Black & White, not red all over.

Sorry for the punnish headline,
I couldn’t resist.

So, you’ve got your hands on a beautiful, if not overly complex EPS file for a client’s logo. But you’ve been requested to use it in a black and white circumstance. And the client doesn’t have a black and white artwork file for the logo.

Short Version of this tip: Illustrator/Preview/Illustrator.

And here’s the explanation…

Simply put, you could always open it in a bitmap editor like Photoshop, and convert it by changing the color space to greyscale and save it out as a TIFF file. Unfortunately, you are then stuck with a solid white background surrounding the logo. And your use for the Logo requires it placed within an other-than-white background.

What to do now you ask.

If you’re working on a Macintosh, or have access to Adobe Acrobat, the solution is very simple actually.

First, open your vector editing application. I use Illustrator, so I’ll be referring to it during this tip. Next, within Illustrator, open your existing problem-child color EPS file. If you’re using a fairly up to date version of Illustrator, CS2 or CS3, you’ll then perform a “Save-As” from the file menu. In that dialog box, change the name of the file to reflect its b&w conclusion. In this tips reference, we’re working on the Kroger logo. Original name: KrogerLogo_color; New name: KrogerLogo_b&w.

From within that Open-Save dialog box, select the format of the file to be saved as PDF file.

Click save and close file.

Next, and this is the ‘on a Mac’ method, open the application named “Preview”. Then, from within Preview, open your newly saved file, in my case, “KrogerLogo_b&w.pdf”

Your next and last step in Preview is to again do a “Save As” from the file menu. No name change of the file is require here, simply select from the options shown for Quartz Filter to “Grey Tone”. Click Save and Yes to overwrite the file.

You’re almost done. Now, switch back to Illustrator, and open your file. Now, do a “Save As” once more from the file menu, and change it to be saved an EPS file, in my case, file will change from KrogerLogo_b&w.pdf to KrogerLogo_b&w.eps

Voila, you’re done.

I hope I’ve been clear enough in these instructions to help. If not, leave a comment and I’ll do my best to make it more clear.

And of course, should you have any easier solution, by all means share with the masses.

After all, that’s the credo of HowToForward isn’t it?

P.S. The images where there are “line overlays” are there solely to show substance of actual vector file and have no actual bearing on the steps involved for conversion. It’s still just a matter of Illustrator/Preview/Illustrator. 3 Steps and you’re done!