The logo is that the face of any brand — the very first impression — so its design is extremely important.
When executed correctly, a logo may be a powerful asset to your client’s brand.
However, creating an efficient visual representation of a brand requires far more than simply graphic design.
Like any line of labor that involves a group of specific skills, logo design requires many practice and knowledge for it to be successful; knowledge is certainly power for any graphic designer.
For this reason, we’ve outlined 12 essential rules to follow so as to style an efficient logo.
1. Preliminary Work may be a Must
Preliminary sketches are a crucial initiative in designing an efficient logo.
These are often as simple as paper and pen drawings or drafts made employing a vector program, like Illustrator.
The bottom line is that you simply compromise the ultimate result if you rush, or skip, this step.
Start with 20 to 30 sketches or ideas then diversify to make variations of the first ideas.
If nothing seems to figure , start over and start sketching new ideas.
An effective graphic designer will spend longer on this preliminary work than the other step within the design process.
2. Create Balance
Balance is vital in logo design because our minds naturally perceive a balanced design as being pleasing and appealing.
Keep your logo balanced by keeping the “weight” of the graphics, colors, and size equal on all sides .
Though the rule of balance can occasionally be broken, remember that your logo are going to be viewed by the masses, not just those with an eye fixed for nice art, so a balanced design is that the safest approach.
3. Size Matters
When it involves logo design, size does matter. A logo has got to look good and be legible in the least sizes.
A logo isn’t effective if it loses an excessive amount of definition when scaled down for letterheads, envelopes, and little promotional items. the brand also has got to look good when used for larger formats, like posters, billboards, and electronic formats like TV and therefore the Web.
The most reliable thanks to determine if a logo works in the least sizes is to truly test it yourself.
Note that the littlest scale is typically the toughest to urge right, so start by printing the brand on a letterhead or envelope and see if it’s still legible.
You can also test for large-scale rendering by printing a poster-sized version at a workshop .
4. Clever Use of Color
Color theory is complex, but designers who understand the fundamentals are ready to use color to their advantage.
The basic rules to stay in mind are:
Use colors almost one another on the colour wheel (e.g. for a “warm” palette, use red, orange, and yellow hues).
Don’t use colors that are so bright that they’re hard on the eyes.
the brand must also look good in black and white, grayscale, and two colors.
Breaking the principles sometimes is okay; just confirm you’ve got an honest reason to!
Knowing how colors evoke feelings and moods is additionally important. for instance , red can evoke feelings of aggression, love, passion, and strength.
Keep this in mind as you are trying out different color combinations, and check out to match the colour to the general tone and feel of the brand.
Playing around with individual colors on their own is another good idea. Some brands are recognizable solely by their distinct color.
For example, once you consider Deere , you think that of the “John Deere green” color, and this sets this brand aside from its competitors and, more importantly, makes the brand all the more recognizable.
5. Design Style Should Suit the corporate
You can use various design styles when creating a logo, and to select the proper one, you ought to have some background information about the client and therefore the brand.
A recent trend in logo design is that the Web 2.0 sort of 3D-looking logos, with “bubbly” graphics, gradients, and drop shadows.
This style may go well for an internet 2.0 website or tech company, but might not be effective for other forms of brands.
Research your client and its audience before you start your preliminary work.
This will assist you determine the simplest design style from the beginning and prevent from having to return repeatedly to the drafting board .
6. Typography Matters… a Lot!
Choosing the proper font type and size is far harder than many beginner designers realize.
If your logo design includes text, either as a part of the brand or within the tagline, you’ll got to spend time sorting through various font types — often, dozens of them — and testing them in your design before making a final judgment .
Try both serif fonts and sans-serif fonts also as script, italics, bold, and custom fonts.
Consider three details when choosing a font to accompany your logo design:
Avoid the foremost commonly used fonts, like Comic Sans, alternatively your design may come off as amateurish.
confirm the font is legible when scaled down, especially with script fonts.
One font is right , and avoid quite two.
Strongly consider a custom font for your design. The more original the font, the more it’ll distinguish the brand. samples of successful logos that have a custom font are Yahoo!, Twitter, and Coca Cola .
7. The Goal IS Recognition
The whole point of making a logo is to create brand recognition. So, how does one set about doing this?
Well, it varies from case to case, but the goal with the brand is for the typical person to instantly call the brand to mind.
A few samples of this are the logos for Coca-Cola, Pepsi, McDonald’s, and Nike.
Just a glimpse of any of those logos is all you would like to acknowledge the brands.
The key to creating a well-liked and recognizable logo is to mix all of the weather discussed during this article: size, style, color, typography, and originality.
Overlooking any of those during the planning process will impair the standard of your final design. Examine your own logo design and see whether it meets all of those criteria.
A quick test to work out if your logo is recognizable enough is to invert it using any graphic design software and see if you’ll still recognize the brand. Additionally, you ought to mirror the brand and see if it’s easily recognizable during this state.
Keep in mind that logos aren’t always seen head-on in world situations, for instance , on the side of a bus or an ad that you simply drive by.
Therefore, you ought to confirm to look at your logo design from all angles and make sure that it’s recognizable from any direction before submitting it to your client.
8. Dare to vary
To stand out from the competition, you want to distinguish yourself as a designer with a definite style. instead of copy another design or style, be innovative and stand out from the gang .
So, how are you able to be different? Try breaking the principles of design and taking risks.
Try a spread of designs to seek out the one that works best for your client. Try different color combinations until you discover one that creates your design truly original.
Have fun with the planning program you employ , and keep tweaking the planning until you are feeling you’ve got it right.
9. K.I.S.S. (Keep it Simple, Stupid)
The simpler the brand , the more recognizable it’ll be.
For example, the Nike swoosh is a particularly simple logo and is additionally one among the foremost recognizable within the world.
Follow the K.I.S.S. rule right from the beginning of the planning process, once you are brainstorming ideas and doodling sketches.
Often, you’ll find that you simply start with a comparatively complicated design and find yourself with an easier version of it within the end.
Work the planning right down to its essentials and skip all unnecessary elements.
10. Go Easy on Effects
Adobe Illustrator, Freehand, Photoshop, and other graphic design programs are extremely powerful tools and have many filters and effects that you simply can apply to your logo, but don’t get carried away!
There’s a time and place for these powerful tools, but it’s not necessarily to style a logo.
Of course, fooling around and seeing whether or not they enhance a logo is ok , but just remember that simplicity is vital .
11. Develop a Design “Assembly Line”
To produce consistently high-quality logos, you would like to develop your own design process, or “assembly line.” this could include the subsequent steps:
Research
Brainstorm and generate ideas
Preliminary sketches
Develop vector designs
Send to client
Add or remove anything the client wants
Finalize the planning and resubmit to client
Although you’ll want to tweak the order slightly, you ought to follow these basic steps with each logo design.
This will assist you streamline your work, stay organized, maintain focus, and deliver better quality and more consistent results with each job.