Logo Design 101
Do you want to design an original logo for your business? If so, you may want to learn more about logo design rather than paying for an expensive graphic designer. Logo design is a unique skill that involves a assortment of different skills and techniques.
Look at big brands, their logos are typically clean, simple, use just one or two colours, yet easily are recognisable and professional looking… The mistake many amateur DIY logo designers always make is putting too much into the design by including things such as complex shading, drop shadows, reflections, overlays, strokes etc which are simply not done in logo design.
However by following the tips below you should be able to come up with a logo to rival any big brands and avoid the most common mistake. We have combined the ideas of some professional designers, as well as practical tips.
Logo Tips for Designers
The following tips should help you to think about what should be included when you start designing your first logo.
1. Start with an inspiration.– Anything creative starts with a good inspiration. If you are inspired to create a great design, you will create a great design. Start with your understanding of a company’s branding and basic philosophy and build the logo around those principles and ideas.
2. Develop your creative process.– If you want to be an original designer, you need to develop your method that works for you. This process can include brainstorming and creating the creative brief, sketching out simple vector drawings to use as a basis for your design, and consulting with your client to determine what should be done first.
From conceptualization to final project, you should develop a general continuum of events that you will use as a basis for your creations that you can follow with each project. You can vary the way you do it or even change the order, but it’s important to have a plan before you begin any new project.
3. Know your audience.– As a logo designer, every project is unique and reflects the characteristics of a brand that is different from the one before. It’s important to remember that your target audience you’ll be designing for will change with each new client. Study your client’s company carefully before starting on the project and ask them what is important to them in representing their brand.
4. Make the design versatile.– When you create a logo design for a company, you need to consider any of the possible ways the client may use the logos after you have designed it. Remember that you may design a logo for the online environment, but your client may use it for offline use, as well. So make the design versatile. This includes putting lots of thought into the color, style, and overall look of the logo.
5. Plan in analog.– Steve Jobs once said, “Plan in analog.” He believed that it was important to use pen and paper to sketch out ideas before implementing the idea in digital format. If you use this technique for your logos, you should be able to play around with several ideas that you can show your client before you proceed with the final designs.
6. Choose fonts carefully.– Another important aspect of creating a winning logo is to choose a font. It’s important that you spend an extra amount of time to decide on the font that you will use with your client’s logo. Whether you choose a bold, solid font or a textured font in a unique color, all of this will play into the overall impression of your logo.
Also, remember that every logo should be unique since every client’s business is unique. Make sure and consult with your client to decide what they prefer.
7. Tell a good story.– Remember that your client’s logo is the first thing others will see about your customer’s brand. It is important that it adequately reflects the brand. One way to do this is to create a “story” around your logo. Much of this story would come from your client’s idea about what their brand represents.
Getting to know your customer’s company and hearing their story about why they started the company can help fuel the logo and the impression people have of the brand. Remember that, to the consumer who is seeing your client’s name, there is no difference between the brand and the logo. But the logo must tell the story adequately if it represents your client’s brand in the way they intend it to.
Good communication between you and your client can help make this happen.
8. Define your design ability by your latest design.– Good designers know that they must always keep moving forward. By judging your abilities by your latest design, you will always be compelled to move forward and make improvements to your technique as you grow your logo design business.
9. Be original.– The most important quality of a logo designer is to be original. Uniqueness is important in every design because it reflects on your clients’ brand image. If you fail to capture the essence of your customer’s brand, you will not be doing the logo or the brand justice.
Get to know the company that you are designing the brand for, and it will make the design process much easier. If your client has a website, blog, and social media site, visit these web properties to get an idea of how you should represent them in the logo.
A DIY Approach to Design
If you want to create a logo design business or do freelance design work on your own, you’ll need to study the design process and gather your resources. Creativemarket.com has a number of other tips in addition to the ones we have shared with you in this post that will help you get started.
The Importance of Being Original
The most important aspect for your client is in your ability to capture their brand in a way that resonates with their customers. Your ability to get the full story from your client, create an effective and compelling design (fonts and graphics), and your ability to put it together in a professional way will determine whether you can be successful in a design role.
