Are you just starting in logo design? Here’s everything you want to know before embarking on a brand identity project.
What is logos?
Logo design necessitates a great deal of knowledge, graphic design for logos skill, and experience. There are many factors to consider, and the questions you must ask yourself can be overwhelming if you are new to the trade best free logo designer. If you’re starting logo ideas from scratch with a new logo design, how to design a logo consider how you’ll represent the brand, product, or individual’s personality.
Is it easy to change the direction of an existing logo to make a big statement? Should you make minor changes to the current logo design to avoid alienating long-term customers?
With these big questions, how to create your own logo it can be challenging to know where to begin with the monumental task of designing a logo. So, to keep things easy, we’ve compiled a list of 15 golden steps for logo design.
This helpful list of logo design tips for logo designers will cover both the design process and implementation of your design as part of a larger brand strategy.
When a suitable a logo is combined with the right product, it can become a priceless asset.
Consider the logo designer Nike swoosh, McDonald’s golden arches, the Michelin Man, the three-pointed star on a Mercedes, or the Woolmark symbol.
These are just a few of the most well-known examples design your own logo. To give your logo design the best chance of achieving similar longevity and recognizability, even in a smaller niche area, keep in mind the universal traits shared by all successful logo designs.
See our logo design inspiration guide, our list of the best 3-letter logos ever created, and our 15 steps to making best logo design.
What is the significance of logo design?
Logos are significant because they are often the first piece of branding that a potential customer sees. They’re also the piece of branding that, if successful, makes the biggest impression on us and stays with us the longest.
A logo can reveal more about a company, including what it does and stands for (in some cases). When customers identify with a logo design, they are more likely to invest time or money in the company or product.
Of course, a logo is not the only element in successful branding, but it must be perfected from the start modern logo because it is frequently at the heart of the overall brand strategy.
Most designers can how to create a logo, but it takes a unique combination of design skills, creative theory, and deft application to create a company logos design that is truly unique, appealing, and memorable.
Please take a see company logos at our list of the best logos for examples of the best logo design.
The Best Logo Design Golden Rules
There are hundreds, if not thousands, of brands vying for our attention.
This means that brands must differentiate themselves visually to avoid being confused.
Differentiation is achieved via brand identity design – a collection of elements that create a distinct mental image of the brand.
Graphic design logo Uniforms, business cards, vehicle graphics, product packaging, billboard advertising, coffee mugs, and other collateral can all be part of a brand’s identity design, as can photographic style and font selection.
When you think of someone who has impacted your life, you probably have a mental image of what they look like. The same is valid for brands.
A logo serves as the face of a brand, logo designs allowing people how to create your own logo to connect with and remember it.
Therefore, the goal of better logo design should be to create something that people can easily visualize when they recall their interactions with a product, company, or service. We don’t read before we look at something.
Before anything else, we see design logo shape and colour, and if that’s enough to keep our attention, we’ll move on.
It’s important to remember that we first notice logo designs the shape and color when we look at something.
Only if that is sufficient creative logo design to hold our attention do we begin to read. Designers’ job is to distill the essence of a brand into the shape and colour that will last the longest make a logi.
01. Prepare the groundwork
Laying the Groundwork for Logo Design
Mercedes and Woolmark logos, for example, have become priceless assets for their respective companies.
One of the best exciting aspects of being a designer is the opportunity to learn new things with each new project. Every client is unique, and even within the same profession, logo designs people perform their duties in various ways.
You should start a logo design project by doing some preliminary research.
Knowing the client and their product well will also make it easier to agree on your logo design later on.
Make sure that you ask your client why they exist. What exactly do they do, and how exactly do they do it? What distinguishes them from another brand? Who are they there for, or what do they value the most?
02. Invest in your sketchbook
Keep your sketchbook safe for logo design.
Martijn Rijven’s sketches of Firefox mascots were commissioned by Wolff Olins.
With so many digital tools available today, you may be tempted to design a logo on a computer, but using a sketchpad allows you to rest your eyes from the glare of brightly lit pixels and, more vital, record design ideas much more quickly and freely.
You have complete freedom to explore with no digital interface in the way, and if you wake up in late-night with an idea you don’t need to lose, a pen and paper, pencil by your bed is still the best way to jot it down.
Sketching allows graphic designer logo you to place shapes exactly where you want them, and you can always digitise your marks later (watch our sketching tips for more advice).
When describing design concepts to clients before digitising a mark, sharing some sketches can also be helpful.
This allows them to visualise the result without being distracted by typefaces and colours, which can sometimes cause clients to dismiss an entire idea. However, creative graphic designer logo don’t share too much – only your best ideas.
03. Begin in black and white.
Design a logo in black and white. The internal details of the Apple logo have evolved, but the silhouette has not.
It’s business logo design impossible to save a bad idea with an attractive colour scheme, but a good idea will still be good regardless of colour. When you think of a well-known symbol, you usually think of the form first, followed by the palette. It’s the lines, shapes, and ideas that matter, four linked circles in a horizontal line, whether it’s an apple bite, three parallel stripes, or anything more tips for making a logo.
04. Maintain appropriateness
Alan Fletcher, the founder of V&A Pentagram, designed the V&A logo in 1989.
A logo design must be appropriate for the ideas, values, and activities it represents. An elegant typeface will look better in a high-end restaurant than in a children’s nursery. Similarly, logo designers the fluorescent pink and yellow color scheme is unlikely to help your message connect with male pensioners.
And, regardless of industry, creating a mark that resembles a swastika isn’t going to work.
You are aware of these things, and they may appear to be self-evident, but appropriateness extends beyond this. The more appropriate your rationale for a specific design, the easier it will be to sell the idea to a client (which can be the most challenging part of a project). Remember that designers do more than just design.
05. Aim for simple recall.
Design of the Deutsche Bank logo Anton Stankowski designed the Deutsche Bank logo in 1974.
Simplicity aids recognition, which can be a massive advantage in a world where so many brands vie for our attention. A simple logo can often be remembered after only a glance, which is impossible with a highly detailed design.
A business logo design trademark must be focused on a single concept; on a single-story.’ In most cases, that means it should have a simple form that can be used at various sizes and in a variety of applications, such as a website icon in a browser bar or signage on a building.
06. Strive for distinction
Strive for uniqueness in logo design. Wolff Olins’ 1999 Tate logo united Tate’s four galleries across the United Kingdom.
Suppose a brand’s competitors all use the same typographic style, color palette, or a symbol placed to the left of the brand name. In that case, this is an excellent opportunity simple logo design to differentiate your client rather than blend in. Trying something new can help your logo design stand out.
07. Think about the overall brand identity.
Consider the overall identity when designing a logo. In 2006, Wolff Olins designed a custom typeface for Macmillan Cancer Support in both its logo and marketing headlines.
We don’t usually see a logo in its entirety. It is typically displayed in the context of a website, a poster, a business card, an app icon, or a variety of other supports and applications.
A client presentation should include relevant touchpoints that demonstrate how the logo appears to potential customers.
When you’re stuck in a rut, it can help to take a step back and look at the big picture, to see where you are and what you’re surrounded by.
The bigger picture includes every possible item on which your logo design could appear in terms of design.
Always consider how the identity works in the absence of the logo.
While crucial, a symbol can only take an identity so far.
Creating a custom typeface for your logo is one way to achieve cohesive visuals. That typeface can then be used in marketing headlines as well.
08. Avoid being overly literal.
Don’t be too literal when designing a logo. The Penguin and Shell logos do not indicate the type of company they represent.
A logo does not have to depict what a company does; it is often preferable if it does not. More abstract marks are frequently more durable.
Historically, you’d show your factory, or perhaps a heraldic crest, if it was a family-run business, but symbols don’t tell the story of what you do.
Instead, they make it abundantly clear who you are.
09. Keep in mind that symbols aren’t required.
Symbols are not required in logo design. Johnson Banks’ Shelter wordmark, with its pitched roof ‘h,’ helped reposition the housing charity in 2004. (though it has recently had a redesign)
A symbol isn’t always required for a logo. A custom wordmark can often work well, especially when the company name is unique – consider Google, Mobil, or Pirelli. Don’t be tempted to go overboard with the design because the emphasis is on the letters.
Legibility is essential for any wordmark, and your presentations should show how your designs work in all sizes, large and small. Of course, words may not always work in minimal applications, so that variations may be required.
This could be as easy as deleting a letter from the logomark and replacing it with the same colour, or it could include a symbol that can be used as a secondary design element (wordmark first, symbol second) rather than as a logo lockup in which both pieces are shown alongside one another.
10. Make people happy
Make people smile with your logo design. Turner Duckworth’s wordmark for Amazon, logo design company designed in 2000, adds wit with a hidden smile that runs from A-Z.
Infusing humor into your logo design not only makes your job more enjoyable but can also help your client become more successful.
It isn’t appropriate for every profession (certainly not for weapons manufacturers or tobacco companies, but it is another matter of whether you choose to work with those companies).
However, cute logo ideas companies in the less contentious legal and financial sectors are distinguished by stuffy and sterile branding. Including a sense of humor in such clients’ identities can help them stand out.
There must be a balance struck. If you push it too far, you risk alienating potential customers. People do business with people, regardless of the company, so a human, emotional side to your work will always be relevant.
How to Put Your Logo Design Into Action
If you already have a logo design, here’s how to put it to use.
Remember that logos do not exist in a vacuum; they must be applied.
After you’ve perfected your logo design, the next step is to incorporate it into a larger branding scheme. In this section, logo design company Nick Carson offers five logo design tips to help you nail this crucial final stage.
11. Seek a second opinion whenever possible.
Brazilian Institute of Oriental Studies designed the logo. The Brazilian Institute of Oriental Studies’ logo. presented with no commentary
Don’t undervalue the importance of a second (or third) set of eyes to spot issues you may have overlooked during the design stage.
It’s incredible how easily unforeseen cultural misunderstandings, innuendos, unfortunate shapes, and hidden words and meanings can be overlooked (see our logo design fails for more examples).
Once you’ve created your logo design concept, always take the time to run it by others to get their feedback. Many design studios recommend pinning work-in-progress up on the walls to allow for constant peer review.
12. Expand the rest of the brand universe
A logo design is only one small part of a branding strategy, and it should be developed in tandem with another activation points as part of a larger ‘brand world.’
This phrase is essential in the branding process at London agency SomeOne. And, as co-founder Simon Manchipp explains in the video interview with Computer Arts magazine above, achieving coherence between different elements is far preferable to simply consistency.
13. Consider how to make your logo design a reality.
In today’s branding marketplace, a static logo that sits quietly in the corner of a finished piece of design is frequently insufficient.
To explore its potential, you’ll need to consider how your logo design could come to life in motion for digital applications. This may necessitate collaboration with animation or motion graphics specialists.
Here are a couple of examples of logos that have been animated:
First, Function Engineering by Sagmeister & Walsh gives the mark a playful, Meccano-like twist.
Sagmeister & Walsh is no longer in business, but you can read about Jessica Walsh’s studio & Walsh here.
Second, Bond’s logo design for the University of the Arts Helsinki bends, twists, and distorts to enhance the type-led logo’s dynamic, modern feel.
The logo making animated logo of the University of the Arts Helsinki twists and jumps.
More advanced immersive brand experiences are becoming more accessible as VR trends continue to evolve. In recent years, branding firms have also looked into the potential of generative design and user participation to add a more dynamic, unpredictable component to logo design. Of course, this isn’t always possible, but keep an open mind and try new techniques when you can.
14. Assist your client in implementing your logo design.
Color options, minimum and maximum sizes at which logo designs should be used, positioning rules, spacing (including exclusion zones from other design elements), and any definite no-nos, such as stretching or distorting, should all be covered in brand usage guides.
See how it’s done in our favourite style guides.
While some agencies swear by style guides to ensure a smooth, consistent handover to a client’s in-house team, others believe they can be overly restrictive and prescriptive.
Premier League DesignStudio’s high-profile rebranding of the Premier League drew a lot of criticism from traditionalist football fans.
Color options, minimum and maximum sizes at which logo designs should be used, positioning rules, spacing (including exclusion zones from other design elements), and any definite no-nos, such as stretching or distorting, should all be covered in brand usage guides.
See how logo designing it’s done in our favourite style guides.
While some agencies swear by style guides to ensure a smooth, consistent handover to a client’s in-house team, others believe they can be overly restrictive and prescriptive.
Be open to public criticism
15. Premier League logo design
The high-profile rebranding of the Premier League by DesignStudio drew more than its fair share of criticism from traditionalist football fans.
In this day and age of social media, logo editor everyone and their dog have opinions on every log design. Criticism is thus no longer an annoyance; it is something that anyone involved in a relatively high-profile rebranding exercise should be prepared for.
As previously stated, a grand branding scheme is about much more than just a logo design. Still, make a loho on platforms like Twitter, where a single image frequently encapsulates a newly released project, this is often the first (and only) thing the public jumps on.
