Sunday, August 19, 2012

Tips for Beginner Logo Designer

Logo design is one of the most complicated spheres of graphic design. It is not always an easy thing to come up with something simple like a mere symbol which would incorporate certain idea, business mood, value, feel and look. It is important to find the golden mean to make a logo concept look neither too abstract nor excessively intricate or sophisticated like an illustration as well as to make it memorable and standing out from competitors. If you are a talented but yet not experienced graphic designer who wants to be a success in the logo design business, you should, first of all, follow current logo design tendencies and recommendations of logo design gurus. In this article, I would like to sum up basic tips many logo design experts consider to be important to follow for an effective logo design work and the designing process organization.

Tip 1
The world most recognizable logos do not actually show what company is about. For example, Mersedes-Benz logo does not show a car or even a part of it, likewise the Apple logo says nothing about computers and other such gadgets. There are a lot of well known logos which seem not to convey any idea about the business nature like McDonalds, Nike, Shell and many others. Some of famous logos are just cool text like Google, Ebay, FedEx. Therefore it is not always necessary to beat your brains out trying to incorporate tools of trade into a logo, as a good logo can bring more subtle idea which sometimes even makes the brand more interesting and stimulates customers to learn more about the company and logo history. However, if you can clearly show the company’s activities through a creatively designed logo, it’s OK. You just shouldn’t be fixed on this idea.

Tip 2
As I have already mentioned above logo is just a symbol which should be simple enough to be easily memorized by prospect customers. Furthermore, logo is often used in various dimensions and it must look recognizable even in smallest size like on business cards or gift items. That is why logo must be as simple as possible without too wild colors. And of course, constant communication with the client and discussing design ideas are a key to design the “right” logo.

Tip 3
Here I reiterate importance of effective communication with the client. Every design expert points it out as one of the most essential issue to consider. And even if you think that the client’s idea is not the best one you have the chance to establish yourself as a creative logo designer. However, you should first do exactly what the client wants to be done (at least an initial sketch) and only after this you can introduce your suggestions on how to make the logo better looking. If the client finds your ideas interesting he/she is likely to come back to you with new projects knowing your creativity potential.

Tip 4
Freehand drawing for sketching initial logo concepts can streamline the logo designing process. It is easier to use sketches as a guide for further logo design using special software. You can draw a few sketches comparatively quickly and show them to a client to choose from.

Tip 5
Be cautious of promising to deliver work by certain date unless delivery date is specified by the client. If delivery date is not set, try to ask some more days for the assignment fulfillment since it is always better to deliver before the agreed date than after. You never now whether you will have problems with inspiration or not, whether there will be circumstances preventing you from working quickly or whether the client will need some revisions and redesigns. That’s why adding some extra time to the estimated turnaround period will not only let you be on the safe side but also have a chance to exceed expectations of the client and create positive impression if the logo is delivered before the promised date.

Tip 6
There are hundreds of thousands logos and brands all around the world and, of course, almost any logo designer checks out a lot of logo ideas to draw inspiration before proceeding with his/her own logo design project. However, it is important to create something original and unique and to avoid the evident copying of existing logo elements and original ideas. Even if you try to create something really non-conventional, you can start a new tendency in logo design if you make it tastefully.

Tip 7
Logo is not that art which requires using a lot of colors. Most logos are actually used in black and white for some printing purposes even if they were initially designed in color. That is why logos must be designed in black and white first to make sure it looks good. If you want to apply more colors to a logo, you should restrict their number to maximum of three colors.

Tip 8
Logo is specially designed to reflect mood and value of the company. So you must take into consideration the company’s activity and target audience. When designing logo for a hospital you cannot make it funny, but if you create logo for a company which manufactures stuff for kids, you can deploy your skills in funny and cartoony logo design and even design a cartoony mascot character which will be a part of the logo. I believe it’s a quite clear concept even for beginner logo designers.

Tip 9
You should always remember that logo is something the company places almost everywhere beginning from gift pens, mugs, business cards to trucks, airplanes and buildings. That is why you should learn how to create logos using software which makes a logo scalable (vector logo). The most popular software used for vector drawing are Adobe Illustrator and Corel Draw. So make sure you learn how to use those software applications properly and effectively for logo design purposes.

2 comments:

  1. These tips are pretty useful to design logo according to the instructions of the client. It really help the designer to make creative logos. Thank you so much for the posting. Logo Design Tips

    ReplyDelete
  2. Marvelous work!. Blog is brilliantly written and provides all necessary information I really like this high pr blog post. Thanks for sharing this useful post. 
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