How to Design a Logo!
Have you ever wondered what it takes to design a professional logo? It is easier than you imagine once you have mastered the following steps:
1. What is a logo?
Before you can design a logo, it is important that you understand what it is, what it represents and what it is meant to do. Despite common belief, logos are not just a mark. They reflect a business's brand and how they want to be recognised, which is why the shapes, colours, fonts and images you choose to use are important.
The logo you create needs to inspire trust, whilst at the same being recognisable. For instance, what would be the point of creating a logo that blends into the background and no one associates with your business? There wouldn't be…
2. Learn the principles of logo design
Okay you have now got a good idea of what a logo is and what it is supposed to do. Now you need to understand the basic rules for creating a logo design. These can be split into 5 points:
- Needs to be simple, but unique - this ensures easy recognition and versatility
- Needs to be memorable – similar to the point above, you want consumers to remember your logo and associate it with your business
- Needs to be timeless – all things can age including logos. You need to pick a design what will stand the test of time and not look dated in 10 years time
- Needs to be versatile – your logo needs to be able to work across a variety of mediums. To achieve this it needs to be designed in vector format so it can be scaled to any size.
- Needs to be appropriate – does your logo fit its intended purpose? The use of a childish font for instance would not look appropriate for an accountancy site
3. Learn from others mistakes and successes
Successful logos are strong, memorable, effective without colour and easily scalable. Take the Nike logo for instance. More than 40 years after it was first created, it is still going strong.
Examining unsuccessful logos too is a good strategy for improving your own. Consider what works and doesn't work? Is it too busy? Is there too much colour? What would you do differently?
4. Create your own logo design process
Now this is the hardest step of the 5, as your process will greatly depend on your experience. Usually though, you will follow this kind of process:
- Design brief
- Research
- Sketching ideas/designs
- Conceptualise and create a prototype
- Review design
- Revise and implement finishing touches
5. Complete the logo
Unless you have got previous design experience, you will first need to learn how to use software packages such as Adobe Illustrator so you can transfer your sketching to your computer screen.
However if you do not feel confident enough to create your own logo, you can easily send your sketches to a digital design agency who will design your logo on your behalf.
The cost to do this isn't much, and in the end you will be left with an extremely professional logo. For more information visit www.soula.com
So give these steps a try and see what kind of logos you can come up with. You never know, you could potentially come up with the next Nike logo!
1. What is a logo?
Before you can design a logo, it is important that you understand what it is, what it represents and what it is meant to do. Despite common belief, logos are not just a mark. They reflect a business's brand and how they want to be recognised, which is why the shapes, colours, fonts and images you choose to use are important.
The logo you create needs to inspire trust, whilst at the same being recognisable. For instance, what would be the point of creating a logo that blends into the background and no one associates with your business? There wouldn't be…
2. Learn the principles of logo design
Okay you have now got a good idea of what a logo is and what it is supposed to do. Now you need to understand the basic rules for creating a logo design. These can be split into 5 points:
- Needs to be simple, but unique - this ensures easy recognition and versatility
- Needs to be memorable – similar to the point above, you want consumers to remember your logo and associate it with your business
- Needs to be timeless – all things can age including logos. You need to pick a design what will stand the test of time and not look dated in 10 years time
- Needs to be versatile – your logo needs to be able to work across a variety of mediums. To achieve this it needs to be designed in vector format so it can be scaled to any size.
- Needs to be appropriate – does your logo fit its intended purpose? The use of a childish font for instance would not look appropriate for an accountancy site
3. Learn from others mistakes and successes
Successful logos are strong, memorable, effective without colour and easily scalable. Take the Nike logo for instance. More than 40 years after it was first created, it is still going strong.
Examining unsuccessful logos too is a good strategy for improving your own. Consider what works and doesn't work? Is it too busy? Is there too much colour? What would you do differently?
4. Create your own logo design process
Now this is the hardest step of the 5, as your process will greatly depend on your experience. Usually though, you will follow this kind of process:
- Design brief
- Research
- Sketching ideas/designs
- Conceptualise and create a prototype
- Review design
- Revise and implement finishing touches
5. Complete the logo
Unless you have got previous design experience, you will first need to learn how to use software packages such as Adobe Illustrator so you can transfer your sketching to your computer screen.
However if you do not feel confident enough to create your own logo, you can easily send your sketches to a digital design agency who will design your logo on your behalf.
The cost to do this isn't much, and in the end you will be left with an extremely professional logo. For more information visit www.soula.com
So give these steps a try and see what kind of logos you can come up with. You never know, you could potentially come up with the next Nike logo!