How to Scan an Image to a Computer for Logo Redrawing

The short answer

To scan an image to your computer, connect a scanner or a multifunction printer, place the print face down on the glass, and open your operating system's scanning app or the scanner maker's software. Choose color or grayscale, set the resolution, preview, crop to the artwork, and save the file as a lossless format such as TIFF or PNG. Then open the file and zoom in to confirm that edges are sharp and the image is straight.

If the scan is for a logo, the result is a raster image, not usable logo artwork. A raster image is a grid of pixels, so it blurs or pixelates when enlarged. Vector artwork is built from mathematical paths: points, called anchor points, are joined by straight or curved segments, and those paths can be scaled to any size without losing sharpness. The scan's job is to serve as an accurate reference that you trace or redraw as vector paths.

What you need before you start

• A flatbed scanner or a multifunction printer with a scanning bed, connected by cable or network and with its driver installed.
• The cleanest, flattest, largest printed example of the logo you can find. Fewer folds, stains and faded areas mean less guesswork later.
• A lint-free cloth to clean the scanner glass and the print.
• Scanning software. Windows includes a Scan app, macOS includes Image Capture, and most scanner makers supply their own utility. Menu names and available options vary by operating system version and driver, so check yours against the steps below.
• Confirmation that you are allowed to reproduce the logo. Scanning and redrawing a mark does not grant permission to reuse it.

Step-by-step: scanning the print

• 1. Clean the glass and the print. Dust and hairs appear as specks that can be mistaken for detail in the logo.
• 2. Place the print face down, aligned with the edge guides on the bed. Keeping it square reduces the need to rotate the image later, which can soften edges.
• 3. Close the lid gently. If the print is curled or creased, press it flat with the lid or a sheet of clean card behind it so the paper stays in contact with the glass.
• 4. Open the scanning software and select your scanner.
• 5. Run a preview scan, then drag the selection box around the logo with a small margin. Scanning only the area you need keeps the file manageable.
• 6. Choose the color mode. Use color if you need to record the logo's colors; use grayscale for a one-color mark, because it preserves edge shading that helps you judge where a curve actually falls. Avoid pure black-and-white or line-art modes for tracing references, as they discard that edge information.
• 7. Set the resolution. Resolution is measured in pixels per inch (ppi), often labeled dpi in scanner software. Choose a setting high enough that the thinnest strokes and smallest counters, the enclosed spaces inside letters such as o or e, are many pixels wide. Small logos on business cards or letterheads need a higher setting than large printed signs. This is a working recommendation rather than a fixed requirement; the check in the next section tells you whether your setting is sufficient.
• 8. Turn off automatic sharpening, descreening and color correction if the software applies them by default, or note that they are on. These filters change edges and colors before you have seen the original data.
• 9. Choose a lossless file format such as TIFF or PNG. JPEG compression adds blocky artifacts around sharp edges, which interfere with accurate tracing.
• 10. Name the file clearly, choose a save location, and scan.

How to confirm the scan is usable

• Open the file in an image viewer or editor and zoom to 100 percent or more on the smallest detail. Edges should show a soft gradient of a few pixels, not a jagged staircase or a smeared blur.
• Check that thin strokes are continuous and small counters remain open. If they close up or break, rescan at a higher resolution.
• Lay a horizontal or vertical guide along a straight edge of the logo. If the edge drifts away from the guide, the print was skewed; straighten it on the bed and rescan rather than rotating the file.
• Look for dust specks, moiré, a wavy interference pattern from printed dot screens, or color casts. Clean and rescan, or note them so you do not trace them as features.
• If the logo includes color, compare the scan with the print in neutral light. Treat scanned colors as approximate; they are affected by paper, ink, fading and the scanner, so they are not a reliable source for official color values.

Turning the scan into vector logo artwork

Once the scan passes those checks, place it in a vector drawing application on its own layer, lock it, and reduce its opacity so your paths stand out against it. You can then rebuild the logo by hand or start from an automatic trace.

• Manual redrawing gives the cleanest result for most logos. Draw with the pen or Bézier tool, placing anchor points at the extremes of curves and at corners, and use as few points as the shape requires. Fewer, well-placed points produce smoother curves and smaller, more editable files.
• Automatic tracing, such as Image Trace in Adobe Illustrator or similar features in other applications, can be a starting point for complex organic shapes. Expect to clean up the result: auto-traces typically contain excess anchor points, wobbly curves and lumpy corners. Option names and presets differ between applications and versions, so check the documentation for the one you use.
• Use geometric shapes for geometric parts. Circles, straight lines and exact angles in the original should be drawn as true circles, lines and angles, not traced freehand from a scan that may include print spread or slight distortion.
• Remove or reconcile overlapping shapes so the final artwork consists of clean, closed paths, unless the design deliberately uses overlaps.

Handling typography in the logo

Lettering in a scanned logo should not usually be traced letter by letter as a first step. Try to identify the typeface, either from brand documentation or with a font identification tool, and confirm that you hold a license that permits its use in a logo. Set the text, match size, spacing and baseline against the scan, and adjust letter spacing as needed. When the lettering matches, convert the text to outlines so the artwork no longer depends on the font being installed. Keep an editable copy with live text for future changes. If the lettering is custom-drawn or heavily modified, redraw it as paths like the rest of the mark.

Preparing and exporting the finished logo

• Delete or hide the scan layer before final export so the raster reference is not embedded in the delivered file.
• Save a master file in your application's native format, plus vector exports suited to the intended use, commonly SVG for web and screen use, and EPS or PDF for print workflows. Confirm the specific format requirements with the printer, developer or platform receiving the file.
• Set colors deliberately. Use defined brand values if they exist; if they do not, state in your handoff that colors were estimated from a scan.
• Create raster exports such as PNG only from the finished vector artwork, at the pixel sizes the destination needs.

Verify the result before delivery. Open the exported file and view it in outline or wireframe mode: you should see only clean vector paths, with no embedded image. Enlarge the logo well beyond its intended size to confirm the edges stay sharp. Note that a file extension alone does not prove the content is vector: an SVG, EPS or PDF can contain an embedded raster image, so the outline check is the reliable test.

Gaps to be aware of

This guide gives general principles rather than settings for a specific scanner or software release. Exact menu labels, default filters, maximum resolutions and export options depend on your device, driver and application version, so confirm them in the relevant documentation. No fixed resolution figure is given because the right setting depends on the size of the print and the fineness of its details; use the zoom check to decide.