appears everywhere: on the club website, on social media, on jerseys, on the gymnasium banner, on an embroidered cap and perhaps even on a three-metre-tall pull-up banner on the day of your annual tournament. But not all image files behave the same way when you change their size. A logo that looks perfectly sharp on your Facebook page can become blurry and pixelated once printed on a sweatshirt.
The reason? There are two main families of digital images — bitmap images (also called matrix or raster images) and vector images — and they work in fundamentally different ways. Understanding this distinction means ensuring that your organisation's logo stays flawless in every situation, from a 32-pixel icon to a 4-metre sign.
Bitmap images: a mosaic of pixels
A bitmap image is made up of a grid of thousands, or even millions, of small coloured squares called pixels. Each pixel contains a single colour. Placed side by side, they form the image you see on screen — exactly like a mosaic viewed from a distance.
This system works very well for photographs and images rich in detail and colour nuances. The photo taken with your phone, the image downloaded from a website, the screenshot on your computer: all of these are bitmap.
The most common bitmap formats are JPG (or JPEG), PNG and GIF. These are the ones you handle every day without necessarily thinking about it.
The problem: enlargement
The crucial point to remember is that a bitmap image has a fixed original size. You can reduce it without any visible issue, but as soon as you enlarge it beyond its original dimensions, each pixel grows with it. The image then becomes blurry, jagged and grainy. This is called pixelation — that well-known "not sharp" effect you've almost certainly encountered before.
In practical terms, a JPG logo that looks great on your website (displayed small, at 72 DPI) will become unusable if you try to print it in a large format on a banner or a flag. The pixels, invisible at small sizes, become squares visible to the naked eye.
Vector images: mathematical curves
A vector image works on a completely different principle. Instead of storing the image pixel by pixel, it describes it using mathematical equations: points, lines, curves (called Bézier curves) and surfaces filled with colour. The software recalculates the rendering of the image every time it is displayed, regardless of the size requested.
The result is remarkable: you can enlarge a vector image infinitely — from the size of a postage stamp to that of a four-metre billboard — and it will remain perfectly sharp. No blurriness, no jagged edges, no loss of detail. The file simply recalculates to adapt to the new dimension.
The most common vector formats are SVG (widely used on the web), EPS (a universal exchange format between graphic software), AI (Adobe Illustrator's native format) and PDF (which can contain vector data when exported correctly from a drawing application).
A professional format by nature
Vector images are created and edited using specialised drawing software such as Adobe Illustrator, Affinity Designer or Inkscape (free and open source). It is the standard working format for graphic designers and professional designers. If you hired a graphic designer to create your club's logo, they will normally have worked in vector — and it is this source file (often in .ai, .eps or .svg) that is essential to keep.
Why this matters so much for your organisation's logo
A logo is not just a decorative image. It is a graphic element that must work in extremely varied contexts, at very different sizes, on media with distinct technical constraints. And this is precisely where the choice of format becomes decisive.
One logo, dozens of different uses
Take a moment to list all the places where your club or association's logo appears:
On the web: website, social media (profile picture, banner, posts), email signature, favicon in the browser tab… These are small-scale displays at low resolution (72 DPI).
In print: business cards, flyers, posters, match programmes, certificates, official correspondence… Here you need high resolution (300 DPI), and the dimensions vary enormously from one medium to another.
On textiles: jerseys, sweatshirts, polos, jackets, caps, bags… Each marking technique (DTF transfer, screen printing, embroidery, sublimation) has its own requirements in terms of format and file quality.
On signage: banners, tarpaulins, flags, pull-up banners, panels, vehicle wrapping… Sometimes very large formats where the slightest resolution defect becomes visible.
If you only have a small JPG or PNG file, you will be stuck as soon as the use requires a format larger than the original. Conversely, with a vector file, you can generate all the variations you need — small or large, web or print — from a single source, without any loss of quality.
High resolution and low resolution: don't confuse them
You often hear people refer to a "high-resolution" logo as if it were a vector format. It's not quite the same thing, and the confusion is worth clearing up.
The resolution of a bitmap image is measured in DPI (dots per inch). The higher the pixel density, the more detailed the image:
72 DPI is the standard resolution for the web. Files are lightweight, suited for on-screen display.
300 DPI is the resolution required for quality paper printing. Files are much heavier, but the result is sharp in print.
The classic trap: taking a logo at 72 DPI (suited for the web) and sending it as-is to a printer. The result will be blurry, because the image simply doesn't contain enough pixels to be printed correctly. You can always reduce the resolution of an image (going from 300 DPI to 72 DPI), but the reverse — increasing the resolution of an existing image — only enlarges pixels that are already insufficient.
This is why having the vector file of your logo is so valuable: it allows you to generate a bitmap export at the exact resolution you need, whatever that may be.
Formats at a glance
Bitmap (raster) formats
JPG / JPEG: the most widespread format for photographs. It lets you adjust the compression level to achieve a good compromise between visual quality and file size. Ideal for the web, but compression slightly degrades the image with each save.
PNG: similar to JPG, but with one major advantage: support for transparency. A PNG logo with a transparent background can be placed on top of any background without displaying a white rectangle around it. However, files are heavier than JPG.
GIF: the most basic format, limited to 256 colours. Mainly used for small looping animations on the web.
Vector formats
SVG: the vector format for the web. Lightweight, compatible with all modern browsers, perfect for displaying a logo on a website with impeccable sharpness at any screen size.
EPS: the standard exchange format in the graphic industry. Compatible with most professional software, it is often the format requested by printers and signage providers.
AI: Adobe Illustrator's native format. Very comprehensive, it retains all working layers and software-specific attributes. It is the source file par excellence — the one your graphic designer must deliver to you.
PDF (vector): a PDF can contain vector data if it was exported from a vector drawing application. It is a convenient format because anyone can open it, while still preserving vector quality for a professional who opens it in suitable software.
What this means in practice for your club
As a club manager, association leader or event organiser, you don't need to become a graphic designer. But there are a few simple habits that will save you a lot of trouble:
Retrieve the vector file of your logo. If a graphic designer created your logo, always ask them for the source files in vector format (AI, EPS or SVG). This is your most valuable asset when it comes to visual identity. Without this file, any quality reproduction becomes complicated — and often costly, because the logo will then need to be vectorised (i.e., completely redrawn as mathematical curves from the bitmap image).
Always keep the highest-quality version. Don't discard the "heavy" files. A high-resolution or vector logo takes very little space on a hard drive or cloud storage service, and it will save the day when a provider asks you for a usable file.
Prepare several variations. Ideally, have your logo readily available in SVG or transparent PNG for the web, in EPS or AI for printing and signage, and in high-resolution JPG for everyday use. All of these versions can be easily generated from the vector source file.
What about textile marking?
It is in the field of textile customisation that logo file quality has the greatest day-to-day impact. Whether for DTF transfer, screen printing, sublimation or embroidery, marking providers need a quality file to produce a result that is sharp and true to your visual identity.
A low-resolution JPG logo sent for printing on a jersey will produce a disappointing result: imprecise outlines, altered colours, lost details. In contrast, a vector file allows the provider to adapt the logo to the exact size of the marking area, with perfect sharpness — whether for a small chest badge or a large visual on the back.
For embroidery in particular, the vector file is essential: it serves as the basis for creating the embroidery program (also called a stitching program), a digital file containing all the instructions required for the industrial embroidery machine to reproduce the logo stitch by stitch with the appropriate coloured threads.
With DAGOBA, your logo is in good hands
When you create an online shop with DAGOBA to offer custom textiles to your organisation's members, your logo quality is checked before the shop is activated. DAGOBA ensures that the files used for marking are usable and suited to the printing techniques employed — DTF transfer or embroidery depending on the products.
You can upload your logo in whatever format you have available. If the file quality is not sufficient for a professional result, DAGOBA will let you know and guide you to obtain a usable version. The goal is simple: every product that comes out of your club's shop should carry a sharp, faithful and professional logo.
Because your organisation's image deserves the highest quality — from the favicon on your website to the markings on your jerseys.
