How to Change Logo Colors

The short answer

To change a logo's colors properly, open the vector source file in a vector editor, select the shapes, and replace their fill and stroke colors. If the logo uses gradients, change the color at every gradient stop. Then export fresh files for each place the logo will be used. A quick online logo color changer that works on a PNG or JPG recolors pixels rather than shapes. That can be enough for a rough preview, but it rarely produces clean edges, accurate print colors or files a printer can work with.

A few terms are used throughout this guide. Vector artwork is built from paths: points joined by straight or curved segments that can scale to any size without losing sharpness. A fill is the color inside a closed path, and a stroke is the color of the path's outline. A gradient is a fill or stroke that blends between two or more colors. Each of those colors sits on a gradient stop, which is a marker that sets both the color and its position along the blend.

Before you start

• An editable vector master file of the logo, ideally the original working file rather than an exported copy.
• Permission to modify the logo, if it is not your own mark or you are not the brand owner.
• The new color specification, such as hex or RGB values for screen, CMYK values for process print, or a named spot color, as supplied by the brand or client.
• A list of where the recolored logo will be used, such as website, social media, printed stationery, signage, merchandise or embroidery, because each use can need a different version.

Don't assume a file is editable vector artwork just because of its extension. An SVG, EPS, PDF or AI file can contain an embedded raster image instead of paths, or a mix of both. Owning a file also does not grant the right to alter or reuse someone else's logo.

Step 1: Audit the artwork

Open the file and switch to your editor's outline or wireframe view. This view shows paths without their colors. Vector shapes appear as outlines. An embedded raster image usually appears as a box or doesn't appear at all, which tells you that part cannot be recolored as vector. Also look for locked or hidden layers, clipping masks (shapes that hide parts of other artwork), overlapping duplicate shapes, and effects such as transparency or blending modes that change how a color appears.

Check the typography as well. If the wordmark is live text, you can recolor it directly, but it will only display correctly if the right font is installed. If the font is missing, the editor may substitute another one, so don't save over the master until the type renders correctly. If the text has already been converted to outlines, it is ordinary paths and recolors like any other shape.

Step 2: Set up the new palette

Create a swatch for each new color before you touch the artwork. Many vector editors support linked or global swatches. When you edit one of these swatches, every object using it updates, which keeps the palette consistent and makes later changes much faster. The exact name of this feature differs between applications.

Match the color mode to the destination. Use RGB for screens, CMYK for full-color process printing, and spot colors when a printer must match a specific premixed ink. Converting a color from one mode to another can visibly shift it, especially with saturated colors. Use the values the brand specifies for each mode rather than relying on automatic conversion.

Step 3: Recolor solid fills and strokes

• Select one object that uses the color you want to replace.
• Use your editor's select-same-fill or select-same-color command to pick up every matching object at once.
• Apply the new swatch to the fill.
• Repeat the process for strokes, which are selected and colored separately from fills.
• Check inside groups, compound paths and clipping masks, since those objects are sometimes missed by same-color selection.
• Repeat for each color in the old palette.

Some editors include a recolor or color-mapping tool that swaps every instance of an old color for a new one across the whole selection. This saves time on complex logos, but review the result afterward. These tools can merge colors that look similar or remap tints in unexpected ways.

Step 4: Recolor gradients

Applying a solid swatch to a gradient object replaces the whole gradient with a flat color. To keep the blend, open the gradient controls and change each stop individually. Assign the new swatches to the stops so the gradient stays tied to the palette.

• Recolor every stop, including stops at the very ends of the gradient, which are easy to overlook.
• Check the opacity of each stop. A stop that fades to transparent behaves differently on light and dark backgrounds.
• Keep the original stop positions and midpoints unless the redesign calls for a different blend.
• Confirm the gradient type and direction, such as linear or radial, are unchanged after editing.
• Look for gradients applied to strokes and for gradient meshes, which use many color points and need to be recolored point by point.
• If the same gradient appears on several objects, save it as a gradient swatch so every instance stays identical.

Some new color pairs blend poorly. For example, the middle of a gradient between two complementary colors can look muddy or gray. If that happens, add an intermediate stop to steer the blend rather than accepting a dull midpoint.

Step 5: Build the versions you need

A color change usually means updating a set of logo versions, not a single file. A full-color version can carry the gradients. You may also need a one-color version with flat fills and no gradients, a reversed version for dark backgrounds, and possibly a grayscale version. Gradients often cannot be reproduced in processes such as screen printing, embroidery, vinyl cutting and single-color stamping. A flat version is therefore a sensible design recommendation, but the binding requirements come from the printer or production vendor, so confirm them before final delivery.

Step 6: Export the files

Save the recolored master in your editor's native format first, then export delivery files from it. SVG is common for websites and apps. PDF or EPS is common for print vendors, but ask which format and color mode the vendor expects. Export PNG when someone needs a raster image with a transparent background. Name each file so its color version and color mode are clear.

Pay particular attention to gradients during export. Depending on the format and settings, some exports convert gradients into many narrow bands or into an embedded raster image, and some programs that open the exported file may display gradients differently. Text that is still live may also need to be converted to outlines or have its font embedded, so that recipients without the font see the correct lettering.

Confirm the result

• Outline view of the exported vector files shows paths only, with no unexpected embedded images.
• No old palette colors remain in the document, swatches panel, or hidden and locked objects.
• Each gradient blends smoothly with the correct colors at every stop.
• The file's color mode matches its destination, and a separations preview, if available, shows only the expected inks for spot-color files.
• Exported files open correctly in at least one other program besides the editor that created them.
• The logo stays legible at small sizes and on both light and dark backgrounds.
• The one-color and reversed versions contain no gradients or transparency that the production method can't reproduce.

If you only have a PNG or JPG

With raster-only artwork, you have three options. First, you can recolor it in an image editor using selections or masks, which works for screen previews but keeps the image's fixed resolution. Second, you can trace it into vector paths and clean up the result by hand. Third, you can redraw the logo as vector artwork. Automatic tracing tends to handle gradients poorly and often turns them into stepped color bands, so gradient logos usually need the gradients rebuilt manually. Before you do any of this, ask the brand owner for the original vector file, which may save the work entirely.

Limits of this guide

The menu names, shortcuts and export options mentioned here are general descriptions. They were not checked against a specific application or version, so confirm the exact commands and settings in your editor's documentation. This guide also supplies no brand color values or vendor file requirements. Those must come from the brand owner and the printer or production vendor.