A logo is the first and core part to a successful and professional brand. This is your first impression to everyone and you need to make sure that you make an impact right from the start.
So what does it take to create a great logo design?
Simplicity is key
Don’t add any unnecessary elements which may cause a logo to look cluttered. Some of the best logo designs today are very simple and corporate. It does not have to explain what the whole company is about in one image, rather it creates a recognisable icon which is known by all.
Online research benefits all
A great way to gain inspiration for a new project, is to look at the work of others, not to imitate, but to get inspired with new shapes and colors. A good example is Logo Pond, where you can view other designer’s work. It is best to get a few logo designs that work, and a few that doesn’t. After weighing up the pro’s and cons you can make an informed decision about how you would like to approach your design.
Plan ahead with rough sketches
Planning ahead is always a good idea in all aspects of life, the same foes for logo design. Before rushing to start your design, grab a pencil and piece of paper to conceptualise your initial logo.
Seek inspiration
A great logo always starts with a small, but unique idea. Take some time to look at other designs. Also some of your older unsused designs may turn up to be a great solution for this specific project.
Don’t use more than two fonts
There is no set rule on how many fonts to use in a logo design. But to insure that your design presents clean and uncluttered, stick to using no more than two fonts at a time.
Make your logo design responsive
If your logo is to be used primarily on digital devices such as smartphones and tablets, you should think about how to make it responsive. A responsive logo design does not always involve adjusting the size. But as technology capabilities increase, more detail should be added to the logo.
Design with the future in mind
A great logo design will in time become a household name among a lot of people. A good way to test a logo design is to show it to someone, and a couple of days later ask them if they can recall that logo. Another thing is to consider the current trends of the day. A fashionable item or element of today might not be so popular in the run of ten years time.
Vector vs Raster
This is a very important decision to make when designing your logo. It depends on what the logo is going to be used for, and of course the level of skills you have in the raster and vector based design applications
Ensure it works on light and dark backgrounds
At first your logo might display brilliantly on a white background, but situations where a logo looks terrible on a darker background is quite common. Also you might want to consider the future of branding material, a new dark black jersey might become part of the new company attire, and if your logo does not display legible enough, you have a problem.
Do not imitate others
It’s easy to copy other logo designs, and its easy to make them look good as well. Because all the building blocks will have been set for you. But people tend to pick up on that. And you will lose credibility in your brand if it looks like jsut another knock off design of another successful company.
At the end of the day you want a logo that’s unique, memorable and which will stand the cruel test of design trends of time.
