6 steps to take when designing your logo
The importance of a professional logo for a company, organisation, or product, cannot be overemphasised. Without a professional logo your brand may not get the recognition it deserves, as it will become difficult for your audience to visually harmonise facets of your business.
Here are 6 steps to take when designing your logo. Follow these and you will be more likely to create a logo that suits your brand.
Start with a sketch first
For most people new to logo design the most common first step is to jump straight onto the computer and start designing. This is generally a wrong approach, as this often leads to wasted time on special effects and filters, without getting to grips with the essence of the design.
The best thing to do is to get a sheet of paper and draw various logo design examples, keeping in mind what you want the logo to communicate to your audience.
Use vector-specific drawing software
Photoshop, paint shop pro and pixelmator, and painter, are all great tools used by people working with images, but, according to Steve, digital marketing manager at Print-print.co.uk, “while these tools are very good for photo editing, they won’t do the best job when it comes to logo design”. Steve suggests that you “use vector-specific drawing software like Adobe Illustrator, free hand and line form for the best results. Whether enlarging for print posters or shrinking for web content vectors ensure the clarity of the logo is maintained”.
Choosing the right colour scheme
When you get to the point where you are using fill and stroke colours, you will need to use colour combinations that are sensible for your business. If you run an investment firm for instance, it won’t be wise for you to use bright red and pink as the colour scheme. Think about colour psychology and ensure you create the right feeling with the colours that you choose.
Consider the black and white version
After you have settled for a colour scheme for your logo, the next step you have to take is to have a look at what the logo will look like when it goes through a fax or copier machine, or is put in a black and white newspaper ad. There are some really nice black and white logo examples here on Pinterest
You can print and copy the logo to see how it looks. If it doesn’t look coherent, get back on your computer and rework the original version, or develop a second version. You may need to convert hollow shapes to solid shapes, and vice versa. The logo may have to be tweaked a bit, but make sure you don’t deviate too much from your original design.
Consider your target audience
As you develop a logo, you need to keep in mind your target audience. If the logo is purely for a website, you are free to use special effects, colour fades etc. If the logo is, however, meant for commercial printing, the complexity of the logo must be considered, bearing in mind the printing challenges and expenses that comes with lots of colours and effects.
A good idea may be to create a web based version and print version of your logo. Steve at Print Print has this to say on the subject. “In the printing world, colours are referred to as “spot” colour and the more colours used, the more expensive it will be to do the printing”.
Take a look at the typography
A logo isn’t all about images; the typography is very important. The words of the logo are just as important as any graphics you may come up with. Many new logo designers pay far too little attention to the fonts, jumping straight in with a font they know and love. Your lettering style, fonts and case in a logo can have big impact on the quality of your logo. You should also think about how your font choices here impact on your overall typographical strategy.
An important tip here is to convert letters to shapes and outlines if your logo uses a font. This will ensure that when you send the vector file to someone, there won’t need to have your font installed on their computers to view it properly.
To create a professional logo you should take a process approach to the design. If you go about it the right way you will be far more likely to get an outcome that works, and that you love.