Logo design can be seen almost everywhere. To consumers, logos act as an instantaneous reminder of a product or company, and to designers they signify the challenge of creating a single graphic that incorporates the ideology of clients.
It is not surprising that logo design is a prominent feature in our daily lives. In an era where every business needs a website in order to support their services and products, the demand for top-notch logos has increased dramatically.
With the enormous number of logos already in the marketplace, it is challenging to come up with a unique design:
We will examine some basic logo design principles and share some professional tips to use when engaging in logo design.
Designing a logo doesn’t only involve creating an aesthetically pleasing visual. With logo design, you are attempting to develop a brand and communicate a position. Therefore, the initial step that should be taken in logo design is to perform some research on these concepts.
It is advisable to involve your client in this initial phase, since the way you interpret their brand may differ from their own interpretation, and it is crucial that this is clear prior to engaging in any design work.
Prior to starting to sketch out logo design ideas, take some time to analyse your client’s brand. Who is your client? What kind of products and services do they render? What are the demographics of their customers?
If they exist, examine past logo design iterations and think about what does and does not represent your client’s brand in these designs. Then compile a check-list of desirable logo features and those features that should be avoided, prior to initiating your creative work.
Examine all of the logos that your client company has used since their founding. This may be quite revealing, in the case of older companies. You might be able use some concepts from older logos if they have a desire to be positioned as a heritage business, or you may be able to re-design a past logo into something futuristic and fresh. This is advantageous for providing continuity that is built-in, even though you are presenting an image that is new.
It is likely that for each logo design, you probably create more than twenty sketches prior to deciding upon which sketch to further develop. Never discard your early design concepts, they can be a resource of value.
An earlier sketch may not have been suitable for a particular client, however, that does not mean it will not be useful later on. Examine older sketches that you have designed and you may be able to find one, that with some fine tuning, can turn out to be the logo your are seeking.
Two excellent places to look as a place to start when performing online logo research are Logo Gala and Logo Moose. One thing to bear in mind, is knowing when it is time to terminate your online research.
It will be more productive to examine the salient features of ten relevant designs than to be deluged with 100 designs that are extraneous.
If you are having trouble coming up with ideas, try examining key words in a thesaurus or dictionary or perform an online image search for inspiration. If you retain a book of old sketches you have done, then look through them. You may have already sketched a great solution in a previous project.
All of us have designers we like to emulate, and at times we have a desire to imitate their work. Imitation is a lazy way to avoid coming up with your own creative solution.
Consider if the style you are utilising is suitable for the needs of your client. Will they actually desire a logo design that was used on a 1970s cereal box?
More tips on logo design: