Logo Design Basics
Company logo. This is your brand, your company identity pretty important right? Yet over and over again I see companies cut cost on logo design. They end up with poorly designed logos by “a friend who knows photoshop” for fifty bucks. Not only is that the wrong program to use but knowledge of a program does not make a designer. It is just a tool. I put together this overview of what goes into a good logo. Each section could be an article all on their own but I want to touch on each part and give you some insight.
When shopping around to have your company logo designed here are some of important question to ask or at least keep in the back of your head. These are pretty much basic design 101.
Does the person actually have a design background or is the person remotely artistic?
Does the person understand composition?
Do they have a solid understand of color theory?
Do they have an understanding of typography?
What file formats will I receive?
In my opinion there are three elements that go into designing a good logo. Typography, composition and color. I will cover all three.
COMPOSTION
The plan, placement or arrangement of the elements of art in a work.
When I design a logo or company brand I begin designing in black and white. Any solid composition will hold true in any color if designed correctly in black and white. Any logo must be able to be reproduced across a wide range of formats. If the logo only looks good in full color but the integrity of the design is lost when reduced to once color, the logo was designed poorly. An example is what you see below. A client brought me the logo to be redesigned to fit his business.
THE OTHER GUY
The logo below was not done by a graphic designer. Technically A three color logo because the shadow on the triangle is another color. The logo falls apart when reduced to one color.
2KRE8 DESIGN
The logo below was design by 2KRE8 Design. A two color logo that can easily be reproduced in one color. The logo remains the same holds its composition. The logo can be placed on almost any color back ground.
TYPOGRAPHY
Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable, and appealing when displayed.
The use of type and understanding how to convey a feeling through font types is taught to just about every graphic designer in his or her first year of school. Choosing the correct font for a project can set the over all feel. The weight of the font, thick, thin San serif, all comes into play.
Keep in mind a logo does not need a image to be a logo. A unique font can be use to build a brand all on its own. Look at Coke, IBM, Hershey the list goes on.