Case study · Logo vectorization & packaging artwork

Billet Duck: seven raster logos rebuilt as clean vector

Billet Duck is a veteran-owned brand from Seattle. Its logos only existed as raster pictures, so they could not be used for signs, engraving or print. I rebuilt all seven by hand as clean vector files, then made print-ready art for the brand’s gift box.

Seven logos to rebuild

The client sent seven PNG files. The faceted metal look was baked into the pixels, so there was nothing to scale, cut or engrave. Each logo needed to be rebuilt from scratch.

The hard parts, and how I solved them

Brushed metal and grain cannot be traced by software. I rebuilt the metal with layered vector gradients that keep the faceted look. The two Seattle badges are full of small landmarks, so I redrew every shape by hand with the pen tool. No auto trace.

Every logo also had to work in print, on the web, and for cutting and engraving. So each one was exported in six formats and checked file by file.

From pixels to precision

The texture that used to be baked into the picture is now clean vector gradients. Soft edges became crisp. And one fixed size became any size.

Zoom in on the raster version and it goes soft and loses the fine highlights. The vector version stays crisp, whether it is on a favicon or on a shop sign.

The full logo family

Seven logos, one look: curved and angular versions, a horizontal layout, and the duck mark on its own, with and without the curved bill.

A Seattle skyline, shape by shape

The two “PNW” badges carry the Space Needle, Mount Rainier, the Ferris wheel, a ferry, a bridge and a forest of evergreens. Every landmark was rebuilt as its own clean shape.

Checked, fixed, ready to use

After the client’s review, a thin seam on the duck and faint hairlines in some viewers were fixed. Every file was opened and checked before delivery.

Then came the gift box

With the logos approved, I made print-ready artwork for the box lid and the inside panel. It includes an original topographic pattern, built as vector, with a 3 mm bleed and a 5 mm safe margin.

Approved on both milestones

“Thank you, great work!”Jason Bertrand, on the logo package

“ok great! these are awesome”Jason Bertrand, on the packaging artwork

More like this: see all my work, or read why hand redraw beats auto trace.