Knowledge Base
How to Format Your Logo for VMC Compliance?
Overview:
A Verified Mark Certificate (VMC) enables your company to display a verified brand logo next to your sender’s name in compatible email clients, increasing brand recognition and trust. To display your brand logo in email clients using a Verified Mark Certificate (VMC), your logo must meet strict formatting requirements. Specifically, it must be in Scalable Vector Graphics (.SVG) format and adhere to the SVG Portable/Secure (SVG-P/S) profile.
Why Vector Format and SVG Tiny PS Are Required?
Most logos created in pixel-based tools like Photoshop are not compliant with VMC requirements. The VMC standard requires logos to be in vector format to ensure clarity and scalability across display environments.
Moreover, VMC enforces use of the SVG Tiny Portable/Secure (SVG Tiny PS) profile to guarantee logo authenticity and security. This profile is based on SVG Tiny 1.2 but adds stricter security rules, making sure your logo is uniquely yours and safe to use.
Logo Requirements for VMC
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The logo must be trademarked.
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Must be in vector format, no pixel-based images allowed.
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The logo image should be square; note the final display will be circular so center your logo accordingly.
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File format must be SVG Tiny PS (SVG Tiny 1.2 profile with Portable/Secure modifications)
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Logo must have a solid background color to ensure consistent display across email clients i.e. it should not be transparent
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File size must not exceed 32 KB
Step-by-Step Guide to Create a VMC-Compliant Logo
Step 1: Design Your Logo
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Use a vector graphics editor such as Adobe Illustrator, Inkscape, or Figma.
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Ensure the design is vector-based with no raster/bitmap elements.
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Simplify your design by avoiding gradients, shadows, or complex effects unsupported by SVG Tiny.
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Use solid fills and basic geometric shapes.
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Set the canvas size to a square (e.g., 256x256 or 512x512 pixels i.e. 1:1 ratio).
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Center the logo within the canvas because it will be displayed as a circle.
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Choose a solid background colour.
Step 2: Save as SVG Tiny 1.2 in Adobe Illustrator
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Open your vector-based logo file in Illustrator.
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Go to File > Save As.
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Choose SVG as the file type.
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In the SVG options window:
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Select SVG Tiny 1.2 from the “SVG Profiles” dropdown.
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Set “Image Location” to Preserve.
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Click OK to save.
Step 3: Modify the SVG File for SVG Tiny PS
Since Illustrator does not directly export SVG Tiny PS, you'll need to manually adjust the SVG file:
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Open the saved SVG file in a text editor like Visual Studio Code, Sublime Text, Atom, or others.
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Locate and change the attribute baseProfile="tiny" to baseProfile="tiny-ps".
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Remove any x="0px" and y="0px" attributes.
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Remove the attribute overflow="visible" if present.
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Add a <title> tag with your brand name near the top of the SVG file, just above the <g> tag.
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Save the modified SVG file.
This converts your logo to the SVG Tiny PS format required by VMC.
For online conversion to SVG format, you may utilize the following recommended tool:
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