A brand identity hand-off is the folder you receive when a branding project ends. It contains the logo in every arrangement and file format, a rules sheet covering clear space and minimum size, favicons, social image sizes, a colour palette, and a document explaining how to use all of it. If you got a single PNG, you did not get a hand-off.
A complete brand identity hand-off contains six groups of files:
- Logo formats: primary, transparent, one-colour black, reversed white, and a vector file.
- Logo system: every arrangement the brand needs, horizontal, stacked, badge, mark and wordmark treatments.
- Usage rules: clear space and minimum size, measured from the actual artwork rather than guessed.
- Web and app sizes: favicons at 16, 32, 48, 180 and 512 pixels.
- Social sizes: profile 400x400, link preview 1200x630, banner 1500x500.
- Brand documents: written guidelines, a colour palette, and design tokens for developers.
The test of a real hand-off is whether it tells you what to do with the files. A folder that says which file goes to a printer, which to a developer and which to a social manager is a hand-off. A folder of loose images is a download. The other test is whether anything was measured: clear space and minimum size taken from your own artwork, not a template.
Why the hand-off matters more than the logo
The logo is one file. The hand-off is what makes that file usable by everyone who will touch your brand for the next several years: the printer who needs a vector and a one-colour version, the developer who needs an SVG and hex values, the social manager who needs three specific pixel dimensions, and the next designer who needs to know how much space to leave around the mark.
Most AI logo tools stop at the logo. That gap, between having a logo and having something you can hand to three different people, is where projects stall.
What is in a complete hand-off?
Here is the full list, and what each group is actually for.
| Group | What it contains | Who needs it |
|---|---|---|
| Logo formats | Primary, transparent background, one-colour black, reversed white, vector | Printers, partners, anyone placing the mark |
| Logo system | Every arrangement: horizontal, stacked, badge, mark, wordmark treatments | Whoever fits the logo into a given space |
| Usage rules | Clear space and minimum size, plus what not to do | Everyone, so the mark stays intact |
| Favicons | 16, 32, 48, 180 and 512 pixel icons | Developers |
| Social sizes | Profile, link preview and banner dimensions | Social managers |
| Brand documents | Guidelines, palette, design tokens | Designers and developers |
The six pieces, explained
1. Logo variations. One logo is not enough. A horizontal lockup fits a website header, a stacked one fits a square, a mark alone fits an app icon. We cover each arrangement and when to use it in logo variations every brand needs.
2. Clear space and minimum size. These two rules protect the mark from being crowded or shrunk until it falls apart. They should be measured from your artwork, not copied from a template. See logo clear space and minimum size, explained.
3. File formats. Vector for print and scaling, PNG for the web, transparent for placing on colour, one-colour for stamps and engraving. Sending the wrong one wastes a day. See every logo file format and which to send whom.
4. Favicons and social sizes. Pure specification work that is easy to get wrong and looks careless when you do. The full list is in favicon and social image sizes, one checklist.
5. Brand documents. Guidelines explain the brand to people. Design tokens express the same decisions in code. A modern hand-off carries both, which we compare in brand guidelines vs design tokens.
6. Knowing what it is worth. A full identity project buys you strategy and judgement alongside the files. What that costs, and what you are actually paying for, is in what a branding agency charges.
Get the whole folder, not a PNG
Logofai builds the hand-off from your logo: every arrangement, every format, favicons, social sizes, guidelines and tokens.
Start free with 15 creditsHow to check a hand-off you already have
Open the folder and ask four questions. Can I give a printer a file without opening a design app? Can a developer get the exact colour values without using a colour picker? Do I know how small the logo is allowed to go? Is there anything telling me which file is which? If any answer is no, the hand-off is incomplete, and the gap will surface at the worst moment.
