Hi,

I apologise in advance for the probably very basic nature of my question but I am new to all of this.

For some time, we have had a logo for for our little shop created and printed by an artist friend as a lino cut.  We have reached a stage where we really need a digital version.  I have recreated it to the best of my ability, and probably very unconventionally, in Inkscape. My problem is that, no matter how much I try, I can't seem to export it with a transparent background to send to a commercial printer.

I have tried making the background checkered, I have tried taking the opacity right down.

I would be really grateful if someone could advise.

I am slightly embarrassed to be uploading the file.  As I say it will probably be very amateurish and unconventional but it seemed to work apart from the wobbly erase on the right hand side.

Many thanks in advance.

Hi Wiggy,
Well, the svg file has a transparent background.
Does your commercial printer say what kind of file he needs?

When you export it as a png, the background will be transparent.
In that case you have to make the file as big as you need on the page and export it with 300 ppi.

If you save it as a pdf, transparency will not be there.
Pdf, eps and svg will all keep the vectors intact.

Just save the logo as PDF rather than export it.

We always save a copy as PDF send to printers, to maintain vector sharpness and precision.

As for design improvement, attached is one approach. 

The circle can be an ellipse without issue.

The line spacing and thickness can easily be revised.

The arch can easily be modified with start/end parameters.

TD

Thanks everyone, sorry for the delay ion replying.  I have been a bit busy and haven't had a chance to get back to this.

We are doing this for just the logo to be printed on non white bags and therefore need the transparent background.  When I export as png it always seems to save with a white background even though, as you can see from the svg, I have a checkered back ground on it.

I'll have another try over the weekend and see how I get on.

Thanks again for all of your advice.

Hi Wiggy,
When I export this logo in Inkscape as a png, it has a transparent background.
Could you share your png file? Maybe it just looks like it has a white background?
Or we could just do it for you, if you like. Tyler has done his best to make it even better..

Hi Kirstie,

You are absolutely right.  I discovered this just this morning.  I use a MacBook and, when I open the PNGs in Preview, they appear to have a white background but I imported one over a picture and it is indeed transparent.  Well spotted.  I just need to try to make a better job of the logo now.

Thanks for your help.