What are best practices for making a good logo? A logo is not just a business symbol; a logo is a powerful brand identity that represents a company and its products or services. If you are a graphic designer or work in the marketing field, this blog post will tell you how to make a good logo. And if you are a client, you will know exactly what to expect from a graphic designer who's developing your logo.
1. Research Is Everything.
Before you work on anything, you have to do your research. You have to get to know your client’s business and their purpose. The appropriate look and feel of the logo must match the company’s industry and values. This is important for brand recognition to be memorable. For example, a logo for a medical facility has to convey trust and comfort; but a logo for a fast-food restaurant should be inviting and playful. If you are the client, feel free to share any important information with your designer that you think will help the designer understand your business and desired look. Answer any questions your designer might have on these significant initial steps.
2. Sketch Extensively.
Preliminary sketches are a must. These sketches can be paper and pen drawings or drafts made using a vector program, like Illustrator. Start with 15 to 20 sketches or variations of concepts. It is normal to spend more time on this phase than any other step in the design process. Do not rush or skip this step! As a client, expect to review the top 2-3 concepts that are derived from these preliminary sketches and select one out of those top options. The designer’s goal is to not overwhelm you and narrow down the options to the best and most effective logo you and your business can use.
3. Select Typography.
Selecting the right font type and size is usually one of the most difficult parts of designing a logo. If your logo design includes text as part of the overall design or as a tagline, you need to take some time sorting through several font types and testing them. Try serif, san-serif, script, italics, and bold fonts before settling with a certain look. To not come off as an amateur, avoid working with commonly used fonts like Arial or Impact. Sticking to one or two fonts is a perfect balance, avoid using more than two. Most importantly, make sure the final font is legible when scaled down. If you are the client, make sure not to request too many typographic changes or for multiple font sizes or styles to be used; making too many changes slows down the process and doesn’t always mean better design.
4. Use Color Psychology
Color is an instant way to associate your brand with a particular mood and personality. The colors used in a brand's logo affect the emotions someone feels. The right color choice can influence how the users respond to your brand. For example, orange can communicate good value while blue is associated with intelligence and imagination. Colors influence people, and it's important to keep in mind how different color combinations can impact a viewer’s perspective of a person’s or company’s image/identity.
5. Consider Final Placement.
Size of final placement is important in logo design because the final product has to look good and legible at all sizes. A logo loses quality and is not effective if it does not retain definition when it is scaled down for small promotional items like letterheads and business cards. The same goes for larger sizes: a logo must look equally good on a billboard or website. The best way to see if a logo works at all sizes is to actually test it yourself, resize the logo, and print it to revise size if needed. As the client, you will have to trust your designer’s judgment and listen to their advice on design style and size in order to acquire a functional logo.
Logo Deliverables Should Include:
A native file to always have handy for future design projects
PNGs, because these are the file types you will be using the most
Logo usage guidelines which ensure that the logo is used properly and as the designer intended
Logo variations, including a full-color logo, solid black logo, and solid white logo to be used on dark backgrounds.
Don't forget: Editable formats must be saved like AI, SVG, EPS, PDF, or PSD. Make sure to always convert the text to curves by outlining it on the final file; this will prevent any legal issues with typeface copyright and issues with other computers recognizing the typeface. Additionally, clean up the file’s artboard or canvas to only have the final logo. This will avoid confusion for anyone else who might be using these files in the future. Take the extra step to provide ready-to-use files like PNGs with a transparent background.