Stop being the logo help desk: how agencies share brand assets with clients for good

It's Thursday afternoon, and there are three of them in your inbox. One client needs "the logo, the white one." Another client's printer wants "a vector." A client you wrapped up two years ago would like to know which font you used. None of them is hard. Each takes ten minutes you won't bill, and together they've turned your studio into a logo help desk.

The way out is to share brand assets with clients once, in a way that lasts: one page per client that they can open without you, every file named by what it's for, the next question answered right there on the page, and a habit of replying with the link instead of the file. Here's how to set that up, including for the old clients whose folders you'd rather not open.

Why do clients keep asking for the logo?

Rarely because they're careless. Usually because:

• The files arrived in a transfer link that expired, or as attachments buried in a long thread.
• The names meant nothing to them. "LOGO_RGB_REV_v3.eps" is clear to you. To a café owner it's a riddle.
• They didn't know which file to use, so they asked rather than guessed. Good instinct; it just lands on you.
• Someone else asked them first. A printer, an event, a partner, a journalist. They pass the request on because they don't know what to send.
• People changed. The person you handed off to has left, and the new marketing hire has never seen the folder.
• They don't feel allowed to look. If the files live in your Drive, they'll ask you rather than poke around.

Each fix below goes after one of these.

1. Give every client one brand page they can open without you

One link per client, with everything on it: each logo version, the colors with their codes, the fonts, the approved words, a few photos and a contact. It should open without a login, so the client can forward it to a printer, and it should always show the current version. A folder in your own Drive doesn't count. It disappears the day you tidy up, and the client can't tell which subfolder matters.

2. Name files so a printer can read them

Start each file with the client's name, then the version, the color and the format: northline-logo-badge-copper.svg, northline-logo-wordmark-white.png. A file that wanders off still says whose it is and where it goes. Tabitha's file-naming guide has the full pattern, and our guide to logo file formats explains which format is for what.

3. Answer the next question on the page

Every request has a follow-up. "Here's the logo" leads to "it looks blank" (it's the white one) and "the printer wants a vector" (send the PDF). Put those answers next to the files:

• Label by use. "For dark backgrounds" under the white logo. "For printers and sign makers" under the PDF and EPS.
• Add one "where it goes" line for each logo version.
• Show print codes beside screen codes, so the printer gets CMYK without a second email.
• Include a note to forward: a few lines the client can paste into an email to any printer.

4. Make the link hard to lose

• Put it in the handoff email, the final invoice and your project notes.
• Ask the client to bookmark it during the walkthrough call, while you're both on screen.
• Send it again whenever something changes: "I've added the new badge to your brand page."

The full handoff (files, licenses, the walkthrough call, a printer note) is in our brand handoff checklist. This post is about what happens after it, when the requests would otherwise start.

5. Reply with the link, not the file

Some requests will still come in. When they do, resist attaching the file. Send the link and say where to look. It takes the same time, and it teaches. A reply you can copy:

Hi {name}! Your logos are all on your brand page: {link}. The white one is under Logos, labeled "For dark backgrounds," and the PDF in the same section is the one printers want. That page is always up to date, so it's worth a bookmark.

After two or three of these, most clients go straight to the page. Some start sending it to their printer before they ask you, which is the dream.

What about old clients' folders?

The hardest requests come from clients you finished years ago, when your filing was, let's say, of its time. Before you can point anyone to a page, you need to know what's in the folder.

This is where Tabitha, BrandTab's assistant, earns her hat. Drop an old client folder on her, up to 300 files at a time. She sets aside screenshots and system files, works out which files are logos, fonts, photos, brand guides or source files (AI, EPS, PSD), and groups the versions: Logo_FINAL_v7 (2).png and logo-final.svg count as one logo. She keeps the newest and sharpest of each (vector beats PNG, transparent beats a white box, v7 beats v3), names the roles (Primary logo, Wordmark, Icon, Reversed logo), builds a palette from the logos' colors, and reads the first 20 pages of one brand guide PDF for colors, typefaces and voice. Everything older waits in a "Left out" group, and nothing uploads until you tick it. An afternoon of archaeology becomes a list you review with a coffee.

Once it's sorted, that old client gets the same brand page as everyone else, and the next "which font was it?" email has a one-line answer.

Should you charge for logo requests?

Either way is fair, as long as it's written down. Some studios include a year of file requests in the project fee. Some offer a small retainer that covers updates. Some charge a minimum fee per request after handoff. What helps most is saying it up front, in the contract and the handoff email, and making self-service so easy that the question rarely comes up.

How BrandTab turns the help desk off

BrandTab keeps one home per client. Each client is a brand, with their locations or product lines nested underneath as sub-brands, and every logo carries a variation, a background it's shown on, and a usage note like "For dark backgrounds."

• The brand package (Creative and Studio) is the one link to send. Pick the parts that go in (logos, colors, typography, up to 48 photos) and any saved media kits or mood boards. The client gets one page with all of it and a "Download everything" zip. Logos download as the SVG, PNG or JPG files you uploaded, and SVG logos also come as PNG for apps that can't open SVG. AI, EPS and PDF files stay out of the package, so a printer who needs the EPS still gets it from you.
• The brand sheet puts the rules on one page (logos, colors with HEX, RGB and CMYK, type and voice), as a link or a PDF.
• You decide when it's live. Every share page starts switched off, and switching it off takes it down straight away.
• Studio's client access lets clients help themselves inside BrandTab. Invite a client by email (the invite works for 14 days), pick which brands they see, and they can view and copy those brands, sub-brands included, and nothing else. Clients are free, they don't use a seat, a workspace can have up to 200 of them, and you can change what each one sees or remove them at any time.

Studio is $39 a month or $390 a year for two seats, with a founding price of $29 a month for anyone who subscribes by January 31, 2027. There's more on BrandTab for agencies.

Questions people ask

What's the best way to share brand assets with clients?

One link per client that opens without a login, always shows the current files, and labels every file by what it's for. Attachments and transfer links get lost; a permanent page doesn't.

How do I stop clients asking for their logo again and again?

Give them a brand page they can find without you, name files by use, answer the follow-up questions on the page, and reply to requests with the link rather than the file.

Should clients have access to their own brand files?

Yes. Read-only access to their own brand saves you time, and it means they always use the current version.

Should I charge clients for resending files?

It's fair either way, as long as it's in the contract. A common middle ground is a period of free requests after handoff, then a small fee per request.