How to Design a Logo

Want to know how to design a logo like a professional and have all the resources you need in just one post? Then this is the post for you… Learn professional logo design in just 5 steps!

1. Learn What A Logo Is & What It Represents

Before you design a logo, you must understand what a logo is, what it represents and what it is supposed to do. A logo is not just a mark - a logo reflects a business’s commercial brand via the use of shape, fonts, colour, and / or images.

A logo is for inspiring trust, recognition and admiration for a company or product and it is our job as designers to create a logo that will do its job.

One must know what a logo is before continuing.

For further Reading on what is a logo check out Wikipedia’s Definition.

2. Know The Rules & Principles Of Logo Design

Now that you know what a logo is supposed to do, and what it should represent you now must learn about what makes a great logo aka; the basic rules and principles of logo design.

1. A logo must be describable
2. A logo must be memorable
3. A logo must be effective without colour
4. A logo must be scalable i.e. effective when just an inch in size

For Further reading on the rules and principles of great logo design I highly recommend to read the logo design tips from Logo Factory before continuing and also the article Why logo design does not cost $5.00.

3. Learn Off Other’s Successes & Mistakes

Successful Logos

Now you know what the rules of logo design are, you can distinguish the difference between a good and a bad logo… By knowing what other logos have succeeded and why they have succeeded gives a great insight into what makes a good logo.

For example, lets look at the classic Nike Swoosh. This logo was created by Caroline Davidson in 1971 for only $35 yet it still a strong, memorable logo, effective without colour and easily scalable. It is simple, fluid and fast and represents the wing in the famous statue of the Greek Goddess of victory, Nike - something perfect for a sporting apparel business. Nike is just one of many great logos, think about other famous brands that you know about and check out their logos - what makes them successful?

For more quality, lesser known logos I recommend checking out LogoPond or going to your local book store or library and looking at a logo book.

The Not So Successful Logos

We can also learn off logos that have not been as successful such as the ones in the above picture. Some more very bad logos can be seen in the post ‘Is Your Design Phallic? As seen in that post, some logos can depict things that may have not always be noticeable to the designer (as in the middle logo above) or they could just be plain bad design, as in the logo to the right.

4. Establish Your Own Logo Design Process

Now that we know what a logo is, and what the principles and rules of logo design are and what makes a successful logo we can now finally begin the design process. This it hardest part of the 5 steps and is its own topic in itself - Each persons logo design process is different and experience usually is the key factor in creating your own logo design process however check out The Secret Logo Design Process Of Top Logo Designers for a better idea.

In short, a logo design process usually consists of

1. The Design Brief
2. Research & Brainstorming
3. Sketching
4. Prototyping & Conceptualising (See Step 5)
5. Send To Client For Review
6. Revise & Add Finishing Touches
7. Supply Files To Client and Give Customer Service

If you ever get stuck before or during your design process check out this great article on How To Boost Your Creativity.

5. Learn The Software & Complete The Logo

After you have got your design process sorted out, it is usually a good time to begin mastering your software but remember you can’t design a logo by just hopping straight onto the computer… brainstorm and sketch first.

After you have got your initial ideas and sketches from brainstorming you can then usually jump onto the computer to start digitising your logo. After you have got a great concept(s) digitised you can send it to your client, get revisions, and eventually complete the logo and thus, you have successfully created a professional logo.

Do you have any other tips or suggestions on how to create a professional logo?

Daifuku

Daifuku is a kind of Japanese mochi cakes. Serve daifuku with hot green tea. You can make various daifuku, changing the filling. This is a recipe to make basic daifuku with anko filling.

Ingredients:

* 1 cup shiratama-ko (glutinous rice flour)
* 1/4 cup sugar
* 2/3 cup water
* For filling
* 2/3 cup water & 1 cup sugar & 1/2 cup dried anko powder, or 1 1/4 cup premade anko
* katakuriko (porato starch) for dusting

Preparation:
Heat 2/3 cup of water and 1/2 cup of sugar in a small pot. Add 1/4 cup of anko powder and stir well. Cool the anko filling. Make 12 small anko balls and set aside. Put water and sugar in a heat-resistant bowl and mix well. Add shiratama-ko flour in the bowl and mix well. Put the bowl in microwave and heat the dough for two minutes. Stir the dough. Heat the dough in microwave until the dough inflates. Stir the mochi quickly. Dust a flat pan with some katakuri-ko starch. Also, dust hands with some katakuri-ko. Remove the hot mochi from the bowl to the pan by hands. Dust hands with more katakuri-ko starch and divide the mochi into 12 pieces by hands. The mochi is hot and sticky, so be careful not to burn your hands. Make 12 flat and round mochi. Put a piece of anko filling on a mochi and wrap the anko by stretching mochi. Rounds the daifuku. Repeat the process to make daifuku cakes.

Inspirations from "Self Portrait

Stuart Whitton

Location Wales
Job Freelance illustrator
Contact www.stuartwhitton.blogspot.com
Software Photoshop, Illustrator

“I’m influenced by a number of aspects of design and art,” says Stuart. “As a result, I try to build a visually appealing relationship between fashionably ethereal illustrations of people, objects and typographical elements.”

Ironically, it was his BA Hons course in Graphic Design at the West Wales School of the Arts that convinced Stuart that he was, in fact, more interested in illustration. “My passion for [illustration] and the use of traditional methods made me realise that my admiration for the imagery derives from the personal quality that it possesses.”

Stuart’s image creation process involves the use of pencils, Photoshop, Illustrator, abstract shapes, patterns and generally a limited colour palette to accent particular areas. “I use careful discretion concerning the amount of detail in my work,” he adds. “This is often combined with a degree of ambiguity to achieve a distinctly bold but elegant appearance.”

Self Portrait “This piece contains three pencil sketches of myself,” says Stuart of this interesting self-study. “The two that depict my face are the same image, only shown at different stages of the illustration. I wanted to create more than a traditional portrait, therefore I used Photoshop to cut a section out of the finished sketch and then arranged the other portraits so that certain areas could flow ambiguously into each other. I think this image is a good representation of not only my physical appearance but also my personality and my influences, which can be identified even in the smallest details."